BLACK MEETS WHITE
Ieva Caruka
I write my grand stories of the world with line, colour contrast and collage. When emotions run high, I play a game where I am both, director and sculptor combined. As I stand in front of a black-painted canvas, with streaks of white on my brush, I cleave all excesses from the black. It’s a fascinating process. The black and white scheme lifts into focus that which really matters – the things we tend to miss in the hustle and bustle of daily life.
In this exhibition, my story is about woman as the bearer of Eastern European genetic code. She can peel potatoes whilst dreaming about love; she values relationships without pragmatism and prizes her independence whilst also longing for protection. I express these feelings through dance imagery where sensuality spills over into a dialogue between woman and man, a dialogue about the world.
But then it begs the question – what is the current state of affairs in the world of today? Everything is changing. Traditions fall apart, and the woman’s great role as mother and wife is losing traction. There’s too many of us as it is… Like the legendary Phoenix, my heroines are reduced to ashes by their unfulfilled sexuality only to be reborn into a new image, as new Goddesses.
I have always found dance an intriguing subject, because dance is the epitome of movement. Depicting motion is a challenge to any artist… It is a quintessential relationship where you can channel all your dreams, illusions and ideas about moments of ultimate union and absolute solitude. Finally, dance is a symbol of fall and flight – key hallmarks of life itself.
Ieva Caruka
Artist and educator Ieva Caruka, member of the Latvian Artists Union and co-founder of the Creative Laboratory of Mārupe, holds a master’s degree in graphic art from the Art Academy of Latvia. Her exhibition record, consistent since 1988, includes 87 shows in Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Poland, Switzerland, Azerbaijan, Germany, Albania, India, Belgium, Spain, the Netherlands, Bulgaria and Australia, among them – 40 solo shows. The artist has participated in 16 international plein airs and symposia. Her work is held in public collections in Latvia, Belgium, Ukraine and Albania as well as privately in Europe, Australia and the United States.
Valsts kultūrkapitāla fonds, Daugavpils pilsētas dome, Caparol, Artembassy, SIA Kreiss
