Kai-Mai Olbri’s water-colours and photos “Tangomaagia”
(“Tango magic”) in the Haus gallery until May 30
With the exhibition in the Haus gallery our most outstanding
water-colourist celebrates simultaneously two events: personal
exhibition, which is opened on her 60. anniversary, is for
the artist the twentieth one.
It is interesting to observe, how some states/ nationalities
and their culture change into internationally consumed cultural
clichës and enter in addition to the tourism industry also
the field of culture. Often just a single phenomenon can
attach to iself such an amount of legends and meanings that
the less aware person is as if given a hint of the character
of the whole culture. In case of Argentina such a phenomenon
has become tango that immediately projects us the clichë-type
“South-American”-style of desire and poorly concealed sexuality.
Tango has already a long time ago exceeded the limits of
being only a dance genre, absorbing among others into literature,
film, figurative arts.
Kai-Mai Olbri has made with the Haus exhibition an incision
into the phenomenon, the shade of meaning of which has become
very tall. Luckily Olbri does not try to pretend the complete
ability of partaking of the person, having grown up in the
local context, but rather becomes an observer. Her water-colours
concentrate just on the aesthetics of the displaced point
of view, where from the general picture is picked out a
detail, which is thoroughly examined and then, through the
mentioned detail, is also cast light to the essence of the
phenomenon itself. Such stop shots have for instance been
taken of a hat, being thrown on a chair, of fingers, having
been placed on a saxophone, of a shoe. These aquarel detached
glances form the more playful part of the exhibition, as
the general view of tango is rendered by photos, having
been taken from television.
“SIRP”, 30.05.2003
Eero Epner