Aleksei Turovsky marks 80th birthday at opening of his solo exhibition

On Tuesday, 4 August, Aleksei Turovsky turns 80. The Estonian zoologist, whose name is known across the country, has spent decades working at Tallinn Zoo, and has also been a teacher, radio host, writer and artist. He is celebrating the anniversary by opening a personal exhibition.

Turovsky has not only studied animals and spoken about them throughout his life, but has also drawn them. He says he began drawing animals at the age of eight or nine, and still has some of those early works, including a fairly decent polar owl in a small notebook.

The artist describes himself as self-taught, but notes that he was fortunate in his youth to meet graphic artists Günther Reindorff and Olev Soans, from whom he learned a great deal. The exhibition now open at the Tauno Kangro gallery brings together Turovsky's drawings and wooden sculptures from a long period, from his youth to recent times. He calls his style, with quotation marks and humour, suranimalism.

Among the animals in the exhibition there are real species. For example, the upper image of a monkey is a macaque called Malata in a tree hollow; the monkeys are hiding from a tiger, and the tiger is a specific one — Amur, a tiger from Tallinn Zoo that Turovsky once knew well. But, as he says, most of the creatures and images are indeed surrealistic.

Turovsky admits that drawing is his form of existence and a way of life; he simply cannot not draw. He has taught several generations of children and adults in Estonia to understand, love and respect animals, from bears to small bugs. He says the animals themselves taught him a great deal. The polar bear Vaida taught him that interest is what matters most for every pupil; he realised this while watching Vaida teach her cubs to swim, as they were afraid of water. In his view, the most important thing is relationships with members of one's community — how to interact in order to live, produce offspring and still lead a normal, decent life. All this, he believes, can be learned from animals.

Turovsky's exhibition at the Tauno Kangro gallery in Tallinn's Old Town will remain open until the end of September.