Marko Mäetamm
Marko Mäetamm (b. 1965) is an artist based in Tallinn. He studied printmaking at the Estonian Academy of Arts, where he received his BA in 1993 and MA in 1995.
Mäetamm’s often autobiographical art practice explores the threshold between private and public through a variety of media such as photography, sculpture, animation, painting and text. Treating family life as a microcosm of a wider socio-political and economic models, he presents petty everyday situations filtered through a prism of an unmistakable dark humour.
Internationally known for these observations of domesticity and the politics of family life, Mäetamm’s more recent works have been making explicit reference to current affairs, embodying the angst produced by daily swings between “everyday local difficulties” and “major international problems”. Mäetamm brings his dry sense of humour to bear on both global awfulness and seeming triviality, encouraging us to consider more closely the motivation behind our behaviour.
Mäetamm’s work has been exhibited internationally including at Moscow Museum of Modern Art (2019); Pera Museum, Istanbul (2017); Gallery Iragui, Moscow (2014 and 2019); IKON Gallery, Birmingham (2014); NADA Art Fair, Miami (2012); Wäinö Aalto Museum, Turku (2009); Dorsky Gallery Curatorial Programs, NY (2009); Gallery Platan, Budapest (2001). Mäetamm is a recipient of numerous awards including the Kristjan Raud Annual Award, Estonia (2000), the Baltic Assembly Prize for the Arts (2009), and the Annual Award of the Cultural Endowment of Estonia (2011). He was given the Estonian State Decoration, Order of the White Star, V Class, in 2008. Mäetamm represented Estonia at the Venice Biennial in 2003, with Kaido Ole, and in 2007.
Selected works
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Suspicious Bags: Fancy Sports Bag
acrylic, paper 30×21cm, 2018
Suspicious Bags: Chanel Jumbo
acrylic, paper 30×21cm, 2018
Suspicious Bags: Bottega Venetta Handbag
acrylic, paper 30×21cm, 2018
Suspicious Bags: Backpack
acrylic, paper 30×21cm, 2018
Dear Son
acrylic, paper 100×70cm, 2017
Wars and Crises
acrylic, canvas 100×150cm, 2017
Dear Mother and Father
acrylic, paper 100×70cm, 2017
Incident on Farmers Market
acrylic, paper 70×100cm, 2017
Good News
acrylic, canvas 150×200cm, 2017
A Bigger Blast (canvas)
acrylic, canvas 200×300cm, 2017
Everybody Having Fun
acrylic, paper 70×100cm, 2016
David Bowie's Eyes
acrylic, canvas 152×101cm, 2016
Talking About the Alphabet
acrylic, paper 100×70cm, 2016
Talking About the Alphabet II
acrylic, paper 100×70cm, 2016
Psychotropic
acrylic, canvas 100×70cm, 2016
My Wife
acrylic, paper 100×70cm, 2016
Wifi (canvas)
acrylic, canvas 153×101cm, 2016
Upset
acrylic, paper 100×70cm, 2016
That is the Question (canvas)
acrylic, canvas 200×150cm, 2016
Striptease
acrylic, paper 100×70cm, 2016
About Last Night
acrylic, paper 70×100cm, 2016
All Those Important Books...
acrylic, paper 100×60cm, 2016
MARRIAGE
two life size figures on sofa, charcoal text on the wall, plastic cast, clothes, paper bags , 2015
Self-portrait in a Cage
life size figure in a cage, plastic cast, clothes, hair 100×85×50cm, 2015
I Want To Break Free (litho)
lithography 99×74cm, 2014
Money
lithography 92×73cm, 2014
PAINTING AND WAITING
acrylic, canvas 200×150cm, 2013
EIGHT DAYS A WEEK
acrylic, canvas 200×150cm, 2013
CIRCUS
acrylic, canvas 200×150cm, 2013
HEADACHE
acrylic on canvas 150×200cm, 2013
Bleeding House 11
acrylic, canvas 100×150cm, 2009
Bleeding House 12
acrylic, canvas 100×150cm, 2009
Bleeding House Somewhere in Miami-1
Ink, acrylic, paper 56×75cm, 2014
Bleeding House Somewhere in Miami-5
Ink, acrylic, paper 75×56cm, 2014
Programmers
lithography 27×40cm, 1993
Dear Cat
lithography 43×35cm, 1995
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Ringo Starr
lithography 40×29cm, 1993