A request for reply
	Questions to Peeter Mudist by Estonian artists

	Kaido Ole: Having recently again watched Jaan Toomik's video Peeter and Mart where you also reply to various questions, one part bothered me. You were asked how your attitudes have changed over time, and the reply was more or less that nothing much has changed at all, that everything is still on its old childish level. And you added that there was no reason to aspire any higher; it was indeed not possible: one can only get lower. Could you explain these replies? I will not ask anything further, as these few lines provoked lots of questions, which I am not going to put down because it would take up too much space here. Peeter Mudist: I am, on the whole, satisfied with this answer. I have not made any great progress anywhere since then. And I haven't invented anything new either. Except realising that replies are usually contained inside the questions. The questions are often not properly put, or your reply is expected to come too quickly. In most cases the world voluntarily opens up after a short wait. Things tend to become clear and emerge. And they emerge in a form. Form should definitely be examined. Leonhard Lapin: What is your relationship with god? Have you had any direct experience with the creator? The relationship is that I am afraid of Him. A few years ago I considered this question too personal to answer. I cannot go to church because of my illness. I try not to whine too much and this, to be honest, constitutes my contribution on the god-finding path. As for direct experience, this can only happen on the initiative of the creator. I can't point out anything special, except that I am still here. Jaan Elken: In the early 1990s you said that "painting must prove itself again in the new situation". has this happened, and what do you value most in contemporary Estonian art? It is wonderful and appealing that people did not remain staring at the spent campfires. So yes, it has happened. this is what I value. Before you asked the question I never had any need for this reply, but now I feel that it is quite important. The theory of making a picture taught at school is the path that takes you to the picture. There are of course wider and narrower paths to choose, and accordingly you get a picture, a better or a worse one. What I want to say here is that it is possible to learn how to make a picture. Knowledge is not a sin.
	Vive Tolli: I have always admired your wit and knack for finding a suitable name for a picture. How does it work? Is a work inspiration enough when you are choosing a name or perhaps the topic and name exist beforehand? The name and the picture must be born on the surface of the canvas. Out of the ideas and colours that make up the picture. The name is the only verbal feature of a picture, and the shortest way to it. It is the first and often the only proof that something took place. When the picture tells you its name and it is possible to see that in the picture, it has been completed. this is how it was. However, having written long stories in my book to accompany each picture, the form is no longer the same. Here eyes and mind work simultaneously, both do their job, and when one finishes sooner, it can help the other or just look around idly. From there onwards, all co-operation ends, and it seems that things progress from precisely the place where the connection between eyes and mind disappears. These places may offer innovation. However, they can only amiably go to sleep together or queue for the sauna. Let this simplified explanation be an attempt to distinguish the common form of word and picture, where each still belongs to its own camp. I did not at first realise that this could be a separate genre. I wonder if anybody has ever tried to regard picture titles as an individual literary or art genre. But to say that novel and epic have separated from painting and graphic art, is a bit highhanded. Jüri Arrak: What is your attitude to different faiths and religions? Jüri, you look a lot more like god, and having quietly observed you, I have found that you are, to some extent, what you are doing. Several faiths do not mean much faith. I can do with just one. I wouldn't want to have anything to do with non-believers now. I reply as if I know precisely what I am talking about, but in fact I don't know any more about it than I believe. Avo Keerend: If you were not Peeter Mudist, who would you like to be instead (in Estonian or world art)? Kalevipoeg*. And if my health were better, I'd enjoy being myself. Jaan Toomik: It is 4 am. What do you ask yourself? Can I get up now? Take my medicine or not? Is that chap Toomik already asleep? Raul Meel: What would you do and what would you ask yourself if you felt at some point that you had reached a boundary in your life's work where there was nothing to add? Then one must wait. Or carry on, whatever. When the deeds are small. When they are big, then I don't know. Peeter Laurits: While designing the book Illustrated Mudist or Tobias I realised that your dharma manifests itself by means of short and lucid things - colours, locations, balances and imbalances. No need for big words. But do say, just for the fun of it, just one big word. Tell me the biggest word you know, Peeter. Fun. I don't know any bigger. Or Worry. or death. They are exactly as big as you write them. Maybe it's sea. Or Islander. Or Estonian. Jehovah. Social security. Loneliness. Enn Põldroos: I have always imagined that people in your pictures live in a special, enthralling time-space that I cannot put a name to. Can you? It is wonderful when you can have your fellow countrymen as paragons. Kaarel Liimand (1906Ð1941, Estonian painter - Ed) was a man with a much more enthralling and diverse space. I still cannot name his room either. Too fragile a substance. Ly Lestberg: Peeter, the latest change you have observed in your evaluations? No changes. At least I haven't observed any. * Estonian national epic hero Peeter Mudist (1942), one of the best-known Estonian artists. Since early 1970s his paintings, sculptures and prints have maintained highly individualistic style that can be characterised as portrayals of moods and inner landscapes, emphasizing the personal visual world. The third winter exhibition of the Finnish Retretti Art Centre presented works by Peeter Mudist in Helsinki Kunsthalle from March 12 to April 17, 2005 (curator Anu Liivak). The exhibition of Peeter Mudist is now open in the Museum of Estonian Architecture at Rotermann Salt Storage until September 17, 2005.
	| Estonian Art 1/05 (16) | Published by the Estonian Institute 2005 | ISSN 1406-5711 (Online) | ISSN 1406-3549 (Printed version) | einst@einst.ee | tel: (372) 631 43 55 | fax: (372) 631 43 56 |