Latvian National Museum of Art presents: Andris Eglītis. Exhibition. Some Instances of Encounters between Imagination and Matter
Andris Eglītis, one of the most prominent Latvian painters of his generation who also works with installation, sculpture and building, has opened his largest solo exhibition to date, curated by Aleksejs Beļeckis. From 24 August to 3 November 2024, the Exhibition by Andris Eglītis is taking place at the Latvian National Museum of Art in Riga (Jaņa Rozentāla laukums 1) discovering some encounters of imagination and matter.
Espousing the unity between the painter and the painted, Andris Eglītis explores the most radical forms of landscape painting as much as painting as a unique form of thinking. Eglītis converses with the earth, wood, algae, snow, clay, and other materials by using them as natural colours and, by carefully observing nature’s gestures on his canvas, responds to them in the precisely controlled gestural language of painting. Eglītis does not perceive colour merely as a tone – he listens to its story and gives it a voice, working in close collaboration with everything that surrounds him. As artist invites nature to be an active participant of the painting process and avoids passing aesthetic judgements upon it from an anthropocentric perspective, he is able to look into the very essence of painting and the painted. Eglītis’ painting neither demonstrates nor represents – it examins human beings and nature in their pre-hierarchical relationship.
“In the exhibition, both the ‘outcome’, a format favoured in Western culture for specific spatial experiences, and the ‘process’ as the emergence of ecosystems and collective consciousness, as well as the exploration of identity and context, are equally significant,” says Andris Eglītis.
In Exhibition, Andris Eglītis’ new works created over the past three years combine in conversation with earlier painting series and works by invited artists. It contains new commissions created expressly for the Exhibition – photo series by photographer Sandijs Ruļuks, a sculpture by artist Laimdota Malle, special tea performance by Alise Kiampo, a new painting series by Jānis Blanks, as well as artworks, objects, texts, and installations by more than 20 invited artists in some way connected to Eglītis or his artistic practice. The preparation of the solo exhibition involved public programme curator Agnese Krivade, spatial artist Liene Pavlovska, designer Una Grants, carpenter Augusts Eglītis, architects Tils Zigmunds Ozoliņš and Mārtiņš Sarvuts, artists Kei Sendak, Oto Holgers Ozoliņš, Alise Builevica, and Mirdza Eglīte.
“It is essential that Eglītis and the exhibition team do not view painting solely as a visual phenomenon. We also explore painting beyond the physical visual apparatus, which is why several events and processes in the exhibition are directed toward other senses,” reveals Aleksejs Beļeckis, curator of the project.
The exhibition is organized by the Latvian National Museum of Art and producer Kitija Vasiļjeva.
About the artist
Andris Eglītis was born in 1981, lives and works in Riga and the Savvaļa open-air art space. Since 2008, artist has held more than 20 solo exhibitions and participated in more than 30 important group exhibitions in Latvia, Belgium, Lithuania, USA, India, Germany, and other countries. In 2013, he received the Purvītis Prize, the most significant visual art award in Latvia, for the series Earthworks. In 2015, Eglītis represented Latvia at the 56th Venice Art Biennale (work Armpit, together with Katrīna Neiburga).
Andris Eglītis has designed sets for theater performances and operas as well as made commissioned paintings for the ceiling of the Festival Hall of the Latvian President’s Palace (2020) and the iron curtain of the stage at the Latvian National Opera and Ballet (2023). In 2020, Eglītis and a group of like-minded people founded the outdoor art space Savvaļa in his studio in Drusti municipality, and he is one of its organizers.
About the curator
Aleksejs Beļeckis is a cross-disciplinary artist and curator based in Riga focusing on collective art and space as an art medium. Their curatorial practice is based on merging positions in exhibition making, transitioning from curator to spatial artist, as well as art handler, producer, writer, designer. Over the last decade Beļeckis created over 70 exhibitions, films, performances, festivals, public programmes, books, and concerts.
Aleksejs Beļeckis has curated such shows as fashion brand FYODOR GOLAN retrospective Harmonious Collision at the Latvian National Museum of Art, art and science group exhibition Lauka pētījumi / Fieldworks commissioned by Institute for Environmental Solutions, was a deputy commissioner for Latvian Pavilion at 58th Venice Art Biennale, co-founded dance festival HOROS and is one of the organisers of the art and residency space Savvaļa. Their projects were continuously nominated and awarded for the national prizes, such as Purvītis Prize, Dance Prize, Design Awards, Latvian Public media awards etc.
