The exhibition "Two Departures" ("Kaks lahkumist") includes work that has never been on public display before. It focuses on the artist's homecoming from exile as well as his return to Estonian art history.

Adamson was a painter, printmaker, sculptor and art teacher whose creative peak was between 1980 and 2010. As an Estonian artist living abroad in Czechoslovakia, he produced art largely for himself.

The artist left his homeland legally and without changing his citizenship but was under pressure to do so by the Soviet authorities 1980. At the demands of the authorities, he was expelled from the Estonian Artists' Association and "erased" from Estonian art history.

After the collapse of the USSR, Adamson had his first new solo exhibition in Estonia in 1990, followed by several more. As an artist permanently living and working abroad, he remained away from the art scene in Estonia, and his "cancellation" also had an effect even in retrospect.

The Vaal Gallery is displaying a selection of his paintings that were left in the artist's studio and with his relatives after his departure. In the timeline of these paintings, one can observe both the artist's faithfulness to his creative credo and changes in his style.

"Nevertheless, Jaak Adamson remained first and foremost an Estonian artist. His artworks are specifically situated in the Estonian cultural space and context, and at times can only be understood in this way. Therefore this exhibition is not only about these two departures – it is also a homecoming," the gallery said.

Adamson was a member of the Estonian Artists' Association from 1969 to 1980 and again since 1997. He was a member of the Slovak Union of Visual Arts since 1987. Among the awards he received was the Annual Prize for Painting in 1979.  

"Two Departures" ("Kaks lahkumist") is open at the Vaal Gallery until July 6.

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