Artūrs Virtmanis “The writing on the wall” in the process of installation
On January 25th Riga Art Space opens an exhibition of Latvian contemporary graphic art. The exhibition will present the latest works from more than fifty Latvian artists. In addition, there will be an international conference and a catalogue. Both grand-masters and emerging talents, traditionalists as well as conceptualists are among the participants. This in the largest event dedicated to graphic arts in Latvia in the last twenty years. The exhibition and conference will engage in conversation on the discourse of graphics in the contemporary art. Essential to this conversation is the rich history of graphic art in Latvia, the thriving school of graphics at the Art Academy of Latvia and the contemporary art scene with its socially focused models of perception, experiment, criticism and participation that embrace the tradition and school of graphics. The exhibition will display also the works of the artists teaching at the Department of Graphic Art of the Art Academy of Latvia.
In 2014, when Riga is the European Capital of Culture, the exhibition GRAFIKA-S marks a significant anniversary: in 1914 the first exhibition of Latvian graphic artworks took place in Riga, held by the Latvian Society of Art Promotion. The anniversary, hundred years of graphics in the collection of the Latvian National Museum of Art and tradition in the context of contemporary art will be among the topics of the conference participants from Riga, Liepaja, Daugavpils, Welshpool (Great Britain) and Cologne (Germany).
The exhibition was proposed by graphic artist Ilze Lībiete, the long-standing head of the society “Grafikas kamera” (Graphics Chamber). The exhibition is organized by SIA “Rigas Nami” Riga City Exhibition Hall Riga Art Space in collaboration with the society “Grafikas kamera” (Graphics Chamber) and curated by Inga Šteimane. Participating in the organization of the exhibition is the Department of Graphic Art of the Art Academy of Latvia.
The winner will be announced in the opening of the exhibition by the international jury, among whose members are Richard Noyce, contemporary graphic art critic from Great Britain, and Julia Friedrich, the Graphics Collection curator of Museum Ludwig in Cologne.