Early years

Andrus Rõuk was born in 1957 in Tallinn. He spent his childhood and early youth in Pelgulinn, where he attended an art class at a local school, which seriously encouraged him to develop his creativity.
He spent his summers in the countryside near Viljandi. There was much to learn from them, especially the love for your descendants.

Youth


His first job after high school was at the Youth Theater in 1976, where he managed to design and carry out large-scale outdoor advertisements during one season.
At the same time, Andrus begins with his poetry, which culminates in 1981.
In the spring of 1977, he will perform in a joint exhibition at the old café of the University of Tartu, the following year at the Pärnu Theater, and in 1979 at the Pegasus Café in Tallinn.
He continued his education at the Estonian National Institute of Art, studying architecture and, after a short break, theater design. He got the artist's diploma in 1989.

Theatre and film work

At the beginning of the same year (1989), the Ionesco play "Rhinoceros" designed by Rõugu for adults premiered at the National Puppet Theater, and a year earlier the children's performance "Kunksmoor" in Rakvere Theater.
After graduating from ERKI, it was possible to make cinema; to participate as an artist-director in Sulev Keedus' TV film "The Only Sunday" in 1989- 90.

Devotion to painting

Furthermore, the artist devoted himself entirely to painting, as the collective activity was not suitable for going deeper. 

A unique style of painting, minimalist picturesqueness or picturesque geometry was developed.
The names of the series sound poetic in any case; "Space and depth",
"Light and Twilight", "The Creation of the World", in the new century also "The Charm of the Spirit" and "The Boomerang", to name a few.
There must be time for painting, it is primarily a spiritual activity, one would even say that it is a meditative process. It is charming that the work can be done and changed. Speed ​​does not play a role here, creative effort does not have to be too visible.

In 1993, the first serious solo exhibition was held at Vaal Gallery, after which he was admitted to the Painters 'Union and the Estonian Artists' Union.

This period is well summed up by Leonhard Lapin in his review of the "Black Triangle in the Blue Sky", in the first Vikerkaar of 1994.  

In recent years, Andrus has constantly kept a drawing diary in addition to paid work, as there is little time left for painting.