Edmunds Tamovičs ON THRESHOLD
Art is a non-stop revelation. Daily. And in all possible forms of knowledge and senses. Each new work, exhibition, author, page of a book, display, acquaintance, travel into imagination can change a person’s life and perception of art.
The extensive programme of the 3rd Art Night at Daugavpils Mark Rothko Art Centre includes seven newly opened exhibitions within the “Season of Silence”. A special interest is called by an exhibition of artworks “At the threshold” because its author is Edmunds TAMOVIČS – an artist whose name, until recently, is rather unfamiliar in the community of painting in Latvia.
His name is not totally unfamiliar to artists who regularly collaborate with the gallery “Pegazs”, as well as to those who take interest in its work – they have got to know the author of the paintings as a person of culture and a good expert of art styles. The Liepaja-born (1956) carer of creative spirit, studied and used to work as a professional dressmaker and fabric designer. Since 2000 he leads an art space in the Quiet Centre of Riga and has become an excellent art work framing expert whose advices can be trusted. For almost thirty years Edmunds has regularly given himself up to the art of colours. As the author puts it: “I like painting, it is my only passion, currently I have no other interests, not even fishing which I have abandoned, even though I’m living in Ikšķile by the River Daugava.” Under a pseudonym, he has organized a number of shows of his works in Latvia and abroad (in Essen, Budapest and Minsk). Though, his exhibition “At the threshold” should be regarded as the first serious solo exhibition of Edmunds Tamovičs, by which he announces his existence in the field of professional painting.
His works nicely match the well thought-out concept of exhibition programme of Mark Rothko Art Centre, as Edmunds Tamovičs, having tested his ability in landscape and still life paintings, mostly work in a subfield of non-objective paintings. I am using the term “non-objective painting” because works representing classical meaning of abstractionism and corresponding examples approbated in the history of the world’s art can be very rarely seen in Latvia. This is not a matter of quality, but rather the result of different approach, way of thinking and understanding which is established by our school of painting and deep national identity formed from relationship between reality captured by the eyes and encoding of natural processes in our perception, cognition and understanding of the world.
Canvases by Edmunds Tamovičs have all features typical to art works of this trend. The dominant story behind them is HOW rather than WHAT. In other words, they require a prepared viewer to see and to feel emotion, mood, palette of feelings loaded, which the artist had enclosed only in a language of colour. Colour (warm, cool, transparent, rigid, ugly, volatile, empty, sharp, calm, wet, strong, changing, radiant, astonishing, dry, roaring, offensive, majestic, nuanced, etc.) is used and revealed by ways of surface treatment. Mainly – by texture and brush strokes to which an unlimited number of terms can be attributed. This method applies only to the artist’s and the viewer’s emotional world, which, as is known, is neither definable nor classifiable.
In the run of his life and furthering in art Edmunds Tamovičs is standing at the threshold. The door is open. It is time to make next step – to continue – even more purposefully – to get rid of all excesses in thinking and emotionality, as well as in verbiage on canvas. Colour is the backbone of painting. Colour is strength and joy of the author, allowing the audience – who will also stand at the threshold – to feel it in the exhibition. Go for it!
Ingrīda BURĀNE
