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Exhibitions

"Implosion of the Universe"

Solo show

Robin Nõgisto

​Estonian Embassy in Paris

17, rue de la Baume 75008 Paris

Exhibition from
July 20 to September 30, 2024

Mon-Fri on appointment

Contact Ms. Eike Eller:

eike.eller@mfa.ee

Collaboration between:

Estonian Embassy in Paris &

nomaadgalerie

“Born in 1992, Robin Nõgisto, after obtaining a bachelor’s degree (BA) from the painting department of the Estonian Academy of Arts in 2017, has presented his creations on the Estonian art scene in several group exhibitions. His personal exhibitions have been held in Hobusepea gallery in 2016, in Art&Tonic gallery in 2019 and 2024 as well as at Tallinn Art Hall in 2021. Abroad, Robin Nõgisto’s has participated at the Miami Scope Art Basel art week, where his colorful and detailed paintings attained a lot of attention.

Nõgisto is one of the creators with the most outstanding handwriting among the new generation of Estonian artists. The bold rush of his colors rarely leaves the viewer cold. He has said that many things in his art have come from dreams. Sure, his works take the form of a psychedelic fantasy world drawing inspiration from the endless reservoir of popular culture, where Count Dracula could easily find himself jamming with the Beatles aboard a yellow submarine, and he wouldn't even be surprised by that fact.

The artist's paintings are characterized by large dimensions, voluminous compositions, clear contours, and bright colors in the style of pop art, and complex patterned surfaces reminiscent of op art. Not to mention comic-like, often humorous and/or horror-inducing details, such as the giant painting "The Bio Feel" exhibited at the annual exhibition of the Estonian Artists' Union at the Tallinn Art Hall in 2018.

"Robin's works do not choose their company, they extend a child's dreams and give sight back to the half-blind at the old age, they prefer a person from the street and a rock fan to a lover of high art and a music aficionado with a refined taste," has said curator Tamara Luuk.

In his work, the artist immerses himself in imaginary worlds filled with various inhabitants. Cats, dogs and lizards, hipsters, skeletons, and aliens wander from one canvas to another. Their possible belonging to the planet Earth is confirmed by the presence of houses, hearts, rainbows and lovely gifts of nature that appear here and there.

This rebellion of worlds is not easy to describe. The depicted activity involves the spectator in a noisy, stormy dance of life, the artist seems to laugh out loud, amused by the seriousness of daily efforts and constantly affirms that nothing is impossible.

"When I paint, words and explanations make everything more confusing. Perception, feelings, and words are different worlds," comments the artist. "I try to do something different with every work at hand. […] Ignorance is a fertile ground, and sometimes I surprise myself the most. [...] Painting offers me support even when things are out of hand, I see a lot of hope there."

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Catnip Farmer Attack.jpg

Robin Nõgisto

Dinosaur's Rebirth from Oil & Catnip Farmer Attack, 2021

Diptych

Acrylic on canvas

280 × 190 cm each

Price on demand

"Portable Mystic Windows"

Solo show

Robin Nõgisto

​nomaadgalerie

42, quai des Célestins, 75004 Paris

Exhibition from
July 30 to August 21, 2024

Tue-Sat 11am–7pm

Sun 12pm–6pm

Collaboration between:

Estonian Embassy in Paris &

nomaadgalerie

“We could say it looks like a bad trip to Wonderland. Notice that suspicious-looking cat with its bishop’s tiara, and a rainbow-colored vest, blessing by a vague gesture an unknown assembly of worshippers (Catholic Cat And The Holy Church Of Milk, 2024). Elsewhere, a haggard monster feeding on screens (Screen Vampire, 2024), merry aliens (Like Life, 2022), or yet this tribe of monkeys on the lookout for discounts on the parking lot of a “Super Mega Hyper Market” (Monkey Business, 2024). Everywhere, the same fluorescent colors, under electric skies. There is, it’s true, in all those scenes, something of a rejoicing hallucination. But let’s not be mistaken, under joyous exteriors, the world of Robin Nõgisto is rather cruel than kawaii.

 

Born in 1992, the young multifaceted artist got his education from the Estonian Academy of Arts. Painter, sculptor, muralist, he is also musician, singer, and videographer. From canvas to city walls, from the toys he assembles to rock tunes he composes, the same energy transits all his work, saturated, dense, uneasy sometimes, cynical, and irreverent. One must get rid of the first impression and the apparent friendliness and happiness of his compositions. All this, it’s sugar to the eyes, spread out in a showcase only to coax us. Like a too sour candy, it’s in the aftermath, once we have been plunged into the multitude of details overflowing each work, that their critical dimension unveils itself.

 

If a genealogy should be traced, we could go back to the fanzines and comics of the 1970s, firstly Robert Crumb, with his offbeat, excessive universe, his fondness of provocation and satire. Furthermore, how not to think of music videos of the next decade and of that unsettling dreaminess that made the success of the mythical film of Pink Floyd, The Wall (directed by Alan Parker in 1982). We should also mention the New York art scene of the same years, which saw the emergence of Keith Haring and Kenny Scharf introducing graffiti into the sphere of contemporary art. Finally, closer to us, it would be tempting to evoke a connection to the champions of Figuration Libre and the oeuvre of the French artist Hervé di Rosa, an ardent advocate of the “modest” arts (“arts modestes” in French). The common ground between all those different movements and Nõgisto’s painting? Above all, the freedom, the one to include all forms of creation, all inspirations; to invoke indifferently Fine Arts and the most popular productions, without a border of genre or origin, without hierarchy of values; a manner, also, to advance in reverse of a dominant taste.

 

To hold onto only this lineage would be to forget that the artist was born in a country occupied by the Soviet Union until 1991. Considering this, we could be tempted, of course, to add to the list of his inspirations the productions of the Soviet era, and in particular certain cartoons such as the “Box with a Secret” (Shkatulka s sekretom or Шкатулка с секретом) by Valery Ugarov (1976), a surrealist and disturbing tale in which a young boy dreams that he penetrates a snuffbox where an imaginary world opens up to him. Also, “Contact” (Kontakt or Контакт) by Vladimir Tarasov (1978), which portrays in the same psychedelic manner an encounter with aliens. However, and despite the aesthetical kinship, it would be to go the wrong way. Because Nõgisto is of a later generation, the one of a free Estonia, who watched as much “The Little Number Two” (Pikku Kakkonen, Finnish production), “Stepladder and Spaghetti” (Štaflík a Špagetka, Czechoslovak cartoon) as Scooby Doo or Tom & Jerry. Therefore, his childhood was less impregnated with the imagery of moral propaganda and more open to Western culture, also to liberalism and the promise of emancipation by the consumption of new goods.

 

Ambivalent, heterogeneous, Robin Nõgisto’s painting oscillates thus between a hallucinating Cadavre exquis and social satire. It is a celebration of a certain lust for life, of a desire to disobey and a criticism of ultraconsumerism; a denunciation of the society of screens and of misguided ways of religion, of violence and of dumbing down of the masses. Let’s say it is a world on its own, filled with dreams and nightmares, an insomniac painting that never lets us off the hook."

Exhibition text by Thibault Bissirier, art critic,  2024

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Robin Nõgisto

Cow Patrol from Space, 2023

Acrylic on canvas

170 × 200 cm

Price on demand

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Robin Nõgisto

Sea of Butterflies, 2024

Acrylic on canvas

147 × 162 cm

Price on demand

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Robin Nõgisto

Los Angeles Bella and La Bête, 2024

Acrylic on canvas

130 × 200 cm

Price on demand

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Robin Nõgisto

Pantie Mask, 2022

Acrylic on canvas

100 × 100 cm

Price on demand

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Robin Nõgisto

Monkey Business, 2024

Acrylic on canvas

80 × 100 cm

Price on demand

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Robin Nõgisto

Portable Pocket Television, 2023

Acrylic on canvas

130 × 100 cm

Sold

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Robin Nõgisto

Like Life, 2022

Acrylic on canvas

90 × 70 cm

Price on demand

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Robin Nõgisto

Staff Only, 2024

Acrylic on canvas

60 × 90 cm

Price on demand

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Robin Nõgisto

God Is In Visible, 2024

Acrylic and spray paint on canvas

60 × 80 cm

Price on demand

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Robin Nõgisto

Way Above High, 2022

Acrylic on canvas

60 × 70 cm

Price on demand

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Robin Nõgisto

Heavy Planet Plant, 2022

Acrylic on canvas

60 × 70 cm

Sold

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Robin Nõgisto

Catholic Cat and the Holy Church of Milk, 2024

Acrylic on canvas

70 × 60 cm

Price on demand

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Robin Nõgisto

Screen Vampire, 2024

Acrylic on canvas

70 × 60 cm

Price on demand

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Robin Nõgisto

Bubble Smoker, 2024

Hand painted jesmonite sculpture

36 × 20 × 30  cm

Price on demand

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Robin Nõgisto

Radioactive Lab Rab, 2024

Hand painted jesmonite sculpture

36 × 20 × 30  cm

Price on demand

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Robin Nõgisto

Apple Pie High Eye, 2024

Hand painted jesmonite sculpture

24 × 22 × 26  cm

Price on demand

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Robin Nõgisto

You're All Eye Man?, 2024

Hand painted jesmonite sculpture

24 × 22 × 26  cm

Price on demand

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Robin Nõgisto

Wormhole and the Fabric of Space-Time, 2024

Hand painted jesmonite sculpture

24 × 22 × 26  cm

Price on demand

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Robin Nõgisto

Way Above High, 2024

Inkjet print

11/50 - 19/50 available from the total edition of 50

60 x 64,5 cm

Price on demand

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Robin Nõgisto

God Is In Visible, 2024

Inkjet print

10/50 - 14/50 available from the total edition of 50 + 1 AP

59,7 x 71,7 cm

Price on demand

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Robin Nõgisto

Pantie Mask, 2024

Inkjet print

10/50 - 18/50 available from the total edition of 50

59,5 x 59,8 cm

Price on demand

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Robin Nõgisto

Rainbow Roots, 2024

Inkjet print

10/50 - 12/50 available from the total edition of 50

59,7 x 77,1 cm

Price on demand

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Robin Nõgisto

Portable Pocket Television, 2024

Inkjet print

10/50 - 19/50 available from the total edition of 50

74,8 x 59,8 cm

Price on demand

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