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


Ringo Starr
lithography 40×29cm 1993
