Kaido Ole
Kaido Ole (b. 1963) lives and works in Tallinn. He studied design and painting at the Estonian Academy of Arts from 1982 to 1992 and has worked at the Academy as a drawing and painting teacher and as a professor in the painting department (2003-2010). He has been a freelance artist from 2010 onwards, having been featured at exhibitions since 1989. In 2003, he represented Estonia at the 50th Venice Biennale, appearing together with Marko Mäetamm under the alias John Smith.
Conceptual painting is at the centre of Kaido Ole’s work. Even though his large paintings are intricately calculated and even seem machine-made, he is in fact also interested in mistakes that occur during the handicraft and painting process. Ole’s theatrical and controversial plots always combine techniques from different painting styles, from geometric abstractionism to pop art and nouveau réalisme.
Instead of directly tackling current events, Ole’s paintings speak about the general power dynamics between people or the artist and the artist’s work, but these positions of power are always ambiguous, absurd and even humorous. He uses different characters to act out the conflicts in the plots – besides his own figure and the comicbook-like bubblehead-man, different surrealist assemblage-creatures have appeared since 2012.
Kaido Ole is a member of the Estonian Artists’ Association. He has received the Kristjan Raud (1998), Konrad Mägi (2012) and the Cultural Endowment of Estonia (1999 and 2005) annual art prizes and the Order of the White Star III class amongst other awards. Ole’s works are held in the collections of the Art Museum of Estonia, Tartu Art Museum, Contemporary Art Museum of Estonia, the European Parliament, the ABLV Bank collection for the Latvian Museum of Contemporary Art and the Angerlehner Museum.
(Text by Anneli Porri)
A selection of recent and upcoming solo and group exhibitions includes "K&O", ARS Project Space, Tallinn (2023); "MDF, Metal, Rubber & Paint", Temnikova & Kasela Gallery (2023); "Kaido Ole: Counting to Ten", Centre of Contemporary Art in Torun, Poland (2022); "All together", Temnikova &Kasela Gallery (2020); "A Sparrow in the Hand" with Benjamin Badock in Tallinn Art Hall Gallery (2020); a solo retrospective "Dance at the Lonely Hearts Club" in Latvian National Museum of Art, Riga (2019); “Related by Sister Languages. Estonian-Hungarian Contemporary Art Exhibition”, Ludwig Museum, Budapest (2018); "Blind Date", Triumph Gallery, Moscow (2017); "Nogank Hoparniis", Tallinn Art Hall (2016); "The New Building", Tartu Art Museum; "The Meaning of Life", with Marko Mäetamm, FUGA, Budapest (2015); "Freaks", Tallinn Art Hall Gallery; "Typical Individuals", Tartu Art Museum; "100 Painters of Tomorrow", One Art Space, New York (2014); "...oh, and also...", Temnikova & Kasela, Tallinn (2013); "Archaeology and the Future of Estonian Art Scenes", KUMU Art Museum, Tallinn; 2003-2011, Novy Museum, Saint Petersburg; "Handsome Hero and Plenty of Still Lifes", KUMU Art Museum; "Collection of Desires. Privatized Art", Contemporary Art Museum of Estonia, Tallinn (2012).
Selected works
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Good Times
oil, acrylic, canvas 195×280cm 2024




Bad Times
oil, acrylic, canvas 195×280cm 2024




Palve
oil, acrylic, canvas 300×195cm 2025



K & O go to heaven
oil and acrylic on canvas 400×260cm 2023



Artist I
oil, acrylic. canvas 150×135cm 2024



Artist II
oil. acrylic, canvas 150×140cm 2024



Maja katkise basseiniga / House with Run-Down Pool
acrylic, oil, canvas 190×300cm 2019




Maja Trabanti ja Goethe kujuga / House with Trabant and Statue of Goethe
acrylic, oil, canvas 190×240cm 2019




Kodu / Home
acrylic, oil, canvas 200×190cm 2019




Maalikunstniku maja / Painters House
acrylic, oil, canvas 300×190cm 2019




Freak with Tin Leg
oil, acrylic paint, canvas 87×50cm 2014


Green Freak
oil, acrylic paint, canvas 87×50cm 2014


Käivad ajaga kaasas
oil, acrylic, canvas 90×110cm 2025



Surin ära ja neid maale ma ei jõudnudki enam maalida, ning seda näitust ei toimunud ka
oil, acrylic, canvas 170×200cm 2025



Vaikelu K2
oil, acrylic, canvas 260×240cm 2025



That Darn Cat / Kassiroju
mixed techinique on HDF board 70×50cm 2024



Composition with Rubber I
mixed media, MDF 140×140cm 2023




Composition with Rubber II
mixed media, MDF 140×140cm 2023




Green Freak
mixed technique on HDF board 60×41cm 2014



Artist III
oil, acrylic, canvas 150×135cm 2024



All Together IV
oil, canvas 190×200cm 2019 - 2020


All Together I
oil, acrylic, canvas 255×380cm 2018


Still Life in Memory of J.T.
oil and alkyde paint with plastic details on canvas 150×140cm 2013


Still Life with Man Playing Home
oli on canvas 200×190cm 2013


Freak with Doubts
mixed technique on HDF board 60×41cm 2014



Freak with Prada
mixed technique, HDF board, framed in 6 cm deep box-frame 60×41cm 2014


Armed Freak
oil, acrylic, alkyde paint with plastic details on canvas 280×190cm 2014



At Home with Nature Freak
oil, acrylic, canvas 280×190cm 2014



Freak with a Book
oil, acrylic, canvas 280×190cm 2014


Surrealistic Freak
oil, acrylic, canvas 280×190cm 2014



Still Life with Spinning Shit-wheel and Wire-cloud
oil, acrylic and alkyde paint with wire on canvas 280×200cm 2011


Still Life with Three Boxes of Ultramarine
oil and acrylic on canvas 200×145cm 2011


All Together II
oil, acrylic, canvas 330×230cm 2018


Self-Portrait in the Jungles of Abstract Expressionism
oil, acrylic, canvas 175×210cm 2019


Skinned Pegasus
mixed technique, HDF board 70×50cm 2017


Hey, It’s Me!
mixed technique, HDF board 70×50cm 2017


Zen-Miner
mixed technique, HDF board 70×50cm 2017


Hunt
oil, acrylic, canvas 135×170cm 2016


Tai Chi
mixed technique, HDF board 70×50cm 2016


Still Life with Three Colours
oil, acrylic and alkyde paint on canvas 280×180cm 2011


Sexy Freak
oil, acrylic, alkyde paint with plastic details on canvas 280×190cm 2014
