The Great Departure

“Pärn is a postmodernist who employs quotation, pastiche, and a mixture of styles. /—/ He remains harnessed by reality; he is by no means a solitary dreamer drifting off on his own. There is a dialectic in his work between a sharp awareness of reality and flights of imagination. /—/ His range of greys, in particular, evokes for me the sensation of touching wood – rough in places, where splinters might catch in your hand, yet also capable of being smoothed to a divinely sleek, almost glossy surface; and still, you never know where it will turn rough again, where the splinters will reappear. /—/ Fortunately, he possesses a drawing style that is immediately recognisable and inimitable. /—/ As a postmodernist, he is neither eclectic, nor does he fragment himself into separate, interchangeable parts.” – Ilmar Laaban. See: Üks ilm, üks Pärn, mitu filmi, directed by Jaak Lõhmus, 1993: https://arhiiv.err.ee/video/vaata/uks-ilm-uks-parn-mitu-filmi