Hans-Peter Schütt

No one knew what to call them
Hans-Peter Schütt’s portraits of unknown beings

The multidisciplinary visual artist Hans-Peter Schütt has painted portraits of unknown beings in the form of jigsaw puzzles. No digital tools were used in the creation of these works. The exhibition will open at the Tampere House Gallery (Jaani 4, Tartu) on Thursday, April 3rd at 5 PM.

The works are portraits of unknown beings, and encountering them makes it possible
“to return to beings as such, that is, to a world that exists before knowledge,” Schütt states, referencing Merleau-Ponty.

The artist challenges us to view the works without prejudice and quotes Y. Saito:
“The fundamental, and morally important, requirement for perceiving any object in a just manner—in other words, on its own terms—is to recognize the story that another tells us, and to listen to it with empathy, even if it seems very strange to us.”

When the storyteller differs from us in form and in their ways of living and being in the world, their story will likely sound strange in one way or another. And the stranger that story is, the more diverse abilities are required to truly hear it.

When our ability to listen is revealed in how we encounter and treat other living beings, it seems appropriate to pause and reflect on how we might become more sensitive, patient, and curious.

Hans-Peter Schütt (born 1975) graduated from the University of Art and Design. He has held numerous exhibitions in Finland and abroad.