Archive

Dmitry Lavrentyev “Venus Rising”

  Dmitry Lavrentyev Venus Rising   The creative evolution of Dmitry Lavrentyev is based on search for primordial. Already his very early works arouse a feeling that the artist is creating an epic reality. His painting grasp your mind with such a powerful and ever growing force, same time it is so permanent in its intentions, so constant and simple, when all is a Man with his feelings and emotions. The imagery of his works roots in the archaic sculpture of Africa, in the traditions of Native American culture, Mexican masks in particular. Sculptures by Lavrentyev frequently resemble religious artefacts of ancient tribes. Turning to myth and primitive art is not accidental, because it is just a myth that captures the essence of any phenomenon and elevates it to a poetic metaphor, but the primitive provokes much stronger and more direct emotional experience. Some images and forms seem to have broken loose from the subconscious world, personifying the hidden fears, attachments, and non-fulfilled desires. The aesthetic priorities of the 20th century art can be easily noticed: Basquiat, Dubuffet.

Lars Strandh “BEHIND THE HORIZON”

  Lars Strandh is a Swedish born Norwegian artist. He studied art at the Oslo National Academy of Arts. For many years Lars explores colour in its limited range. As the artist says himself, his work can be described as a "monochrome polychromy": at distance seeming monochromic, they appear multi-coloured, and different in texture in the foreground. The simplicity created by the artist during the work on a painting becomes complex, and the result - meditative. A continuous link to the horizon in the form of associative perception is present in the artist's work. The artist embodies patience, precision and restraint characteristic of the people of northern Europe. However, this restraint characteristic is provocative - it generates a resonance and an illusion of vibration of consciousness. It seems that the works by Lars Strandh do not represent anything but monotonously striped canvases, still they are fascinating. With a missing narrative the canvases unobtrusively captivate the audience: significant becomes what happens with the observer, rather than what is displayed on the canvas. Strandh's work is a kind of dedication to a slow and calm reflection of an existential flow that invites the viewer to see, feel and think.

Gaudeamus XVII Daugavpils 2014

THE PRIMARY COLORS "THE PRIMARY COLORS" is an exhibition of works by rectors of art academies of Baltic countries - Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. The exhibition is held in the framework of the 17th Baltic Student Song and Dance Festival "GAUDEAMUS". As well as art academies of the Baltic countries, which usually perform accumulative and generative function of art, the rectors of the academies have always been powerful locomotives in the world of art who not only have good organizational skills, but also charismatic talent in arts. The exhibition presents the works of the three rectors - rector of the Latvian Academy of Arts Alexei Naumov, rector of the Estonian Academy of Arts Signe Kivi, and rector of Vilnius Academy of Arts Audrius Klimas, who, like the synergy of three primary colors, able to create a holistic picture of the contemporary art in Baltic region.

Aleksandrs Karpovs “THE ARTIST AND FAIGHTER”

      Alexander Karpov was born on March 21, 1953 in the United States (Iowa). Maternally Alexander came from a family of well-known public figure Janis Volonts who was a mayor of Daugavpils city during 14 years, and from 1938 till 1940 was a Minister of Welfare of Latvia. His mother, Lucija Volonte, narrowly escaped deportation to Siberia on June 14, 1941. In 1946, Lucija was in a transit camp in Germany, where she married Anatoly Karpov. Later family moved to USA. The family had three sons, however, nine years later Alexander’s father left the family and laid all the hardships to raise and support children on their mother. At that time Alexander was only two years old.

Anita Meldere “EXPRESSIONS. ABSTRACT PAINTING”.

 Anita Meldere “EXPRESSIONS. ABSTRACT PAINTING”. Anita Meldere was born on May 18, 1949. She received professional education at Janis Rozentals Riga Art High school (graduation work “Wood Sawyers”,  advisor Jānis Osis, senior) and at the Art Academy of Latvia (graduation work “In the Sun and Wind”, scientific advisors professors Edgars Iltners and Edgars Kalniņš). The artist works in oil, watercolour and acrylic techniques, as well as in lithography. Apart from it, she has also painted on ceramics and silk during the international plein-air sessions for art teachers in Zvārtava, initiated by the Ceramics department of the Art Academy of Latvia. Anita Meldere has been a member of the Artists’ Union of Latvia since 1973. She is a Master in Arts (her Master’s work “Atmospherism as the quality of artistic expression in Latvian painting of the 1980s and 1990s”, 1993), an associate professor and since 2007 the Head of the Fine Arts Department at Riga Technical University, Faculty of Architecture and Town Planning. From 1995 to 2009 she taught colour theory at the Art Academy of Latvia, Department of Functional Design.

Eugeny Shitov „Verbalization:” Sculpture, Graphic, Porcelain.

  Jevgēnijs Šitovs. „Verbalizācija:”. Tēlniecība, grafika, porcelāns. Quirky, semi-fantastic world, created by the artist Eugene Shytov, strikes imagination by unbridled fantasy, inventiveness and carnival merriment. His characters - a kind of hybrids that combine features of real and mythical creatures – are both concrete in their characteristic and archetypal at the same time. They seem to have been erupted out of some magical  pipe under the pressure of a powerful creative impulse. A pipe, an integral component of many of Shitov’s art works as the seat of the creative emptyness, is growing into a philosophical symbol and occupies a special place in the art world of the author.

Marek Radke “BLACK”

  MAREK RADKE BLACK Marek Radke was born in 1952 in Olsztyn, Poland. During the 1970’s he studied art and pedagogy in the Universities of Gdansk and Poznan. In 1984, M. Radke moved to Germany. By the end of the 1980’s Marek Radke abandoned figurative painting and focused on abstract geometry. The artist had always been impressed by geometry’s ability to rationalise and to put in order the world of emotions and thoughts. However, Radke’s geometry is not the same modesty that inspired Bauhaus artists in the early 20th century and American minimalist artists in the middle of the century. The artist draws inspiration in nature which virtuously disturbs the order of “pure” geometry, thus introducing a living harmony in it by a lively game with space, light, colour and shape started by the artist.

Artists of Latgale region „EITHER IS, EITHER NOT!”

  „EITHER IS, EITHER NOT!"  is the unifying concept for the exhibition of selected artists of Latgale region at Daugavpils Mark Rotho Art Centre, as well as an age-long question of what is and what is not art, of what it must be like to be called art. This question is important for each artist and for everyone who appreciates art. This is a question with no answer, however, many tries themselves. In the beginning of AD Dionysius of Areopagite, the Athenian philosopher, attributed art as a suprasensuous beauty, which is a cause of general fascination and universal convenience and grace. By its light-like radiance this beauty makes everything beautiful, attracts all and shares its unity with all.

Marc Chagall and the Painters of European Avant-garde

Marc Chagall and the Painters of European Avant-garde   Marc Chagall is one of the legendary artists of the 20th century. The artist, who has born in Vitebsk (Belarus) and died as the citizen of France, became the master whose signature style is undeniably recognized in different parts of the globe. This exhibition presents the creative work of Marc Chagall on the scope of the 20th century avant-garde art classicism, stylistic innovations and formal search of the West European and American artists. The creative work of Georges Braque, Alexander Calder, Alberto Giacometti, Fernand Léger, André Masson, Henri Matisse, Joan Miró, Pablo Picasso, Jean-Paul Riopelle, Antoni Tàpies and Raoul Ubac allowed to significantly expand the boundaries of art thinking of the time. “The artists of the 19th century realized that they constantly need to have a model in front of their eyes, in the 20th century they realized that they should not see the model at all” , noted the American writer Gertrude Stein in her memories about Picasso. 1

JELENA VOLKOVA NOSTALGIA

JEĻENA VOLKOVA NOSTALGIA   Jelena Volkova was born on April 18, 1949 in Valmiera, where she spent the first two months of her life. The sculptress spent her childhood and adolescence in Riga, where she finished high school and Secondary School of Applied Arts, the department of decorative sculpture and design; she also graduated from the Latvian Academy of Arts, Sculpture department with distinction. During the school years Jelena visited folk art studio, and already at the age of 14, the artist was awarded for M. Gorky's old Izergil portrait and conferred - honorary master of folk sculpture. After graduating from the Latvian Academy of Arts J. Volkova’s diploma work “Figurative portrait of German Sculptor Ernst Barlach” was displayed at the USSR exhibition of sculpture diploma works in Moscow, where it got the first prize. Despite the fact that after the graduation the new sculptress is offered the position of Sculptors’ Artistic Council Chairperson at the combine “Art”, as well as a workshop space, she decides to move to Daugavpils. Since 1977 the talented sculptress, artist and graphic artist has lived and worked in Daugavpils. The first workplace of J. Volkova in Daugavpils was in the Commerce Department, where she worked on the original interiors of shops and cafes. Soon, she was provided with a workshop space where the artist could creatively express herself.