Ilona Romule. TWO SIDES. Personal Exhibition
To mark the jubilee of the locally and internationally celebrated ceramicist Ilona Romule, from 15 June to 3 September 2022, we invite you to visit the artist's personal exhibition TWO SIDES in the permanent exhibition Design Process in the Museum of Decorative Arts and Design.
The exhibition is a continuation of the series of porcelain works titled Semantic Migration which was shown in the museum during the exhibition of Baltic ceramic art Creo Ergo Sum in 2021. It will consist of three new compositions and two monumental vases which are already part of the collection of the MDAD — ID Code and Chameleon. All porcelain works were made in 2020 in Jingdezhen (China) and were hand-painted in Latvia in 2021 and 2022. The exhibition is intended as one of three events — the personal exhibition at the Museum of Decorative Arts and Design, Rothko Centre in Daugavpils and the windows of the Riga Porcelain Museum.
"Porcelain is my language, therefore it must be fluent and flawless. It is not important in what language you keep silent, the most important is — in what language you speak," believes artist Ilona Romule.
The artist draws inspiration for her porcelain works from a deep understanding of culture, philosophy and art history, enriching it with decidedly expressive revelations of creative fantasy that deals with human nature, its subconscious passions and desires. The forms of the three-dimensional objects function in synergy with meticulous hand-painting or graphically refined drawing. The idea is materialised in hybrid figures which, in a professionally impeccably executed language of porcelain, often with the use of symbols, tell about the inner, unexplored essence of a human being. The artist has also designed sculptural light objects in the historic technique of the lithophane.
Artist Ilona Romule earned her MA degree in the speciality of ceramics at the Art Academy of Latvia in 1985, she works in the council of the International Academy of Ceramics (IAC) in Geneva and is the Representative for Eastern Europe. She regularly takes part in international symposia and creative workshops of porcelain art, gives lectures and masterclasses. The artist's porcelain works are made in the ceramics studio in Riga as well as abroad – in the international ceramics centre in Kecskemét (Hungary) and Chinese ceramics centres. For many years she has held courses in formation and hand-painting of art porcelain (in USA, Australia, Turkey, Taiwan, Israel, Hungary, China). The artist has had more than 20 personal exhibitions, taken part in more than 50 competition exhibitions as member of the jury, as well as taking part in 30 group exhibitions.
