TALLINN - The Occupation Museum in Tallinn cheered up its regular exhibition with a guest display by local artist and designer Igor Ziko, more formerly known as Igor Zinchenko. Yet the exhibit's humbling realism and urban familiarity fit strangely well in the somber museum.
"Verkehrsverbindungen" (German for "traffic facilities") features 19 paintings and graphic designs united by their somewhat mysterious motifs and distinguished artistic style.
Ziko, who also played bass guitar in Dzuma, one of Estonia's most renowned easy-listening bands, says that the world's potential for expression cannot leave him unaffected. Clearly, the world has left its mark on him. And it left it well.
Ziko's artwork is a reflection of what surrounds him. The sad look on the face of a woman selling souvenir statuettes as pedestrians, armed with umbrellas, rush by on the rainy street. The redness of a woman's dress, as a waiter slips her a white envelope in a classy restaurant. A taxi driving through a busy intersection. All these images are inspired by the fast-paced life of a modern city. Colors, forms and faces blend, twirling, into Ziko's reality.
One may notice that the current exhibition differs significantly from the artist's previous works. The Verkehrsverbindungen series comes closest to Ziko's 1997 series named Cyberjazz, although it has clearly developed in style. Above all, the artist's current works are much more elegant in technique. They are an undisputable fashion statement to today's metropolis.
