February 24, 2020

TANEL VEENRE, Estonia

“Every day I finish my job, I say thank you to my hands. It is important to be grateful, ”says TANEL VEENRE, an Estonian jewellery artist. Hands are his instrument and medium at the same time, and he thinks we simply underestimate them in our daily lives.
 “The art of jewellery is very intimate because of its direct contact with the body. To be honest, sometimes I’m not sure whether the brain is involved in the process of creation because sometimes it feels like everything is in our fingers. That they think for themselves. Of course, this is my imagination, my way of feeling the world. But I really think our hands are a lot smarter than we think. We need to trust them much more because nothing can be more magical than touch. Also, touch each other. We are all organic and therefore instantly recognize other organic materials. There is a big difference between touching wood or plastic and the range of feelings / associations that these materials bring to us. My relationship with my hands has a constant curiosity – something they could tell me. ”
 Tanel Veenres’ jewellery is also a kind of tactile dialogue. The touch – whether it be an oyster cover, a tree, a resin, a seahorse, a heart, a cross, a stone – painted in the blue of the sea, takes each of its viewers / bearers into their own senses and experiences. In addition, unlike verbal, there are no linguistic restrictions on jewellery. Everyone can talk at it, creating a conditional vocabulary for each person’s own experience. “The symbols – heart, cross, sun – are also understandable without words,” says Veenre. “That’s why I like to use them.”
 There have always been and will be dark flowers and hearts in my work – this is the melancholy side of my nature. Bitter sweet beauty. This is my sorrow about closing of the gallery PUTTI and I am grateful to Agita that I have been a part of her jewellery family.
DARK ORCHID is a special piece from my newest series I will show winter 2020/21 – but I decided to show it before on the final show of PUTTI. Dangerous but tender, illusion of softness with black hard materials. And there is a real carved onyx combined with artificial onyx – as are our personalities, there are deep alleys of our real personality and then there are cultural influences on the top of it. BEAUTY OF BEING AS IT IS.

http://www.tanelveenre.com/

Veenre does not hide that he is interested in the whole spectrum – both the highly conceptual branch of jewellery and the so-called fashion and commercial jewellery. “I think art is an essence. Like syrup, like poison. And there are only a few people in the world who can drink essence because they are strong enough. However, to make this essence drinkable, you need to add ten liters of water. And then everyone can drink it as a light drink. These are so-called fashion jewellery that are very easy to wear. But at the same time, they have not lost their message. Wearability is a very irrational term, because all things get in the way of someone. You touch them. ”
Tanel Veenre / 1977 / graduated from the Estonian Academy of Arts, Department of Metal Art / 2001 /. As a visiting student he studied at the Gerita Rittveld Academy in Amsterdam (1997 – 1998) with Professor Ruudt Peter. Since 2005 he has worked as a lecturer at the Metal Art Department of the Estonian Academy of Arts and since 2012 he has been working as a professor at the Faculty of Design.