A Strange Window

One of Olev Subbi’s last works is a view into the distance through an abstract frame. This is a recurrent motif throughout his entire creative legacy: an opening in the pictorial space through which one can see a lighter, more idyllic and abstract environment. Similar motifs can be found in art history: the purpose is to make the pictorial space more varied by providing views into the distance and creating doublings of space. In Soviet times, such views acquired a political dimension: they hinted at a parallel world that was brighter and better than the real world. Subbi used that motif recurrently in the 1990s and even later, but in this particular case its purpose is purely constructional. A certain sentimentality is, however, also present, because looking into the distance is always related to some sort of yearning, even if it is not yearning for something concrete.