Aet Paaro

I came to America with my parents as an Estonian refugee. Being from a different culture has had a deep impact on me. My art is a search for a home, physical and spiritual. I want to hold on to the beauty of places and people in my life. There's a power in repetition. I paint the view of my field in Vermont over and over. In that way, I feel I am holding onto my field. It's liberating and meditative at the same time. Over time, life has become ever more miraculous to me. Through painting, I create my own idealized reality and the permanence that I want. You can have the ideal thing in art. I'm inspired by Edward Hopper, Fairfield Porter, Alex Katz, & J.M.W.Turner whose works evoke the fleeting nature of life. I don't take anything for granted.
When I paint, I feel free. I have a conversation with the art I've loved. As to process, I paint intuitively and let what happens on the canvas evolve. Style conveys meaning and the handling of paint tells its own story. I love tactile marks that create energy. I also make many paintings with classical layering of colors and slow building of light, forms and mass. I work alla prima when I need a flat, minimalist calm. My emotions determine how I handle paint.
There's nothing else like the pl...

At Bennington College, Vermont, Richard Haas taught me design & Isaac Witkin sculpture.
Studying with Malcolm Morley, Dennis Oppenheim & Lawrence Alloway, I got my BA in Fine Art at Stony Brook University in New York.

Moving to Soho, I got to know Janet Fish and Chuck Close in the 80's. I saw how world-class artists think and work, especially through adversity. I learned to unite the power of composition and narrative with the physicality of paint and the emotion of gesture and color.

Solo Shows:
2023 “On the Water” Village Art Gallery, Tequesta, FL
2019 “Finding Home” The Estonian House, NY, NY
1995 “New Paintings” Carol Getz Gallery, Coconut Grove, FL
1992 “Harbingers of Spring” Manhattan East Gallery, NY, NY
1990 Southern Vermont Art Center, Manchester, Vermont
1989 “Aet Paaro” Frank Bernaducci Gallery, NY, NY
1985 “London, NY, Hong Kong” Moreton Street Gallery,London
1981 “Paintings” The Estonian House, NY, NY


Selected Group Shows:
2022 Lighthouse Art Center,Tequesta, FL
2020 February Invitational, The Estonian House, NY, NY
2015 “The Figure in Landscape”, Brooklyn, NY
2010 Benefit Auction, Saint Ann’s School, Brooklyn, NY
1989 “Very Special Arts” Christies, NY, NY
1989 “Social Studies” Lentas: Worldwide, NY, NY
1989 “Contemporary Self Portraits Women” MMC Gallery,NYC
1989 “Sight Unseen” curated by critic Kim Levin, Pleiades
Gallery, NY, NY
1989 New Landscape” Frank Bernaducci Gallery, NY, NY
1989 G.W. Einstein Gallery, NY, NY
1989 Children’s Museum Benefit, Frank Bernaducci, NY, NY
1988 “Primary States” Marymount Manhattan College, NY, NY
1987 “Small Work...