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Photo reportage from Andris Eglītis’ and Katrīna Neiburga’s show at (AV17) gallery

Gallery (AV17) presents an exhibition by one of the best known Latvian contemporary artists – Andris Eglītis and Katrīna Neiburga, called “Pickled Long Cucumbers”. The artists represent Latvia in many significant contemporary art exhibitions, including Venice Biennale, where the duo has been participating in 2015.

In collaboration, Andris Eglītis and Katrīna Neiburga create installations which integrate video, painting and sculpture. Their works in “Picked long Cucumbers” are unified by a prevailing human-nature theme. In a work created by Katrīna Neiburga, displaying the integrity of nature in humankind, a projection of Adam and Eve to an extent, along with the paintings by Andris Eglītis, created using soil, sand and clay, as well as other objects, created by an artist, produce somewhat of a new world, where the traces of the past can still be felt. Co-existence and confrontation between the present and the primordial worlds are constantly felt in the works. By picturing various contemporary rituals and attributes the artists are balancing between neutral and post-apocalyptic moods, while the modern world, portrayed in the exhibition, gains a barbaric view. The artists analyse questions concerning the present human-caused ecological problems, and the “return to the nature”, emphasizes a strong link between nature and humankind as well the contradiction of human actions. A well-known method of preserving – pickling, has been used in the name of the exhibition, while the usual, short cucumber have been “elongated”, in order to provoke the viewer to reflect on the meaning on settled habits in our lives as well aspects of rationality and irrationality.

The works by Katrīna Neiburga and Andris Eglītis are characterised by their anthropological, analytical view on social and cultural occurrences, as well as by capturing the changes of these occurrences as their function changes. Their artworks often reflect on the shifts of the post-soviet period, the clashes of the past and present times. By deconstructing and giving a critical dimension to it, the authors are questioning the stubborn stereotypes: the constraints of gender, power and authority. The centre of Katrina and Andris creation is a human in the midst of inner and outer change, and the duality between the material and spiritual human world. The idiosyncratic feature of their works is a rough aesthetic, created by a use of natural, coarse materials: wood, clay, tree branches.

Katrīna Neiburga has a master’s degree in Visual Communication from the Latvian Academy of Art and has studied at the Royal Institute of Art in Stockholm. She has been participating in exhibitions since 2000, as well as Sydney and Moscow biennials. In 2008, Katrīna has been awarded Purvītis Prize – the highest award in the art field in Latvia. For an exceptional value of her works, the artist has been also nominated for a Fennica award. She also creates scenography for Perma and Latvian National opera and ballet theatre, as well as the Paris Bastille theatre.

Andris Eglītis has studied in the Latvian academy of art, the institute of art of I.E.Repin in Saint Petersburg as well as in HISK in Belgium. In his work, the artist links various art forms: painting, sculpture, object art. He has been an exhibition member since 2000, and has exhibited exclusively several times in Riga, Antwerp, Berlin. He has received a Purvītis Prize in 2013.

The exhibition will run till 8th of November at (AV17)  gallery, Totoriu str. 5, Vilnius.

Project is partly funded by Lithuanian council for culture.

Photography: Julija Rūkas