YOUR HOME COULD BE A WORK OF ART

14.06 – 06.07 2007

Rajangu rose to prominence with his postmodern paintings as an intriguing and independent figure in Estonian art at the turn of the decade, from the 1980s to the 1990s. After a period of silence in the second half of the 1990s, he has been back in recent years, working mainly with videos and installations. „Kuldne kodu. Muldne kodu” (Golden Home. Earthy Home) is Rajangu’s fourth exhibition in the Vaal Gallery.

Rajangu continues with the themes of his latest personal exhibition that took place in 2005 in the Tartu Art Museum and examines the world where a cult of things and brands are in a dominant position. This time, Rajangu approaches the subject matter from the viewpoint of the consumer as an individual and attempts to read the thoughts and dreams of the rich and beautiful. Which media messages make up our public space and accompany us to our homes and beds? What dreams, mixed with childhood memories, are intertwined with the promise of beautiful life?

Rajangu regards home as a construction created in real estate adverts, where home is offered as a work of art, with a promise of beautiful and harmonious life. Instead of a private place, this home tends to be an exhibition of the latest achievements in lifestyle. Rajangu presents a bed onto which an owner of the ‘golden home’ has brought his favourite toys – a race car and a launch. Blissful sleep, blending with happy memories of childhood, is guarded by the protective blanket of the glamorous media world.

Dreams are not eternal and the exhibition also includes a grave. Rajangu, who worked as a gravedigger in his youth, recalls the words of a new widow, who talked about her memories at the graveside: for the entire life, her husband had built a golden home for her, but finally ended up in an earthy home. “Do people hunt for riches in order to end up as the richest man of the graveyard?” asks Rajangu.

Ellu Maar