Alo Valge (born 1991) holds a bachelor’s degree in painting from the University of Tartu and a master’s degree in painting from the Estonian Academy of Arts. In 2017, he was selected as a finalist for the Baltic “Young Painter Prize.” His works can be found in private collections around the world.
Jeroen van der Most is an Amsterdam-based artist who has been combining traditional art with algorithms, data and artificial intelligence for over 10 years. His works have been featured in numerous international publications. Previously, PoCo has exhibited his work “Vegetable Vendetta”, which, in a curious and technologically clever way, uses artificial intelligence to enable a potato to market itself.
Visual artist and painter, Katja Tukiainen was born in 1969 in Pori, Finland. She started to draw and paint autofictional girls during her teenage years. Tukiainen has combined experimental comics and narrative painting since the beginning of her artistic expression, and her shakedown of the tradition was enthusiastic and even avantgardistic in the Finnish field of visual art of 1990’s.
“When I was a young GIRL people asked when shall I stop painting with pink. Now I am an old GIRL.” – Katja Tukiainen
In the mid of 1990s Katja studied painting at the Venice Academy of Fine Arts (Accademia di Belle Arti di Venezia), graduated in 1996 with the Master of Arts from the University of Art and Design Helsinki, and year 2009 with Master of Fine Arts from Academy of Fine Arts Helsinki, where she continued directly to the doctorate of fine arts and defended her artistic doctoral thesis called The Girl Army –Narrative painting in space in the spring of 2022. Tukiainen has held several solo exhibitions, participated in numerous group exhibitions and published artist’s monographs and comic books in Finland and abroad. Her exhibitions and painting installations have been exhibited in both galleries and museums. Her works are included in several public and private art collections.
“With my paintings, sculptures and installations I lead the audience to the world where cute and minor creatures have an opinion and the power. When I am reading daily news I cannot always believe in goodness, but in the world of my art good wins bad 6-0. People say my works are provocative and they speak out, but still they are sensitive. It is more than ok to say that,” Tukiainen says.
The exhibition poses the question “What next, Tommy?” contemplating what is the final destination for an unpredictable, boundary-pushing artist whose creative expression is ever-evolving. To quote another iconic figure frequently portrayed in pop art, Winston Churchill: “This is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.” The exhibition lays out portraits by Estonian artist Martin Saar and Finnish artist Antti Eklund.
“The golden sunglasses represent Tommy Cash as a legendary global icon—allowing all to see gold through his eyes.” – antti eklund
Overseeing the exhibition is the hungry yet distant gaze of Andy Warhol, captured in a 1981 performance video of him eating a hamburger. For those new to pop art and curious about its web of references, here’s a fun fact worth dropping into a conversation: Tommy Cash’s video “Espresso Macchiato Winner of Eesti Laul 2025 (and Eurovision 2025)” is a playful tribute to this very Warhol burger video.
Tommy Cash’s works “Hotwheels”, “Demon” and “Mona Lisa” are on loan from the collections of the Art Museum of Estonia and were previously featured in the 2019 exhibition “Tommy Cash & Rick Owens. The Pure and the Damned.”
The joint art exhibition unites the works of two Estonian-American artists, brothers Kalev Mark Kostabi and Indrek Paul Kostabi.
Mark Kostabi, an internationally renowned pop artist, has established himself as a recognizable brand in the art world with his iconic style and faceless, expressive figures. His work is strongly inspired by Andy Warhol, where art, image and marketing become one.
Indrek Paul Kostabi has made a name for himselt as a visual artist, producer and musician, being a founding member of bands such as Youth Gone Mad, White Zombie and Psychotica. He brings his own unique visual style to the exhibition.
“Warhol had allagedly suggested mark Kostabi to dye his hair blonde, making him look like a mix of a venture capitalist and a MTV host.” – janar ala
The exhibition is curated by Jaan Heinsoo and Greesi Desiree Langovits and all artwork is available for purchase on artner.ee platform.
Robin Nõgisto (b. 1992) is an artist from Tallinn. Having graduated from the Estonian Academy of Arts in 2017 with a bachelor’s degree in painting, he also works in film and music. He likes to combine painting with moving images and images with sound, but says that painting is still the ultimate art form for him. He has also said that many things in his art come from dreams. Yes, it is a psychedelic fantasy world that draws inspiration from the endless reservoir of popular culture, where Count Dracula could easily find himself on board a yellow submarine jamming with the Beatles, and he wouldn’t even be surprised by that fact.
“A unique energy permeates all of Nõgisto’s work. His paintings glorify a certain lust for life, a desire for disobedience, and a critique of ultra-consumption; they express a condemnation of screen society, violence, and the fooling of the masses. Nõgisto has the ability to create his own somnambulist world, full of both fantasy and nightmare, that never lets us off the hook.” – Thibault Bissirier
Antti Eklund’s career spans multiple disciplines. As an architect, professor of graphic design, and strategic business coach, he has collaborated with renowned companies like Marimekko and Alessi, and has launched several international brands, including VEEN spring water. Despite his diverse career, Eklund’s true passion has always been painting, a passion he has pursued full-time for the past 16 years.
“I believe my art speaks louder than my words, so I feel it’s my duty to visualize societal disparities that can inspire a brighter future!.” – antti eklund
The exhibit consists of original silk-screened portrait series of seven world impacting individuals. Eklund´s goal is to revive, and renew, the traditions of portrait painting.
Has Italian Pop Art as a movement actually existed? According to one viewpoint, Piazza del Popolo brings together Italian artists who turned back toward figurative art. The artists active in the 1960s were also referred to as post-Informel and New Dada artists. Although their work shows influences of Pop Art, Italian Pop was not a unified style but rather an umbrella term defined by location and historical context.
In this exhibition in Ajamaja gallery, PoCo exhibits the works of artists such as Mimmo Rotella, Marco Lodola, Ugo Nespolo and many others.
Kristian Krokfors (b. 1952) studied painting at the University of the Arts Helsinki in 1973–74. In 1974 he moved to England to study at Leicester Polytechnic, where he received his bachelor’s degree in 1977. In 1985, Krokfors was awarded Finland’s first Young Artist of the Year Prize.
Shelter and protection are one of Krokfors’ recurring motifs, which he has returned to again and again since 1983. He has used the tent as a motif in various forms. The tent’s obvious function is to provide protection from the elements, but it also carries cultural layers of meaning. For example, the circus tent contains a parallel reality in which everyday rules no longer apply.
Marko Mäetamm (b 1965) is an Estonian artist, who´s retrospective was the first rotation exhibition at PoCo. And for good reason – Marko is a major force in Estonian (pop) art scene. He is known for his provocative and often darkly humorous works. Mäetamm began to develop his signature approach in the 1990s, using childlike imagery to address disturbing or socially critical subjects. The 1990s works also reflect the broader context of post-Soviet Estonia, where questions of identity, freedom, and Western cultural influence became central.