Gallery Lightness21
Kaupo Kikkas
Estonian Visual Artist and Photographer
Silver Birch Treescape, © Kaupo Kikkas. Digigraphie certified on Canson Etching Rag cotton paper. Signed and numbered. Photographs are available in a Limited Edition of 25 (40 x 60 cm printed on 60 x 80 cm paper) or in the larger Collectors’ Edition of 9 (80 x 100 cm). A Special Edition of 5 is also available (150cm or 200cm). Please contact for details and prices.
Treescape, © Kaupo Kikkas
“For years, I have looked for a way to represent trees. Trees are usually defined by a mere biological classifier. Trees are the most obvious part of the space around us that we take them for granted. However, I still feel that there is much more to trees. When attempting to describe that feeling, I discovered I can’t find words for it. So I have been attempting to say it with a camera, giving my thoughts freedom and hoping that my eyes and hands can do more with a camera than the rigid vocabulary we have been taught.”
“In order to stress what is important and to remove as much of the natural environment from a picture as possible, I have chosen the classical black and white medium. The pictures have a lot of texture and patterned dynamics accompanied with several double exposures. ‘Treescape’ consists of 50 works of varied format, which are available in numbered limited edition prints.”
“‘Traces’ examines the co-existence of human beings and nature. In this long-term project I have attempted to maintain a positive and hopeful outlook. Pain and suffering surround us in abundance, but when walking in the natural world you can find hope with every step, witnessing nature rebound, reclaiming what was taken from it. Traces is a visual exploration of how nature adapts and returns. ‘Traces’ contains monochrome still photographs.”
Kaupo Kikkas
Inspired by the work of Ansel Adams, the ‘Treescapes’ of Estonian artist and photographer Kaupo Kikkas (b.1983) reveal the rhythms, structures, markings and textures of trees, in black and white. Known for his portrait photographs of classical musicians, composers and conductors - including the most famous images of Estonian composer Arvo Pärt - Kikkas documents trees like music too, through patterns and variations. By removing the familiarity of colour, he communicates a more abstract feeling of time and renewal, playing with frozen moments of light and - in his ‘Traces’ series too - allowing you to see clearly through his poetic, sometimes surrealist eye.”
With a formal training in photography at Finland’s Visual Arts Institute, and his own experience of working in the musical arts, Kikkas blends nature and music in exceptional work. His international exhibitions include “Ansel” (2018), “Inner Cosmos” (2022), “What Would You Take?” (2023), and “Rendezvous” (2025), in which the ‘Traces’ are paired with graphics by printmaker Evi Tihemets (b.1932) to tell a story. A number of his collections have been published as books, and in 2011 he was named Best Estonian portrait photographer at the Baltics Photography Festival.
“Scientists and medical researchers are now beginning to prove what has been instinctively felt - that a prolonged view or photograph of a tree can not only improve psychological wellbeing, but can actually help with physical health and healing, strengthening the immune system, reducing blood pressure and anxiety, even accelerating learning and communication. I think the ‘Treescapes’ have that propensity too, to convey balance and peace. See Walking in the Woods by Japanese Professor Yoshifumi Miyazaki, a fascinating read.” Clare Farrow
Photographs from the ‘Treescape’ and ‘Traces’ series, below, © Kaupo Kikkas. Prints are shipped in cardboard tubes and advice can be given about framing under museum glass. The works have also been exhibited in wood frames made by Kikkas from old “wind-worn grey planks of wood”, displayed on artist easels. Contact for further details.
