Uno Roosvalt 'Home Shores'

Uno Roosvalt’s anniversary exhibition Home Shores, inspired by homely motifs, is open at the Vabaduse Gallery from 24 July. The exhibition is being curated by Katariina Pruus and it will remain open until 26 August.

The exhibition features a comprehensive and contemplative ensemble of the artist’s most recent work, where nature and man, creator and creation come together and merge into a harmonious whole. The selected works highlight Roosvalt’s distinctive style, offering compositionally engaging insight into the lifelong dialogue of a master with his surrounding environment.

At the conceptual core of the exhibition lies a visual trinity: the coastline, the sea and the blue horizon. These elements are not mere recordings of a landscape, but accurate reflections of the raw vitality of Kihnu island’s nature. One of the most compelling images that acts also as a bridge of time is the motif of the boat, an archaic symbol conveying yearnings for sovereignty and open waters. The deep connection that started in the artist’s childhood, when he first saw a sailboat model at the Leesi coastal church, has grown into a philosophical metaphor over the decades. The animals that appear alongside boats and coastal landscapes add an earthy warmth and subtle mysticism to the works, embodying both the pets that have accompanied the artist on his life path, as well as the primal, wild and untamed side of nature.

Roosvalt’s body of work eloquently reflects Karl Ristikivi’s apt observation that every person carries in them two longings: one for a home and one for distances. Looking at the boats pulled up on the shore, the artist invites the viewer to contemplate the temporality of people and things and ponder the true, lasting values. As a whole, the exhibition seems to send the message that although dreams and yearnings can often lead us out into the unknown, home, with its people, animals and memories, is still the warmest and most secure place to finally anchor your boat.

Uno Roosvalt (b. 1941) is a renowned Estonian painter and drawer. He studied at the Tartu Art School from 1956 to 1962 and graduated from the State Art Institute of the Estonian SSR (now the Estonian Academy of Arts) in 1969, specialising in painting. He is a member of the Estonian Artists’ Association (since 1975) and the Estonian Painters Association (since 1992); in 2010 he was named an honorary member of the Estonian Artists’ Association.

He has been a long-time lecturer at the Estonian Academy of Arts (1970–2011), as well as an associate professor since 1989 and the head of the Department of Painting from 1985–1995. Roosvalt has actively participated in exhibitions since 1968. He has held numerous solo exhibitions and participated in group exhibitions both in Estonia and abroad, including in Finland, Lithuania, the UK, Germany and Belgium.

As an artist who has been active for over half a century, he and his work have been awarded numerous noteworthy accolades, including the Estonian Painters Association’s Award in 2000, the Konrad Mägi Award in 2011, the Erik Haamer Art Award in 2018, and the Kristjan Raud Art Award in 2019.

On Thursday, 6 August from 5:00– 7:00 PM, a tour introducing all of the exhibitions of the Estonian Artists’ Association’s galleries will be held. On Friday, 21 August at 5:15 PM a conversation between the curator Katariina Pruus and art historian Mai Levin will take place.

The exhibition Home Shores will remain open at the Vabaduse Gallery until 26 August 2026.

The exhibition is supported by the Cultural Endowment of Estonia.
The gallery is supported by the Estonian Ministry of Culture, the Cultural Endowment of Estonia and Liviko Ltd.
The activities of the Vabaduse Gallery are managed by the Estonian Artists’ Association.