Aili Vint was born in 1941, 25. April in Estonia
1962-1967 Studied at Institute of Art, Tallinn, Estonia
1964 -1970 Member of ANK’ 64
1967 — present is married to painter and writer Toomas Vint.
Is Toomas Vint a writer who paints or a painter who writes,— I don’t know.
1970 — present Freelance artist, a member of Estonian Artist’s
1991 — present creative mentor to top leaders of the republic
the story of my destiny
Once upon a time, when I was a child there was a seascape with gigantic wave, hanging on the wall by my bed. I remember how, at bed-time, instead of going to sleep, I roamed on crests of the waves and slid down to the trough. In that stormy sea I had my own place to crawl into when I felt sleepy, and so I often dozed off in the embrace of the silky wave. The picture by my bed was a copy of The Ninth Wave (1850), by Ivan Aivazovski.
And today, three of my seascapes are hanging in one room side by side with Ivan Aivazovski’s works at the Sudkovsky’s Seascapes Muuseum in Otšhakiv, Ukraine. —- Can you imagine! Now sleep together our pictures!
WORKS IN MUSEUMS
Sudkovsky’s Seascapes Muuseum in Otšakiv, Ukraine
Tretyakov’s Gallery, Moscow, Russia
Tartu Art Museum, Tartu, Estonia
Kumu Art Museum of Estonia, Tallinn
Zimmerli Art Museum, Rutgers University, New Jersey, USA
FILMOGRAPHY
1974 Rein Raamat Animated film "Flight" artist. - 3/4 jury special prize, II Zagrebi International Animated Film Festival. Croatia.
Light Sculpture of Sunset 1995 https://arhiiv.err.ee/vaata/uks-pilt-aili-vint-skulptuur-paikeseloojangust
Estonian TV Estonian Art: Aili Vint 1998 https://arhiiv.err.ee/vaata/eesti-kunst-aili-vint
And God created the woman ”Portraits of Aging. Channel 2, 2001
“Inimeselt inimesele”. Intervjuu Linnu Mäega. 2002, 08.
From person to person. Interview with Linnu Mägi. 2002, 08.
“Subboteja” saade A. Zukkermanniga Haiba lastekodu fuajee maalimisest lastekodu lastega. Kanal 2, 2004, 10.
“Subboteja” program with A. Zukkermann about painting the lobby of the Haiba orphanage with the children of the orphanage. Channel 2, 2004, 10.
Starship Aili Vint ETV 2007 https://arhiiv.err.ee/vaata/tahelaev-aili-vint/same-series
Exchange of presenters of "Glasses Box": Tiina Park 2018
PRIZES
1994 Konrad Mägi prize, Estonia
1994 Town of Pärnu prize, Estonia
2002 Order of the White Star, Estonia
2015 Kristjan Raua prize , Estonia
PEDAGOGICAL ACTIVITY SINCE 1991
1991 - 1996 Estonian Academy of Arts lecturer, a creativity mentor
1996 - 2002 Estonian Business School, creative know-how training for top leaders and businessmen
1999 - 2006 Estonian Euro Management Institute, creativity mentor
Since 2012 TTÜ creative training for architects
creativity is the only permanently faithful capital
Creativity mentor Aili Vint: Whatever your profession, switch on your creative light and you will see a genius!
On more creative training video is here: Eesti kunst, Aili Vint /ERR/ 1998 Eesti kunst: Aili Vint
1980 —2011
ILLUSTRATIONS FROM THE BOOKS
Aili Vint THE SEA BOOK published by Tulikiri, Tallinn 2011 ISBH 978-9949-21-899-8
Aili Vint From the book: LIKE SUN IN THE SKY published by Ilo, Tallinn 2000 ISBN 9985-57-299-8
From animated film "Flight" (Rein Raamat) — 3/4 jury special prize, II Zagrebi International Animated Film Festival (Croatia), 1974
Award for discovering ingenuity and new possibilities in animation.
SELECTED INTERNATIONAL GROUP EXHIBITIONS 1971-2013
2013 The artists group ANK – 64 Tallinn Art Hall, Estonia
2012 CHA Roads & Tracks Moscow International Art Salon, Russia
2010 Popkunst Forever Estonian Pop Art at the turn of the 1960s and 1970s, Kumu ART Museum
2002 The Baltics Museum of Rutgers University. New Yersey US
2001 Faulconer Galleri of Grinneli College, Iowa, USA
2000 Tallinn–Moscow 1956 — 1985 Joint exhibition of Estonian and Russian unofficial art. Tallinn Art Hall
1995 Osaka Sculpture Triennial, Japan
1994 Osaka Print Triennial, Japan
1993 Osaka Painting Triennial, Japan
1993 Substance — Unsubstance. The 1st annual exhibition of the Soros Foundation, Center for Contemporary Arts, Estonia.
1988, 1991 Miniprint Triennial, Chamalières France
1987 Art of Soviet Estonia, Moscow
1987 Rostock Painting Triennial, Germany
1984 Space and Form, Art Hall, Tallinn
1983, 1986 Riga Miniprint Triennial, Latvia
1981, 1987 Lodz Miniprint Triennial, Poland
1977 Szecin, Poznan, Warssavi (with Toomas Vint) Poland
1975, 1984 Baltic Painting Triennial, Vilnius, Lithuania
1972, 1997 Cracow Graphic Art Biennial, Poland
1971, 1980, 1983, 1989, 1995 Tallinn Print Triennial, Estonia
SOME CATALOGS FROM EXHIBITIONS 2010 —2019
2019 Catalog: “Border Poetics. Estonian Art 1918–2018” is an exhibition of the Art Museum of Estonia and the National Tretyakov Gallery, combining Estonian art of the last hundred years from the collections of the two museums.
2017 101 Eesti kunstiteost, raamat kirjastuselt Varrak, Estonia
2014 AILI VINT. .TOOMAS VINT Artists footprint, kirjastus Tulikiri, Estonia ISBN 978-9949-9362-3-6
2013 THE ARTISTS GROUP ANK' 64 Tallinn Art Hall, Estonia
2012 CHA ROADS & TRACKS, Moscow International Art Salon, Russia
2010 POPKUNST FOREVER Estonian Pop Art at the turn of the 1960s and 1970s, Kumu ART Museum ISBN 978-9949-9086-3-9
2013 THE DESIRE FOR FREEDOM ART IN EUROPE SINCE 1945, 30th Council of Europe exhibition. Deutsches Historisches Museum, Berlin; Palazzo Reale, Milan; Kumu Art Museum, Tallinn ISBN 978-3-942422-98-7
SEA UNDER THE DARK SKY 1975, oil on canvas 92 x 115 cm, Kumu ART Museum
SOME LATEST INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITIONS 2015—2019
2019 in Kumu Art Museum: Open Collections. The Artist Takes the Floor invites visitors to walk through a forest of art history and sees to it that the walk is a meandering journey, taking museum-goers from main paths to enjoyable side trails which have not yet been fully assessed and categorised in art history.In inviting the artists, the curator considered their creative profiles with the aim of involving different media. Several invited artists made the initial choice of pieces of interest based on the electronic museum database MuIS and the digital collection of the Art Museum of Estonia, which was followed by actual work with the collection. The works of art on exhibit cover the period from the 17th to the 21st centuries.
This project curated by Maria Arusoo is centred around the theme of the female body in Aili Vint’s prints and the Serbian artist Ivana Bašić’s sculptures.
2018 -2019 Estonian Art 1918 - 2019, Tretjakov Gallery, Moscow “Border Poetics
Estonian Art 1918–2018” is an exhibition of the Art Museum of Estonia and the National Tretyakov Gallery, combining Estonian art of the last hundred years from the collections of the two museums.
The Atlantic Sea 1981 Oil on canvas 175 x 200 cm Tretjakov Gallery
On The Island of Tütarsaar 1985 Oil on canvas 115 x 145 cm Tretjakov Gallery,
XXX Baltic Regatta. Waiting for The Wind, Triptychon II, 1979 Oil on canvas 174 x 150 cm Tretjakov Gallery,
2018 Kris Lemsalu and Aili Vint at Bozar, Brussels @bozarbrussels until August 19,
curated by Maria Arusoo, director of CCA, Estonia! ••• The exhibition is part of the project "Somewhere in Between. Contemporary Art Scenes in Europe" in Bozar. Brussels
2017 Man & Woman, MONA The Museum of New Art, Pärnu, Estonia
2016 Soviet Hippies are present at the exhibition: PEACE AND LOVE
Soviet Hippies, a new exhibition at London's Red Gallery, takes visitors back to Soviet Estonia to step into a parallel universe — the hippie movement that existed within the Brezhnev regime. Curated by KIWA and Terje Toomistu, the exhibition is based on an in-depth anthropological study, which saw the pair interview 15 people who were part of the hippie movement in the “Soviet West”, as Estonia was known owing to its bohemian feel and rock music scene. Visitors to Soviet Hippies will be able to get a privileged insight into the experience of this generation, with the interview films and a rich array of archive photography due to be shown at the exhibition.
Soviet Hippies are present at the exhibition: PEACE AND LOVE, 2016 Malmö Moderna Museetisse. Soviet hippies: psychedelic underground of 1970s, Estonia / Nõukogude hipi / YouTube)
Aili Vint: Sometimes I get the feeling that the Sea has completely drawn me in, that it rules my thoughts and emotions. Quite often I paint the Sea in my dreams or have bizarre dreams about it. I remember a particularly clear and brightly coloured dream of myself, sitting on a slope and admiring the greenest meadow from Toomas Vint’s painting in front of me. Suddenly I heard the roar of the sea getting louder and louder, and a huge wave, stretching over the whole meadow, rumbling towards me. The wave was so transparent that I could see the blades of grass bend under it, quivering in confusion after the wave had passed. When the wave reached me, I sat quietly and just lifted my elbows to let the wave roll past me. When I looked behind me, I saw that I was sitting by a boundless expanse of water, created by the wave. But I was bone dry. That puzzled me most in this dream – how I could have remained dry in this huge whirl of water? The fact that a gigantic wave had rolled across a green meadow felt completely natural to me.
AILI VINT & TOOMAS VINT (painted together): AILI WATCHING HER DREAM 2011 oil on canvas 110 X 190,5 cm artist*s collection
2014-2015 Aili Vint's and Toomas Vint's exhibition: ARTIST'S FOOTPRINT, Tallinn Art Hall, Estonia
Together with Toomas Vint,
it was our pleasure to bestow, on all the visitors at the Tallinn Art Hall, the warmth of summer in the middle of a cold and dark northern winter. The sun rose and set at our exhibit – for a whole month! Never mind that it did so in paintings and installations!
It was our intent to impart visitors, as they entered the Art Hall, with the right frame of mind. To that end we prepared a surprise for the people rushing in from the winter gloom, feeling all too grey. They could see the sun rising in the display window, and upon entering they were walking on grass and the scent of fresh-mown hay tickled their noses!
THE SUN SET AND RISES FROM THE TALLINN ART HALL 2014-2015 Time-and-Space Specific Light Installation.
It is a 30000 x 900 x 1400 cm expanse of sky where on light itself mixes the colours of the sunset, and so subtly that no artist could equal it.
RETRO 1995
THE SUN SETS ON & RISES FROM THE ART HALL
how light meditative sculpture and with it my first performance spontaneously was born in Tallinn Art Hall
Aili Vint: In Estonian there is a beautiful word KUMAMA (GLOW) that means reception of ones surroundings and at the same time a desire to give back even more generously. For example the glow of the sun reflected on a child’s face or the glowing reflection of sky on the sea. Light Sculpture of Sunset is a piece that was already conceived in my childhood, although it materialized only in 1995, when the renovation of Tallinn Art Hall was completed but all its rooms were still empty.
This performance took place in October 1995, in May, when our Northern summer had not yet begun. The event lasted for two days. During the first day people were enjoying the beach and sent off the Sun. The next morning everyone gathered to greet the real sunrise.
see the video below:
https://arhiiv.err.ee/vaata/uks-pilt-aili-vint-skulptuur-paikeseloojangust
2016 Caprices in Tartu Art House
EXHIBITIONS 2021
Woman & Sea Viinistu Art Museum,Tynngallery
WOMAN & SEA 2021 Curator: Andra Orn, Viinistu Art Museum
ART IS DESIGN IS ART 2021 Curators: Eda Tuulberg, Karin Vicente Kumu Art Museum
Estonian design in the second half of the Soviet period – the 1970s and 1980s – was marked by significant overlap and interactions with art. Many artists, designers and architects were active in both fields. Artists trained in applied arts frequently designed items for mass production or crafted limited-edition studio pieces, while those who had studied design or architecture also created works of fine art. The borders between the categories of art were also blurred for the artists themselves, whose works, despite the artists’ different backgrounds, were often inspired by the same problems and driven by similar impulses.
And now, 50 years later I writed a letter…
Dear Ay-O!
I am an artist Aili Vint from Estonia, Europe. I'm writing to You for the first time, even though I've wanted to do it for 50 years. We are not acquainted, but I know You already from the 1970s, when Your work was exhibited at the Krakow Biennale. Do You remember: Ay-O, 1970 Paysage d’arc-en-ciel A — serigraphie. We remember these Golden Sixties Forever! And Yours Fluxus Group!
Our ANK '64 Group was formed in 1964 under the aegis of the Student Scientific Society of the State Art Institute of the Estonian SSR.
We often forget that we are not physical beings exploring spirituality, we are spiritual beings who experience ourselves throught the different physical worlds. In this case, one of us has lived in a free world, but the other has lived in a banality which was introduced into the Estonian life by the Soviet system.
In the beginning of my career as an artist I loved picking vibrant colors, comparing their lightness-darkness and boldly transferring them to the paper without much awareness of where this came from. This resulted in pop-art, which was innovative at the time. Years later (1970), from the Krakow Biennale III catalogue I learned, that there is an acclaimed artist named Ay-O in Japan, who uses the same kind of striped gradient motifs in his serigraphy.
You were already famous at that time and I might have been pegged as a plagiarist: Someone named Ay-Li does the same thing as the Japanese Ay-O!
I abruptly gave up the style I had invented, despite the fact that it held a lot of promise for development. It was a pity, of course, but I actually enjoyed this unexpected turn in my work, which gave me the opportunity to start painting the Sea instead, something that I had already dream of as a child. I still paint the Sea the old-fashioned way. Miles and miles of it, from the home shore to the horizon. But something still is on my mind. It is known that every person on earth has „a doppelgänger“. Are we perhaphs kindred spirits?
What else do we have in common? I educate students as well, teach them to use their 5 senses more actively – just like You do.
http://www.ailivint.com/creativity
Although our creative paths have taken us to different parts of the world at the same time our works have been remarkably similar. It would be amazing, if we could finally meet in order to show the phenomenon -- the similarity of our works to the world.
In case I will get a chance to have an exhibition in Tallinn, then my greatest wish would be to do it together with You.
I am sending my best wishes to You through the Estonian Embassy in Japan and hope to get into contact with You.
Until we meet,
Sincerely Yours,
Aili Vint