Archive

BASICS

Exhibition of Baltic contemporary ceramics On July 5, 2019, as a part of Latvian Centenary programme a number of meaningful events to explore the emergence of professional ceramic art in the Baltic States with a view to outlining the historical stages of its evolution and tracing their impact on the current global image of contemporary ceramic art will take place at Daugavpils Mark Rothko Art Centre. The events are organised in cooperation with Latvian Centre for Contemporary Ceramics.

BASIC ELEMENTS

Kirsi Kivivirta The surrounding urban landscape and its different spaces inspire Kirsi Kivivirta. She uses geometry, perspective and visual illusions when creating her imagery. The references to landscapes in the artworks speak about the relationship between urban humans and nature, with wildlife assigned only to memories. Kivivirta’s works are always based on a clear concept. To emphasise this, Kivivirta tends to leave her work white in colour. Drops and Flow II, however, include a modest palette of tones. Kivivirta is drawn to minimalist ideas that enable the medium to speak for itself. In Kivivirta’s porcelain wall compositions, one can experience movement and rest, dynamic force and contemplation. She plays with displacement and trompe l’oeil effects as well as distorted perspectives and horizons.

CILICIA BREEZE

The geography/culture encompassing the meanings, values, identities and subjectivity signifies the place where the “self” is re-discovered, experienced and re-produced. The artists who are after creating their own myths are nourished by the light, colours, textures/patterns, history and culture of the geography they are surrounded by, no matter how much they are influenced by the surprising aesthetics of artists around the world. Artwork in this exhibition points to the need to build a shared reality through individual voices of the artists. Each piece of art reflects the artist’s sensitivity. As a whole, the exhibited work represents a reality far beyond the culture of the artist as experienced.

Maibritt Ulvedal Bjelke “CHROMATIC MATTERS”

While Maibritt Ulvedal Bjelke’s art is all about painting, she has never been afraid – indeed rather eager in fact - to challenge her own medium of choice. The original dialogue she subtly introduces between the support, the canvas, and the actual “painted presence” (rather than a static given image) that is presented to the viewer, is both instantly seductive and intriguing for a good reason. The artist paints as a dancer dances, taking into her stride all the visible and invisible particulars, re-configurating the open space that she subtly demands for her art, by the way of determined moves and unexpected dynamics. With Maibritt, canvas surface, frame borders, paint strokes, drips, are deftly submitted to an unwritten law: that of the specific artwork in the make, in which they all are to play an equivalent active role, and more and more in volume, though without eclipsing the core of their identity: paintings.

LOCATION/ DISLOCATION. BETWEEN REMEMBERING AND FORGETTING

The exhibition looks at time and space as well as memory and the principles of organising space as a field of investigation. Here, space, relates not only to geographic size, but also includes psychological, cultural and social contexts. Finding themselves in perpetual motion, people form their relationships and determine their trajectory of movement with close attention to the spatial conditions. Whereas the perception of space in fact varies according to the place from which it is viewed; experience, social and cultural context, perspective and countless other factors.

BORIS LURIE “ARTIST AND WITNESS”

Boris Lurie (Jul 18, 1924 – Jan 7, 2008), an American artist and writer, born in Leningrad into a Jewish family and grew up in Riga. From 1941 to 1945, he was imprisoned in German concentration camps. His mother, grandmother and sister were killed by the Nazis in Rumbula.

I like

Maija Bērziņa I like to live, painting the things I love, the things that fill my heart with joy and animate me, stirring my soul… I like the nature of Latvia, our rivers and blue lakes, the rolling sea, the golden beaches, the lithe figures of girls and boys astride galloping horses. Nourishment for the soul, beauty and joy, the deep-rooted power of the human spirit and the eternal cycles of nature, forever mine. I like the sharp gusts of wind, the moving, temperamental smears of colour and their swirling force… I like versatility – the bright and cheerful person, radiating light and overflowing with happiness, running barefoot towards me. The flow of life, subliminal nature, dappling sunlight that jumps and dances like a foal, the uplifting surge of a galloping horse, the creative, artistic process – that is what I like.

The Funen Printmaking Workshop – artist studio in Denmark

The exhibition programme of Daugavpils Mark Rothko Art Centre continues to showcase local and international graphic art. Two major exhibitions of Latvian graphic art have been organised so far, and quite recently we were able to observe the stylistic variation of Estonian graphic artists. This time, we present graphic art created in Denmark. As seen from the title, the artwork comes from a printmakers’ studio located in Denmark. It has around 300 members, including Danish and international artists.

PEACE AND TENSION: Juried Group Exhibition by Artists from Latgale Region

Peace and tension – the two antitheses of the 21st century. These terms or elements of life accompany us all in our day-to-day routines. Each of us can perceive and make sense of these two phenomena in a different way. A worker's existential life is hinged on peace, which allows an individual as well as their family, relatives, friends or acquaintances to engage in human interaction. Based on peaceful, harmonised and, at the same time, dynamic development, it promotes their individual growth.

STEP BY STEP

Zsófia Karsai The wall could be the wall of consciousness – a symbol of safety and protection. Or perhaps it is safeguarding from the harmful effects of the outside world. It might also be a barrier between different emotions or perhaps a prison, a banister or an obstacle. We have all been walls and we have also stood on both sides as well. It is up to us where we choose to be.