Partly Clouded, acrylic paint and pigment varnish on canvas, 60 x 60 cm, 2026.
Inspired by the track by Kristjan Randalu.
"Partly Clouded" is a track from the album Absence. It belongs to the album’s "brief artistic statements"—alongside pieces like "Lumi I" ("snow" in Estonian)—that best illustrate the trio’s principles: a contemplative yet physical awareness that achieves its greatest symmetry precisely in "Partly Clouded." More broadly, the album’s title, Absence, reflects the music’s refusal to rely on catchy grooves or easy, seductive effects.
Meteorological vocabulary as a shared language. Randalu’s album is filled with titles drawn from the sky and the weather: Partly Clouded, Forecast, Lumi (snow). It is a way of naming intermediate, unstable states. The canvas expresses this same gesture visually: it never chooses between white and black but allows them to coexist in blocks—like patches of clear sky and overcast areas distributed across the same celestial surface.
Symmetry as a form of restraint. The music is described as reaching its "greatest symmetry" in this specific track, within an album that deliberately eschews spectacular effects. The painting follows the same principle of economy: an almost regular grid, calculated surface ratios, and a single sharp black frame amidst an otherwise blurred and gestural composition—a form of poise and precision that nonetheless leaves room for the unpredictable (hand-drawn, irregular lines acting like micro-accidents within the grid). In short, the work draws inspiration from music through a shared approach: a restricted palette pared down to its essentials, a restraint that does not preclude texture or happenstance, and a title denoting an unstable atmospheric state—serving as a metaphor for the balance between clarity and opacity rather than a subject to be literally depicted.