Andris Eglītis, one of the most prominent Latvian painters of his generation who also works with installation, sculpture and building, currently has his solo exhibition at the Latvian National Museum of Art in Riga, Latvia. Exhibition. Some Instances of Encounters Between Imagination and Matter curated by Aleksejs Beļeckis is Eglītis’ largest solo exhibition to date. The exhibition is on view until 3 November.
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 the artist invites nature to be an active participant in 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. His painting neither demonstrates nor represents and explores 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.
Andris Eglītis’ new works in Exhibition. Some Instances of Encounters Between Imagination and Matter 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 — a photo series by photographer Sandijs Ruļuks, a sculpture by artist Laimdota Malle, a 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 involves public program curator Agnese Krivade, spatial artist Liene Pavlovska, designer Una Grants, carpenter Augusts Eglītis, architects Tils Zigmunds Ozoliņš and Mārtiņš Sarvuts, and 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.
Exhibition. Some Instances of Encounters Between Imagination and Matter is open from 24 August until 3 November at the Latvian National Museum of Art in Riga, Latvia. The exhibition is organised by the Latvian National Museum of Art and producer Kitija Vasiļjeva. The project is supported by the State Culture Capital Foundation, Riga City Council and Arctic Paper.
Andris Eglītis was born in 1981, he lives and works in Riga and the Savvaļa open-air art space. Since 2008, the 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 theatre 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 organisers.
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 and designer. Over the last decade, they created over 70 exhibitions, films, performances, festivals, public programs, books and concerts. They have curated such shows as fashion brand FyodorGolan retrospective Harmonious Collision at the Latvian National Museum of Art, art and science group exhibition Lauka pētījumi / Fieldworks commissioned by Institute for Environmental Solutions, were a deputy commissioner for Latvian Pavilion at 58th Venice Art Biennale, co-founded dance festival HOROS and are one of the organisers of the art and residency space Savvaļa. Their projects were continuously nominated and awarded national prizes, such as the Purvītis Prize, Dance Prize, Design Awards, Latvian Public media awards, etc.
View from Exhibition. Some Instances of Encounters Between Imagination and Matter by Andris Eglītis at the Latvian National Museum of Art, 2024. Photo by Reinis Hofmanis
View from Exhibition. Some Instances of Encounters Between Imagination and Matter by Andris Eglītis at the Latvian National Museum of Art, 2024. Photo by Reinis Hofmanis
View from Exhibition. Some Instances of Encounters Between Imagination and Matter by Andris Eglītis at the Latvian National Museum of Art, 2024. Photo by Reinis Hofmanis
View from Exhibition. Some Instances of Encounters Between Imagination and Matter by Andris Eglītis at the Latvian National Museum of Art, 2024. Photo by Reinis Hofmanis
View from Exhibition. Some Instances of Encounters Between Imagination and Matter by Andris Eglītis at the Latvian National Museum of Art, 2024. Photo by Reinis Hofmanis
View from Exhibition. Some Instances of Encounters Between Imagination and Matter by Andris Eglītis at the Latvian National Museum of Art, 2024. Photo by Reinis Hofmanis
View from Exhibition. Some Instances of Encounters Between Imagination and Matter by Andris Eglītis at the Latvian National Museum of Art, 2024. Photo by Reinis Hofmanis
View from Exhibition. Some Instances of Encounters Between Imagination and Matter by Andris Eglītis at the Latvian National Museum of Art, 2024. Photo by Reinis Hofmanis
View from Exhibition. Some Instances of Encounters Between Imagination and Matter by Andris Eglītis at the Latvian National Museum of Art, 2024. Photo by Reinis Hofmanis
View from Exhibition. Some Instances of Encounters Between Imagination and Matter by Andris Eglītis at the Latvian National Museum of Art, 2024. Photo by Reinis Hofmanis
View from Exhibition. Some Instances of Encounters Between Imagination and Matter by Andris Eglītis at the Latvian National Museum of Art, 2024. Photo by Reinis Hofmanis
View from Exhibition. Some Instances of Encounters Between Imagination and Matter by Andris Eglītis at the Latvian National Museum of Art, 2024. Photo by Reinis Hofmanis
View from Exhibition. Some Instances of Encounters Between Imagination and Matter by Andris Eglītis at the Latvian National Museum of Art, 2024. Photo by Reinis Hofmanis
View from Exhibition. Some Instances of Encounters Between Imagination and Matter by Andris Eglītis at the Latvian National Museum of Art, 2024. Photo by Reinis Hofmanis
View from Exhibition. Some Instances of Encounters Between Imagination and Matter by Andris Eglītis at the Latvian National Museum of Art, 2024. Photo by Reinis Hofmanis
View from Exhibition. Some Instances of Encounters Between Imagination and Matter by Andris Eglītis at the Latvian National Museum of Art, 2024. Photo by Reinis Hofmanis
View from Exhibition. Some Instances of Encounters Between Imagination and Matter by Andris Eglītis at the Latvian National Museum of Art, 2024. Photo by Reinis Hofmanis
View from Exhibition. Some Instances of Encounters Between Imagination and Matter by Andris Eglītis at the Latvian National Museum of Art, 2024. Photo by Reinis Hofmanis
Andris Eglītis, from the series Through the Darkness, 2023. Oil on canvas, 70 × 60 cm. Photo by Reinis Hofmanis
Andris Eglītis, from the series Through the Darkness, 2023. Oil on canvas, 70 × 60 cm. Photo by Reinis Hofmanis
Andris Eglītis, from the series Some Instances of Encounters Between Imagination and Matter, 2023. Minerals, earth pigments, acrylic on weathered canvas, 370 × 504 cm. Photo by Reinis Hofmanis
Photo By Reinis Hofmanis
Andris Eglītis, from the series Some Instances of Encounters Between Imagination and Matter, 2024. Minerals, earth pigments, algae, oil on canvas, 71,5 × 52 cm. Photo by Reinis Hofmanis
Photo By Reinis Hofmanis
