Kontakt:
Instagram: @ seitsmes_mnt
Twitter: @ seitsmes_mnt
Artist portfolio (2024) in English
Artist portfolio (2022) in Estonian
My artwork draws heavily from personal life experiences with trauma, poverty, and mental illnesses. Striving to maintain optimism and humor for mental well-being, I find inspiration in childhood book authors and illustrators like Edgar Valter and Tove Jansson. My preferred techniques, childishly, include comics and animation. I see myself as living the life of a tragicomic character; adversity shapes the narrative and brings joy to someone. Absurd and depressing incidents, experiences, and phenomena often look good on paper. Transforming experiences into artwork, I become both the creator and the first reader. My first job was as a cashier at Comarket, a retail chain that no longer exists. The cat from the logo serves as a simple self portrait, as if that job shaped me into that identity permanently, given that my only paid job is still in retail. The idea of working a cash register for the rest of my life fills me with existential dread and drains all hope for a bright future. Anyway, I value traditional tools on paper, from pencil to pen, as well as various printmaking techniques from aquatint to screen printing. When it comes to drawing, I prefer the very permanent, unerasable line of a ballpoint pen, because pencil annoys me with its habit of getting blurry over time and infecting other drawings. The unique line of a ballpoint pen inspired my Bachelor's degree thesis, where I filled a roll-on deodorant with ink and used it as a large pen.
Sven Mantsik
Education:
2023 – 2025: Estonian Academy of Arts, Master of Contemporary Art 2019 – 2022: Estonian Academy of Arts, Bachelor of Fine Arts 2014 – 2017: Pelgulinna Gymnasium (high school) 2004 – 2014: Tallinna Nõmme Basic School (primary and secondary school)
Group exhibitions:
2023 Hindamismaraton. EKA galerii 2022 TASE’22. Eesti Kunstiakadeemia 2021 Asjad ja mitteasjad. Haapsalu Linnagalerii 2021 Booked. MUU Helsinki Contemporary Art Centre 2021 Kiirmenetlus. EKA graafika osakonna koomiksinäitus, EKA väligalerii, Tallinn 2020 Hindamismaraton. EKA galerii, Tallinn 2020 Mütoloogiliste olendite anatoomia. Endla teatri küünigalerii, Pärnu 2017 Pelgulinna Gümnaasiumi kunstisuuna lõputööde näitus, Kullo Lastegalerii, Tallinn












