Meanwhile Everything Happens

One reason I enjoy taking part in group exhibitions is the opportunity to see my work in a completely new context. In the studio, a painting is part of my own process, but in an exhibition space, alongside the work of other artists, it inevitably begins to create new connections. Sometimes I find myself seeing my own work there with a slightly different eye as well.

In September 2026, Haus Gallery opened the group exhibition of Estonian contemporary art “From the Artist's Perspective”, which also included my abstract acrylic painting “Meanwhile Everything Happens”.

The exhibition set out to view the work of Estonian artists through their own present-day positions: which work and which idea feels important to the artist right now. This question connected closely with what I have been paying more attention to in my own painting lately.

I am increasingly interested in the moment when control begins to slip away. I can choose the format, the colour and the first gesture, but the more layers emerge, the more the painting begins to set its own terms. One surface calls for another; something has to be covered and something else left in place. What first seemed like a mistake may ultimately become essential to the entire painting.

“Meanwhile Everything Happens” was born from exactly this kind of process. I do not want to control everything in my paintings to the very end. I am interested in the moment when a painting begins to work against my original intention and forces me to respond to what is actually happening on the canvas. That is often where the most important parts of a painting emerge.