Väino Õun In the Territory of Emotions

Väino Õun’s exhibition In the Territory of Emotions is a flow of graphic line and surface compositions, created in 2021 and 2022. The ambiguous title summarises the artist’s creative process – emotion as the initial impulse to start a work and field as the paper in which the feeling is placed on. The title also marks the hours it takes to separate an artist’s mind from the rest of the world.

Õun’s graphic style is abstract, calligraphic and nonfigurative. He has been inspired by ancient Roman and medieval Romanesque styles and fractures and the original forms of the letters. 

The nature of calligraphy or fiction in his works is perceptible. As an accent, the observer can also find certain modern graffiti language and graphic details that refer to both memories and real connections with ancient writing techniques. Abstract unimaginative forms are placed in a dynamically playful landscape of moods. The exhibition In the Territory of Emotions is rather silent, but at the same time passionate. Calligraphic pedantry, compositional tension as well as harmony have their place in Õun’s works.

Väino Õun (b 1984) is a freelance artist and graphic designer. He studied graphic design at the Estonian Academy of Arts. During his studies he gained interest in typography and later more specifically in calligraphy. His artistic career has been influenced by accidental exposure to street art in 1997 and his work as a graffiti artist for over 10 years. Since 2015 Õun has dedicated himself to calligraphy in order to learn the principles of classical letter forms. Since 2018, he has been teaching typography and calligraphy at the Estonian Academy of Arts and Pallas University of Applied Sciences.