Vello Vinn. ∞ & ○

As of 17 October, 5 pm, the Art Hall Gallery opens an overview exhibition of the graphic art of Vello Vinn. Titled ‘∞ & ○’ (read: infinity and circle), the show gives an outline of the artist’s more than a half-century long career.

The thematic core of the exhibition is the developmental trajectory of one of the most innovative post-war Estonian graphic artists, starting from the 1960s up to this day. This also explains the cryptic, symbol-based title of the exhibition which, naturally, hints at the systematic symmetry principle governing much of Vello Vinn’s oeuvre.

Vello Vinn was born on 4 October 1939 in Saaremaa. He lives and works in Tallinn. After graduating from the State Art Institute of the Estonian SSR, i.e. today’s Estonian Academy of Arts, in 1968, he quickly gained recognition at graphic art exhibitions in Estonia as well as abroad. One of the leading motifs in the artist’s pop-surrealist fantasy-fuelled graphic art is environment – more specifically, the relationship between humans and the environment.

His work has been exhibited at several international triennales and biennales (the 9th Ljubljana Biennial of Graphic Arts, Prix d’Emona 1971; 36th International Venice Art Biennale’s satellite exhibition ‘Graphic Art of Today’ in 1972), as well as other solo and group exhibitions. His artworks belong to several important museum collections: the Art Museum of Estonia in Tallinn, the State Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow, the Ludwig-Forum für Internationale Kunst in Aachen, the Norton and Nancy Dodge collection at the Zimmerli Art Museum, etc. He has been a member of the Estonian Artists’ Association since 1970 and an honorary member since 2013.