The interactive exposition of the exhibition has been specially constructed so that, if visitors to the Office Gallery follow the instructions and directions on the floor, they will be able to see each other in unusual situations. The artists are interested in the possibility of mutual understanding and the rhetorical question of whether one’s own presumptions and views determine and influence the reflection of another person. If a mirror is broken, does that mean that the image is not discernible? Objects which have been jointly created by the artists will be on view at the exhibition, as well as those which they have made individually – Viktorija Eksta’s photographs and Raimonds Līcītis’ paintings, in which both of them have attempted to render their conceptions of each other. Both artists, who belong to different generations, met many years ago, and have maintained a dialogue since this time, which at times has taken the form of an exchange of just a few words via an SMS, but still has not stopped. “There is no real clarity as to what’s taking place between us. Current. Cloud. Notebooks. Lard. Drunk tank. Rubbish bag. Geranium. Boot. Puree. Sand. Cotton wool. Head. Maxima. Gasoline. Teeth. Wax. Necktie. Stem,” the authors continue.
Viktorija Eksta (1987) is a young artist, who is interested in portraits and self-portraits. She studied photography with Andrejs Grants and is currently studying at the Art Academy of Latvia’s Department of Visual Communication. In 2010, she graduated from the Latvian Academy of Culture’s Department of Audio-visual Culture. She has developed a project called Time Machine dedicated to the research of cinema newsreels, as well as learning about the fields of film restoration and preservation at the Austrian Film Museum and at the Haghefilm Laboratory in Amsterdam.
Raimonds Līcītis (born in 1948) is a painter whose “name has become known in art circles only relatively recently – in 2003, he received the Autumn Exhibition’s (Private Space, curator Ieva Kalniņa) main prize. The author’s impressionist landscapes-sketches, which remind one of uncleaned palettes – unpretentious, sentient and pulsating – were the most striking surprises at the exhibition. But Raimonds Līcītis is neither an autodidact, nor a new discovery – he studied at the Janis Rozentāls Rīga Art High School (1959–1965), and took part in exhibitions every so often in the early 1980s, when he also held his first solo exhibition. The artist has quite consciously avoided becoming part of the official art system, painting in isolation without striving to exhibit,” says art historian Ieva Astahovska about the artist.
