On November 24, 2021, Brenda Purtsak’s solo exhibition “Incarnation” was opened at the Estonian Embassy in the Netherlands.
The exhibition is well aware of its position in the embassy’s reception rooms. It is likely that people, as well as institutions; citizens, as well as citizens’ advocates, take action here. People who have responsibility to care for and represent more than themselves. Bodies are left behind the door and titles come inside.
The intention of the works of Brenda Purtsak in this context is twofold. As a masterful abstractionist, Purtsak adds a new decorative dimension to the building. Large-format paintings and filigree stained glass create an atmosphere that is suitable for the reception room. The layering and depth of the oil painting support the dignity of the embassy. Solid peace and sensitivity; whether the latter is aimed at an interlocutor or a report.
On the other hand, the works strongly channel the body level. On the fringes of abstraction, we see palms, soles, and fragile skin. And warm blood flowing under the skin. “Incarnation” brings the human body through clinical proximity and painting mastery to the level of poetry, where gender, identities and faces disappear. All that remains is the gentle tenderness and vivid perception of touch.
It is extremely easy to lose ourselves in the way we look or sound. The exhibition hopes to remind us that somewhere behind the titles and positions are human beings that need softness and touch. It hopes to bring out the love encoded in the folds of skin.
Brenda Purtsak is a freelance painter, Master of Arts in Liberal Arts at the Estonian Academy of Arts. In her work, Purtsak focuses on large-scale depiction of the body, its deconstruction in abstraction, and the mapping of the horizon that emerges in the dialogue between physics and color. Purtsak has participated in different group exhibitions, like “Teesklus” (“Pretend”) with curator H. Loodus and “Et keha ei unustaks” (“So that the body does not forget”), as well as in several other joint exhibitions. Next year the artist will take part in a group exhibition with E. Alevi and M. Suvi at the Hobusepea Gallery in Tallinn, as well as in a joint painting exhibition of the Estonian and Vienna art academies in Vienna.
The exhibition of paintings and stained glass will decorate the Estonian Embassy in The Hague until next autumn.
Curator of the exhibition: Aleksander Metsamärt
Big thanks to: the Estonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Marleen Suvi, OÜ Movemasters
Photos: Estonian Embassy in The Hague
