Marje Üksine 1945 Musician. 1987

Marje Üksine has been one of the most important graphic artists of recent decades. Her range of themes is not easily defined – Üksine has moved toward abstraction, where it is more appropriate to speak of associations and each viewer’s individual interpretation. Color plays a crucial role here; as one of the few printmakers, Üksine has consistently engaged with questions of color in graphic art.

“Dance” is a series by Üksine to which this work also belongs. The dynamics of dance, along with its inherent youthfulness and joy of life, justify the use of bright, vivid colors.

Vappu Thurlow has written: “I asked Marje Üksine where her visual ideas come from. ‘I don’t really know,’ she replied. The artist sees something and it remains in her memory. Somewhere there is an image, and she thinks: what an interesting motif! Then it lingers in her thoughts for some time and develops. In Üksine’s creative biography, one can observe distinct periods. First, black-and-white graphics, then color lithography, and now she produces colored intaglio prints. These are created through very labor-intensive processes; sometimes a single image passes through the press as many as ten times. Marje Üksine prefers mechanical techniques, as they allow her to work independently in her home studio. Her grey-black striped surfaces, which lend her images a mysteriously blurred atmosphere, are created using a ruling pen in drypoint technique. Marje Üksine maintains that she does not belong to those for whom art is born out of pain and hardship – she believes that creation should be something to be enjoyed.”