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15th International Painting Symposium “Mark Rothko 2019”

“It is widely accepted notion among painters that it does not matter what one paints as long as it is well painted. This is the essence of academicism. There is no such thing as good painting about nothing…” Mark Rothko, New York. 1958 Mark Rothko has clearly had a huge impact on the development of painting across the world, and he continues to push modern artists to experiment and express themselves as they try to make sense of what painting can be like.

Compositions

Māris Uldriķis Compositions The talent of Māris Uldriķis and his understanding of art are revealed in seemingly simple and laconic compositions. The exquisite minimalism of his lines implies a wide range of intense emotions and a deep scrutiny of life’s processes. En masse, his compositions form an unbroken chain of philosophical reflections. A large part of his artwork is set against a black backdrop, lending the drawings extraordinary depth and achieving a more striking play of colour. A constant quest for plasticity and ways to reveal different psychological states enabled the author to create a number of brilliant self-portraits, yet another testament to his artistic excellence. Zane Melāne

BASIL ALKAZZI – AN ONGOING ODYSSEY…

“As an artist I choose, like many others before me, as many beings before me, to tread my own path, a destined path, and one that now dazzles the perceptions of the mind’s eye; the images of which are as yet un-categorized. But do they need to be? Labels categorize and by so doing confine, restrict, bind a creative force so full of energy and life: a very unfair outlook by those outside the stream of creativity.”   Basil Alkazzi. 2008

Osvalds Zvejsalnieks. Lifetime

When we asked the artist what title to give this exhibition, Osvalds Zvejsalnieks answered – “Lifetime”. At first glance, and to some, it may seem too pensive or sentimental a title for an exhibition, and maybe the artist felt the same when we talked about it and selected the paintings. But, when we look at the artist’s assorted work and his many accomplishments in Latvian (especially Latgalian) painting, culture, social life and life in general, certainly, this loaded word, LIFETIME, can be equated with all things DONE and all things waiting TO BE DONE.

X: Memory

Each person’s memory covers different stages, events, moments and life’s experiences. Some of them are pale and hazy, while others are deep in terms of impact and significance. All of them, either consciously or subconsciously, influence our perception of the world and our decisions. How much does memory affect our social status, our communication with the people around us and our perception of the environment? To what extent do each of us experience the effects of positive and negative thoughts? Certainly, the concepts of memory and thought and their interpretations are inexhaustible. The X Project is an ongoing initiative, which is now experiencing its third iteration. This art event invites creators from different fields to work in pairs on a joint project, sharing different creative and technological experiences and ideas, and leaving space for interpretation of the theme.

I am

I am an unstoppable stream that floods and washes rocks among the hills, a whooshing waterfall and foaming brooks that keep on running, inexorably. I am a slowly crumbling rock, a waterbed that battles cunning whirlpools, I am the sea that breathes to the rhythm of the tides. I am. I am explosive energy and shimmering life, split into tiny fragments. I am the earth, awash with fragrance of wild honey, a warm summer breeze, freshly fallen snow, a stream of hot blood, a thunder-split sky and a rush of ice that tears river banks apart. I am primitive carnal energy, a gesture that morphs into a tangle of restless lines and a burst of colour. I am the time that I own with all its joy, pleasure and pain. \ Anita Meldere

Grains of Sand and Void

“Once a new technology rolls over you, if you’re not part of the steamroller, you’re part of the road.” Stewart Brand, author. Progress did not bring people either happiness or peace. People are disjointed and lost, they do not see humanistic ideals or do not believe in them. The European civilization is losing faith. Faith can be different. Collective and individual. Multiple and single. As loud as a brass band, and as silent as the rustle of grass. Like a magical Celtic pattern, its thread extends to us from Ancient Egypt, linking together the ancient sculptures of the Cyclades, the icons of Andrei Rublev and Theophanes the Greek, the work of Gothic sculptors and the masterpieces of Giotto. This thread also extends to Mark Rothko – recall the artist’s unique painting experience in Houston chapel.

Erdmute Blach. Compositions. Answers to Darkness

There is no monochrome painting; there is no figurative painting. The almost monochrome, ‘In Daugavpils’, could be a starting point for contemplation. It is an exercise in the limiting of a tone, the capturing of deviations, the keeping of something within a frame. The colours in general are unique mixtures. They are colours without names. It would be easy to say this is a picture in red, this is one in blue: But, what does that mean? How should it be named?

Marco Giannotti. Interwoven

In Marco Giannotti’s recent paintings there unfolds a dialogue at least as venerable as the High Renaissance when the art of Florence opposed Venice’s. Namely, between drawing/line and color (disegno and colore). These contending elements were long germinal in Giannotti’s work – at least since the “Facades” series (“Fachadas”, 1993). However, the artist has continued to lend them strikingly modern forms appropriate to the New World of his Brazilian homeland, as well as our increasingly dark times. By no coincidence, too, the American Abstract Expressionist Mark Rothko famously described his haunting images as “facades”. Giannotti thus aims to synthesize tradition with the example set by one of the past century’s greatest masters of abstraction.

I See Nature Like Paint: Gillian Ayres paintings 1972-83

One of Britain’s most significant abstract painters, known for her huge vibrant canvases bursting with colour.  Inspired by abstract expressionist art in the United States, Ayres painted in a lyrical, gestural, non-geometric abstract style that stood in contrast to the hard-edge forms of her contemporaries. Never didactic, her oeuvre illustrates an artist constantly experimenting with the possibilities of paint.