HIDDEN SIDE

A text about art often begins with the name of the author of the work, followed by sentences about his or her studies, experiences and achievements. A context is created, a box where further information about an exhibition or a piece of artwork could be placed. However, art does not want to stay in a box, but is rather longing to fly with the birds in the heavenly depths of the work.

Toomas Kaasik (1951) has taken nude, portrait and landscape photos, creatively combining different photographic techniques in his works, playing with large contrasts and editing options. He has been present at exhibitions both here and on the international arena since 1979. He is a member of Tallinn Photo Club, the creative association O and the Estonian Society of Photographic Art. His photos have been published in many publications, including the US magazine Aperture. In 1990, Kaasik received the annual Estonian Photo Award. We could go on, but then we would probably hear the artist saying: „That’s enough now, let the photos do the talking instead.“

In September, The Hidden Side, a retrospective of Toomas Kaasik’s older work, can be seen at Haus Gallery. Kaasik opens up one side of his work himself, and leaves the other for the viewer to interpret. Kaasik’s photos are hints rather than viewpoints, horizons rather than closed room. His poetic, at times dramatic, yet dreamily soft motifs feel like they have been created at the point of contact between thoughts and reality, in the creative space that each artist has. In the photos this point seems to be a real place, a place or figure in the world, yet it dissolves into a completely different world created by the artist. The photographs by Toomas Kaasik are like excerpts from dreams from the other side of the solar system, projections on the reflective surface of the world. This point is a movement through the multisphere layers of consciousness, where every previous thought has left its mark, both visible and invisible. The photographic solutions used by Kaasik are presented in layers: one surface covers the next, giving translucent results.

But isn’t it so that everything we consider to be something real is only the fruit of our imagination, an illustration of reality created by our own experience? And that is what Toomas Kaasik’s photos make one think about: the hidden side, perception and reality, photorealism and interpretation.