Raul Meel, Positions, indian ink on cardboard, 94×63 cm, 1982
Geometric Graphics
Raul Meel, Dilemma (red), serigraphy, 1971
The 1972 Krakow Print Biennial competition “Nicolaus Copernicus and his thought” – “My successful works at that competition was Dilemma of Copernicus. Vision 1 (red)”, 61×59 cm, coloured serigraphy; there was also “Dilemma of Copernicus. Vision 2 (red)”. Later I replaced “The Dilemma of Copernicus” with “Dilemma”. While producing these works I guessed and tried to understand and make visible that the meaning of Copernicus’ revolution was not so much in the development of astronomy but in the idea that we are able to change the image and understanding of the world. We can change it by changing our own lives. After Copernicus the world was no longer a small space and time arranged for humans – it was much wider and much more timeless.”
Raul Meel, “Conspectus of the Past”
Dilemma. Vision 1 (also: Seeing 1)
Dilemma. Vision 2 (also: Seeing 2)
Trinitas 1
Trinitas 2
Trinitas 3
Trinitas 4
“In summer 1999 I developed further the series “Dilemma” started in 1971. I made a group of pictures called “Trinitas” (4 serigraphs, a 62×60 cm). These pictures had a special glow in them; gentle pink lines in a black field form three crowns of thorn (two identical and the third modified); in the centre of the area surrounded by these crowns there is a black circle, like a palm of a small person….”
Raul Meel, “Conspectus of the Past”
Windows and Landscapes in folder
KUMU, 2014
Photo by Stanislav Stepaško
KUMU, 2014
Photo by Stanislav Stepaško
Raul Meel, Windows and Landscapes, serigraphy, 1986-1992, selection
“In 1985 the Paris Centre of Modern Art (Centre International D’Art Contemporain – C.I.A.C.) invited me to participate in an exhibition… I went to seek help from the Artists’ Association. The director was sympathetic, but could offer no solution of how to get my works to the exhibition. I sent a letter expressing my worry to Elena Kornetchuk in America asking her to act for me. In 1988 I found out that my letter asking for help had not arrived. I was really mad at the whole Soviet state. Out of frustration, anger and protest of not having been able to participate in Paris, the nationalistic print series “Windows and Landscapes” began to take shape inside me…
…I submitted 4 screen prints to the 1986 Tallinn Print Triennial, the base forms of the series “Windows and Landscapes” (now they are known from page 168 of the catalogue “From Gulag to Glasnost”)… On the morning of May 19th I lay out my works on the Tallinn Art Hall floor before the jury set to work. Heinz Valk who was later to become the popular speaker of the Estonian singing revolution, walked by and said: “Too sharp! Too sharp!” Valk thus expressed his opinion that largely coincided with the jury’s; as an experienced leading official he could guess what was going to happen next. Two screen prints where the Estonian contour map was joined with squares and diagonals were too dangerous, according to the jury, to allow them to be exhibited (windows! bars?)…
… I continued to print this series until the end of 1992, but there was a lot that remained undone…”
Raul Meel, “Conspectus of the Past”
Raul Meel, Coalitus, serigraphy, 1996 (1976-1992, 1994, 1996), (8 tk, ´a 34,5×70,0 cm) selection
“This is a visual story conveyed by geometrical constructivist images. The story of my “Coalitus” is really quite long. I got the impulse regarding the colour solutions from my mother’s wall carpet that was hanging by my bed in my childhood… In winter 1975-76 I drew the systemic schemes of “Coalitus” that I still keep in my private archives… I first printed 30 pictures (“Conjugatio”, 1992 and 1994), but I was not satisfied and assessed them more harshly: I chose 8 most perfect compositions and reused the colours discovered already at my first printing attempt (1992).
Raul Meel, “Conspectus of the Past”
Raul Meel, Femina Pentagonalis IV-IX, litography, 2003, selection