Kim? Contemporary Art Centre rounded off 2019 with the solo show Black Lines by Maija Kurševa. The exhibition gave an insight into the artist’s recent oeuvre during a three-month residency at the International Studio & Curatorial Program (ISCP) as part of Kim? Residency 2019 award.
Maija Kurševa’s exhibition Black Lines at Kim? Contemporary Art Centre in a subtle way reveals the highly intuitive process of drawing. Black Lines invites to follow the movement of a drawn line, eventually not showing anything concrete, but triggering the subconscious to form associations. The exhibition was on display from 11 December 2019 to 12 January 2020. “Black Lines. These are thoughts of a drawing and a line. How to show the flow of thoughts, without using a language? The image on the paper is confined in a plane. The line can be carried into space, forced to the gravity, provided with the potential of movement. The colour of the gouache is deeply black, matte and pleasant, the lines on the wall are retained with a brown touch of acrylic. Minimal and flowing shapes do not attempt to portray anything specific, but in observation, the mind forms associations and seeks the recognizable. The process of the work is intuitive – one thing leads to the next. Here we see the waypoint, not the end.” – Maija Kurševa.
Maija Kurševa (born 1981) graduated with BA (2006) and MA (2008) degrees from the Visual Communication programme of the Art Academy of Latvia. She currently teaches composition and screen printing at the Art Academy of Latvia, Movement.Image.Sound department. In 2017, Kurševa founded the not-for-profit gallery Low, and has acted as the gallery’s programme director (2017-2020). She is also the founder and curator of Riga Zine Festival (2016, 2018) as well as co-founder and project manager of the artist collective “Popper Publishing” (2012-2020).
Kurševa has partaken in artist residencies Kai in Tallinn (2020), ISCP in New York (2019), Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris (2019) and Iaspis in Umea (2013). From 2004, she has participated in exhibitions in Latvia and abroad, and notably, was nominated for the Purvītis Prize in 2017 for her work “Joviality”. Among Kurševa’s latest projects are solo shows in Riga – “Investigation” (2018) at the Kim? Contemporary Art Centre, “Underground” (2017) at Low gallery, “Checkered Order” at gallery Māksla XO and group shows – “Talk to Me” (2018) at Akureyri Art Museum, Iceland, “NNN” (2017) at the Latvian National Museum of Art, as we
-ll as “Expanding the Scope of Printmaking” (2016) at Taoyuan Culture Centre, Taiwan.
Recently Maija Kurševa returned from the residency in New York as part of Kim? Residency 2019 award (annual Kim? Residency each year provides an opportunity for one promising Latvian artist to take part in one of Kim? partner organizations abroad), where she spent three months at The International Studio & Curatorial Program (ISCP) that supports the creative development of artists and curators and promotes exchange through residencies and public programs. ISCP is New York’s most comprehensive international visual arts residency program, founded in 1994.
Photography: Ansis Starks
