Breadcrumb
Urmas Pedanik is the laureate of Konrad Mägi Art Award 2019
19.01.2021
The Konrad Mägi medal and art award has been awarded by the Estonian Artists Association, Estonian Painters Association and the Visual and Applied Art Fund committee of the Estonian Cultural Endowment since 1979.
The members of the award jury – Tiiu Rebane and Tiina Tammetalu from the Estonian Painters' Association, Tõnis Saadoja and Mari Vallikivi from the Cultural Endowment of Estonia, Vano Allsalu and Elin Kard from the Estonian Artists' Association – decided to give Konrad Mägi Art Award 2019 to painter Urmas Pedanik for his retrospective exhibition Artificial Landscapes held in Haapsalu City Gallery from June 4 – June 28, 2019.
The award ceremony takes place in Tallinn Art Hall at 5pm on November 1st, 2019.
Urmas Pedanik (b. 1949) emerged in the local art world at the second half of 1970s with his innovative hyperrealistic approach towards painting. His early works depicting the themes of electronics belong to the so-called golden collection of art history. Today, his artworks can be found in collections of the Art Museum of Estonia, Estonian Artists' Association and Tartu Art Museum. Urmas Pedanik studied design or industrial art at the Estonian State Art Institute in 1970–1980. His first personal exhibition was held in 1981, then his exhibiting practice stopped in 1986 and was put on hold until 2010.
Whereas his technicistic paintings from the late 1970s and early 1980s depicted the era of analog techonology which was the golden period of television and radio, then his works from 2010 focused on the era of digital technology. However, in his paintings composed in 2017–2019, Pedanik has studied the development of technology on a much wider scale. With the means of painting, the artist has basically reduced the whole history of communication technology to three paradigmatic phases or three central visual metaphors: a vacuum tube, a transistor and a digital printing plate. During the past century, the development of information technology and telecommunication has been remarkably rapid and we can only assume the future of media industry and the possible extension of signal networks
Estonian art institutions proposed the following candidates for this year's award: Mihkel Ilus for his personal exhibition Negotiations / Facade Works held in Tartu Art House; Veiko Klemmer for his painting series exhibited at the exhibition Expressive held by the Estonian Painters' Association in LMS Gallery, Riga; Andres Koort for his personal exhibition Expanse held in Vabaduse gallery and Karjamaa gallery and for his painting project held in KODA Park; Katrin Koskaru for her personal exhibition Take Cover! Take Cover! held in Tartu Art House; Kaarel Kurismaa for his retrospective exhibition Yellow Light Orchestra held in Kumu Art Museum and for his installation Steam Express and Halts held in Art Basel; Holger Loodus for his personal exhibition Journey to the End of the World held in Tartu Art Museum; Mihkel Maripuu for his personal exhibition Ex Nihilo held in Hobusepea gallery; Maarit Murka for the high quality exhibiting practice; Karl-Kristjan Nagel for his personal exhibition Posterity. One Parallel Closing Time held in Draakon gallery and for the artwork The House that Carl Bildt exhibited at the 19th Annual Exhibition of the Estonian Artists' Association; Urmas Pedanik for his retrospective painting exhibition Artificial Landscapes held in Haapsalu City Gallery; Sirje Petersen for her personal exhibition Touching the World held in Pärnu City Gallery; Katrin Piile for her painting series Abstract Hyperreality held in Võru County Museum and Fahle Gallery; Laura Põld for her active and diverse exhibition practice and several exhibition projects; and Imat Suumann for his exhibition In the Shadow of Twilight (together with Eike Eplik) held in Tallinn Art Hall gallery as well as for representing Pallas University of Applied Sciences and its modernist painting tradition.
The Konrad Mägi medal and award has been awarded by the Estonian Artists Association, Estonian Painters Association and Cultural Endowment of Estonia since 1979 and this it to honour Konrad Mägi's birth anniversary on November 1st as well as the artist's importance in the development of Estonian art of painting. The award is given for a painting, a series of paintings or an art project that has considerably enriched Estonian art of painting and been publicly exhibited during the period of November 1st of the previous year and November 1st of the current year. Artists are eligible regardless of connections with a specific art movement, style or technical process, or whether their work is traditional or innovative in character. The selected artist is given the award only once. The medal that accompanies the award is the artwork of metal artist Enn Johannes. Since 1979, numerous distinguished Estonian painters have been given the award, including: Olga Terri, Tõnis Saadoja, Lembit Sarapuu, Alice Kask, Kaido Ole, Enn Põldroos, Sirja-Liisa Eelma, Toomas Vint, Merike Estna, Peeter Mudist, Jaan Toomik, Lembit Saarts, Tiit Pääsuke, Valeri Vinogradov, Aili Vint, Olev Subbi, Sirje Runge, Jüri Arrak, Peeter Allik, Lola Liivat, Andres Tolts, Kristi Kongi, Uno Roosvalt, Laurentsius & A.D., Erki Kasemets, August Künnapu and many others.
