Evar Riitsaar's new exhibition "The Gathering Game" ("Kokkumäng") is inspired by two kannel players, whom the artist has brought together from different photographs onto a single canvas in a work created using pencil. Alongside this, the artist also depicted patterns of pile knots he has made himself, allowing visitors to the exhibition to delve into places they would otherwise not be able to.

"The Gathering" is not just an exhibition. It also carries a deeper message that the artist believes should be given more attention by society.

"A nation, a state and a culture will endure if the rulers from above, and the people, rural and urban, think about things as a whole for their future generations," said Riitsaar, adding that remaining yourself is one of the key themes of his work.

All the works have been made using lithography, or stone printing. The idea to present Riitsaar in this way came in collaboration Jaak Visnap, the head of the Estonian Lithography Center, with whom the exhibition was created.

"For me, it's a totally mystical graphic technique. They draw a picture on a stone slab with either chalk, charcoal or ink and then there is some etching, rubber scraping, water and thanks to some weird trick and system they manage to print the picture from the stone onto paper," said artist Toomas Kuusing.

"The Gathering" is on display at the Hal`as Kunn Art Gallery in Obinitsa, Setomaa. The exhibition is a part of the celebrations marking ten years since Obinitsa was the capital of Finno-Ugric culture and 20 years since the Hal`as Kunn Art Gallery was founded.

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