On 28 January, the Daugavpils Mark Rothko Art Centre launches this year’s first exhibition season with five very different projects featuring Latvian, Lithuanian, Estonian and German artists.
Diversity in means of expression and varying degrees of directness in address. From charming natural elements in delicate colour fields to unmistakably textual representations. From serene classical painting to impulsive installations. These different descriptions all fit the latest artistic output available at the Rothko Centre’s temporary exhibition rooms from 28 January.
Although such diversity might seem puzzling at first glance, a perceptive viewer should appreciate the latest change in scenography and the opportunity to get an almost theatrical experience, as one space prepares the visitor for entering the next, as tension switches to contemplative nostalgia, whilst expressiveness gives way to profoundly individual self-reflection.
“The X Project” is a continuous art event where creators from different fields are invited to work in pairs on a joint work of art, sharing different creative and technological experiences and ideas and being given free space to interpret the theme. This is a great challenge, but it offers an invaluable experience to creators who often come up with truly unexpected, intriguing works. Through this project, Lithuanian curator Albinas Vološkevičius brings together his country’s leading artists, lately also attracting participants from abroad. In this exhibition season, the Rothko Centre receives two latest instalments of “The X Project” – “X: Free Space” and “X: EGO”.
In “Mycelia”, five German artists teamed up with another five from Latvia to work in tandems and produce their small creative ecosystems. In the Latvian version of the title, “Micēlija”, the biological term is used in an altered, feminine form, “-a” being a typical inflexion for Latvian nouns in the feminine grammatical gender. This was a deliberate choice to highlight the feminine connotation of the project. The artists interpret the biological concept of mycelium through the prism of interpersonal interactions, communications and relationships on the broader social level. Another goal was to reference their own cooperation within the project when they were looking for common grounds and points of intersection that would bring together different views, ideas, geographical backgrounds and concerns into site-specific art made expressly for this exhibition in this particular setting.
In “The Sea of a Thousand Dreams”, Estonian photographer, illustrator and graphic designer, Andres Adamson, depicts water – the mystical primordial environment from which we all, all life on Earth, originated. In his images, the author tried to express the human desire for peace, lightness and tranquillity.
A markedly different take on water is proposed by Lithuanian ceramic artist, Milena Pirštelienė. Her work integrates diverse techniques, which makes it sculptural, graphic, ceramic and illustrative, all at the same time. The title and the principal theme of the exhibition is “Water”. It is also the central object of the artist’s reflections, featuring drowning cities, floods, anxiety and a sense of looming threat.
“The Crown” by Agra Ritiņa balances the power and softness of nature. At the start of her painting career, the artist was capturing natural processes, and she has remained faithful to nature to this day. She still goes there to seek inspiration, observe the play of light and colour, and capture moods, shapes and ideas. These impressions she then transforms into art, focusing on the essentials and producing endless studies of floating or low-hanging clouds, frequently shaped like giant tree crowns.
The new season’s exhibitions are on show through 10 April 2022.
The new season’s exhibition projects are another step for the city of Daugavpils towards the European Capital of Culture 2027.
#Daugavpils2027
#kopīgavaloda
EKG2027
#ECoC2027
About the organiser:
https://www.rothkocenter.com/
https://www.facebook.com/DaugavpilsMarkRothkoArtCentre
https://www.instagram.com/markrothkoartcentre/
Exhibition details:
https://www.rothkocenter.com/en/exhibitions
Supporters:
Daugavpils City Council, State Culture Capital Foundation, Caparol.
Other exhibitions on show:
Mark Rothko’s originals;
“Found in the Collection” – finest pieces from the Daugavpils Mark Rothko Art Centre;
“Talk to Me!” – group show by the Ceramic Association of Latvia at the Rothko Centre courtyard.
Opening hours:
Monday: closed
Tuesday: 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Wednesday through Saturday: 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Sunday: 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Publicity photo:
Miglė Kosinskaitė, Peeter Krosmann, Gertrūda’s dream, oil on canvas, 120×180 cm, 2021
Andres Adamson, Quadrivision, giclée print on satin canvas, 100 x 180 cm, 2020;
Milena Pirštelienė, The Anxiety diptych, white clay, porcelain, pigments, glazes, metal, 1020 °C, 1250 °C, h – 117 cm, 2021;
Agra Ritiņa, Autumn palette, oil on cavas, 120 x 100 cm, 2021.
Contacts:
Aivars Baranovskis
aivars.baranovskis@daugavpils.lv
+371 65430273
