Untitled

Description of the work of art:

This artwork depicts the path of the Hanseatic League from the sale of gold to modern trade - present-day factories, services and engineering elements such as bridges and skyscrapers which accompany them.  The historical buildings symbolize the history of the Hanseatic league.

Untitled

Description of the work of art:

The idea of "New Hanseatic Gold" occurred to the artist while she was strolling through the ancient Westwood neighbourhood of Beverley.  The artist found a fragment of ancient timber, and she found it to be a metaphor related to Beverley's development from the Middle Ages to the exciting membership in the Hanseatic League and on to the present day.  "I was reminded of the prow of a ship," the artist has said.  "It was like the city of Beverley sailing toward new leagues."  Along with its new status as a Hanseatic city, Beverley marked the anniversary in 2020 of its founding by St John around 700 AD.  The new gold or the Hanseatic values in Beverley created various alliances in the social and cultural spheres, raising the town to a new level and a new and global centre for culture.  The warm nucleus at the centre of the artwork refers to the beating heart of Hanseatic countries which seek new friendships.  The whirling chips I the background are a metaphor for a new technological and global language.  Modern communications via electronic networks interweave and pulsate, enriching both sides with new ideas, sharing experiences, demonstration present-day values, putting people and their co-existence at the centre, and bringing together individuals, states and cities so as to facilitate greater understanding.

Amor Mundi - Connention

Description of the work of art:

Amor Mundi:  Love and responsibility for the world and nature

Connention:  Harmony and unity

New gold:  Values that become more and more important for us and related to other Hanseatic League cities and residents.  There is care for nature and everything that grows and flourishes.

At the back of the canvas there is a depiction of trees with branches that are stretching toward the blue heavens.  People increasingly believe that trees communicate with one another.  A child can run here and be happy.  There is a place where the child can study things and grow.

The centre of the canvas shows the flowing IJssel River with a bridge crossing it.  The bridge symbolises an exchange of thoughts and experience, and it also connects worlds.  This means a broader view not just of the person's environment, but also cities, countries and the world.  It focuses on values that we can offer to one another, it focuses on new gold.  In this installation, the river also merges the canvases that are in front of and behind it.

The front of the canvas depicts a dam on the river where there is room for flowers, insects, birds and people who wish to relax and enjoy nature.

These values are the new Hanseatic gold.

Horizon

Description of the work of art:

This installation is made up of 16 embroideries, each representing one of the countries in the Hanseatic League.  The embroidery represents the various faces of the sea.  The frames resemble the portholes of ships which open up to water landscapes and the horizon.  The landscapes are nearly abstract, and the embroidery involves both wool and cotton.  This provides the artworks with a texture.  Each landscape is different and special.  The water is calm in some embroideries and stormy in others.  That is the public mood in Hanseatic League countries.  Still, all of them have one and the same horizon.

Aurum

Description of the work of art:

"Aurum" means "gold" in Latin, and that is an embodiment of Hansa.  Kaleidoscopic golden hands come together in the video that is projected onto the painting.  The blue sea in the panting merges the region of the Hanseatic League, and the hands transport codes with gestures which symbolise humanity, communication, solidarity and trade.  Modern networks are the new Hanseatic gold.

Golden compass

Description of the work of art:

Gold is created in stars, and when supernovae explode, it is tossed into the Universe.  The gold literally falls from the sky just like the statue on the Latvian Freedom Monument receives stars from the heavens.  Now we must trade gold for new values that do not come from above.  Our internal value compass will help us to make our way through the Hanseatic sea routes, as well as the complex and modern world that needs new viewpoints.  The four compass arrows point to values - to see (a new worldview), to feel (links with others), to think (about new ideas) and to do (in order to make the world a better place).

Castle of nature

Description of the work of art:

True value and the eternal "gold" of the world is nature.  Nature provides everything that humanity needs.  That was true back when the Hanseatic League cities traded in natural resources, as well as today, when nature continues to selflessly present us with resources and senses of enjoyment.  Hanseatic League cities are characterised by their rich and advantageous geographical locations.  Forests and fields, rivers and seas -- Hanseatic cities would never have developed without this.  It is nature that has allowed humanity to grow in welfare and to reach for even more.  This is a painting of symbolism, depicting a hillock shortly before sunrise.  It is a hillock which rises for a new day and is like a simplistically beautiful and mighty castle.  The painting is meant to say thank you to nature.

Path of light. Path of gold

Description of the work of art:

The instruments of the "Way of Light. Way of Gold." installation include sunlight and natural forms.  The signs are literal and abstract, and they reflect the natural world.  The geometric printed forms are harmonised with elements from nature and presented in repetitive and flowing rhythms.  This harmony reveals views about links to Europe's understanding of form and space.  There are also truly Japanese elements of aesthetics -- gradual dissipation, no sense of permanency and a lack of clarity.  The viewers of the installation become a mandatory component therein, because people's personal experiences will ensure senses about the artwork.  The clear and rhythmic drawing is typical of the Japanese perspective of space and their close and harmonic relationships with nature.  Nature, when full of sunlight, is a special source of "natural gold" which transforms, changes and causes a momentary and transitive experience.

Seeds

Description of the work of art:

Along with traditional "sea" colours, inspiration for this installation came from ancient Portolan maps and lithographic stones with labels and grains that have been preserved to the present day.  Seeds are the symbol and heritage of life, offering a symbol of passing down and maintaining memories.  Thus they are more valuable than gold.  Maritime maps point the direction, while old labels symbolise memories of ancient trade.  The grains and texts in the artwork, for their part, merge the past and the future.

An empty place never remains empty

Description of the work of art:

An area of ashes and coal:  "Archaeological digs at one of the most ancient parts of the city.  The former Mountain village, which has changed ideas about the important issue of original populations in Kuldīga."[1]  "The most ancient buildings were here during the latter half of the 12th century, as was determined by samples of coal that were extracted during an archaeological dig across the street from Kalna Street 7 and 9."[2]  "At the bottom of the cultural level there is earth and light sand that have not been affected by human activities.  There are remains of a log building."[3]  "Surrounding the remains of the building are quite a few unglazed fragments of clay dishware.  Some of them are decorated with curvy or nail impression ornaments. It is 45.3% likely that the analysed samples date back to the period between 1120 and 1220 AD."[4]

Each location has many layers.  It is never empty even if it seems that it has been liberated by archaic nail impressions of scrapes.  Over the course of time, objects deteriorate, break apart, form deposits and become dense.  That increases the cultural layer.  It is accompanied by stories, memories and things that no one knows but are part of the place's identity.

The artist has an empty place in Kuldīga.  Kalna 8a is an experimental area in front of the area of ashes and coal opposite the Kalna Street 7 and 9 buildings.  Over the course of time, the building that was put up in the 19th century did not survive because of burdens, but its foundations are still not there.  Under those foundations is potential archaeological material, as well as lack of knowledge of what perhaps happened in the past and what exists today.  What was there in the past, and why is there nothing there?  The closeness of artefacts has created careful piety in working with and learning about the plot of land, or telling others that the empty place is by no means as empty as we perceive it before we sink into the depths that we are unaware of.

[1]   [1] Asaris J., Lūsēns M. Kuldīga Under Kuldīga // Kuldīga: Architecture and Urban Construction.  Kuldīga:  Kuldīga Administrative District Council, 2013, p 147.  In Latvian.
[2]   Ibid, p. 16.
[3]   Ibid., p. 147.
[4]   Ibid., p. 149.

Kuldīga tapestry II

Description of the work of art:

When thinking about things that can be offered instead of gold right now, words written by Rudolfs Blaumanis spring to mind:  "My nation is my gold."  To rephrase this, one would like to say that gold today is represented by people who live and work, study, establish families and help to keep our town clean.  Artists believe that true value rests in people and human values in today's globalised world.  The ability to mutually inspire, create, communicate, converse, find various types of bilateral agreements and learn from one another.  Part of the answer in terms of "new gold" is based in "difference" which allows us to enjoy diversity and the experience of others.  Portraits of people are a basic element in these artworks.  They are residents of Kuldīga, young and old and representatives of various professions.  There are 50 or 60 of them, and they have been photographed with full length images.  These photos were used for the Kuldīga tapestry, where human figures make ornaments and are joined together in a single ornamentation.  Each individual interacts with another figure and colour.  Games with the others create joie de vivre and a dynamic ornament.  The colours are blue, grey, yellow, orange and rosy red.  This offers a dynamic, lively, development-focused and energetic palette of hues.  Everyone in these artworks are linked, unified and of equal importance.  The artists who produced the Kuldīga human tapestries wish to insist that each individual who takes part in international exchanges is worth a lot of gold.  The three tapestries allowed the artists to draw inspiration from ancient folk art traditions in which colours and ornaments came together to ensure colourful rhythms.

There is Nothing Standing Between a God and a Man

Description of the work of art:

Rays of light that weave through the aeons, bringing together generations, dynasties and other people.  The heartbeats and love transfer the greatest art of the Universe -- trust life, trust the Universe and trust yourself.  Keep on walking down the path of life that has been gifted to each of us.  "It's no accident that we're here.  We arrived here with the Big Bang and the will of God.  Each of us has his or her own special code, gifts, super-strength and endless ability to become reborn to join in this dance of the Universe.  We inspire one another so as to maintain, accompany and await being together in this great assignment.  To carry as much light as we can.  To make sure that sicknesses and sufferings recede so that we can swim in the warm river of love and only know that life is very good and that it is very good to be alive."

Each of these encountered people has enormous strength.  Some have deep or deeply close strength.  Others have been encountered for just a moment, but the event of our lives and how we live and exist is simply miraculous.  There are those whose assignment is to step onto the stage.  Others are instructed to take care of their own children and those who have been abandoned.  Someone else is assigned the job of sewing little dresses for granddaughters.  Someone must stand up straight.  Someone must regain lost details.  Each person has a specific place and specific things to do.  I felt such enormous strength of spirit in these people.  Endless strength and indescribable beauty that can only be sensed if we stop and listen with the eyes of our heart.  We see how beautifully and uniquely each person carries this gift of life with respect for themselves and the Universe.

Net activities

Description of the work of art:

The Hanseatic League could perceive good things and avoid not such good things.

1)  Disturbances from the exterior and interior refresh relations, assuming that we basically wish each other well.  Something new emerges.

2)  In complex situations, we squeeze more tightly together, and of importance are trustworthy fundamental values and our ability to stay together.

3)  During peacetime, there can be an open and respectful exchange of ideas, lives and aspects of thinking culture.  Alternatives arrange themselves.

Many things become simpler when unified and merged!

Unity - Freedom - Economics - Culture

Description of the work of art:

The historical Hanseatic League had a finely branched network which covered both economics and culture outside of the boundaries of the specific countries.  This was a brilliant idea about all-encompassing European unity and integration, and this deeply rooted idea about merging through exchanges is the essence and foundation of the Hanseatic League irrespective of whether the exchange and sharing relates to goods, rules, among people or values.  It is a challenge today to maintain, facilitate, bring to life and shape in the future this thing.  It can be kept alive with joint economic, social, cultural and tourism networks.  The artist sees several main pillars in terms of Hansa turning into a single region -- unity-freedom-economics-culture.  That is the new gold of Hansa.  Each of these areas is symbolised by a pair of images from various Hanseatic cities in the colour of blue, grey or bronze.  This is expressive photo evidence from a specific city, and it merges with the symbols of another city.  The unifying element is the Japanese kintsugi technique, which does not hide scars and seams, instead emphasising them and decorating them with gold.  Differences, diversity and painful experiences are given a healing and symbolic form, hiding nothing and not reducing the common unifying strength.

...What's Left of Life

Description of the work of art:

The artist has created a platform for ideas without any limitations, offering a diversity of opportunities to establish contacts and networks in the true Hanseatic spirit.  It allows artists, craftspeople, traders, representatives of governments, international aid organisations, sociologists and many others who are involved in the process to take part in international exchanges at any moment, display their creativity and learn more about the impressive diversity of various cultures.  The greatest value today is a clear shift in priorities in thinking and what people do.  This is a desire to move from "me" to "you" and "us," to divide up wealth in a more honest way, to share in knowledge and experience, to look at all "alien" things with interest and curiosity, to always study common interests in an equal and peaceful co-existence, and always respecting the different nature and culture of other people.  We live in an age which, on the one hand, is shaped by global changes, wars, refugees, forced migration, famine, pandemics and inexpressible poverty, while on the other hand, there is an increasing yearning for wealth and power.  Amid this diversity there must be increasing attempts to ensure that humanitarian aid and support in crisis situations can be organised ad hoc and presented in locations much faster and without unnecessary bureaucracy.  The innumerable and deeply touching photos of people who are seeking protection and refuge have been seen by the artist over the past two years.  This has encouraged her to return to this topic again and again and to process it in a creative way.  Scraps of textile with a wide diversity of structure, colour and texture are sewn together to symbolise a union of states in which the job for states is to come together and consistently focus on the humanitarian catastrophes of this world.  By demonstrating the suffering which is experienced by innumerable refugees and thousands of victims of war, violence, terror, poverty and famine in the world, a single person among many thousands of refugees can sense and feel what has remained in life.  The canvas has purposefully not been attached to a frame, as is carefully done on other occasions.  Instead, it has been unevenly fastened to a basic structure of slats of wood so that it can be visible to the viewer.  The artist is sure that only if countries come together in pursuit of their interests and strengths will we be able to reduce existing suffering here and in other countries so as to move toward a better future.  Each land, each state with its resources, mutual support and close partnerships with aid organisations all around the world can make an individual and important investment to make sure that this is successful.

Mindmaps

Description of the work of art:

The new gold of Hansa and the "Mindmaps" series represent contacts and connections, particularly now, when there has been geopolitically exaggerated discipline and isolating social experiences related to the pandemic.  Ideas among people and in politics.  The triptych that has been created specifically for the Rīga Arts Space depicts a storm in our heads, thus depicting the creative thinking processes of the artist.  Ideas move around, join together and are merged into an anachronic painting.

Society Under Construction

Description of the work of art:

The "Society Under Construction" installation focuses on human communities and subcultures which operate in parallel to the main directions of society.  The goals and behavioural habits of these establish a foundation for a completely new society.  A living being is a miniature form of society and nature.  Grey textile dolls represent a new generation of children, and when all of this is put together, this establishes a society for the future while also reorganising the pillars of the "collective body."

A series of paintings DOORS and a series of paintings HOLY PLACES

Description of the work of art:

A series of paintings, DOORS

The past year has changed the world.  People have been isolated from one another.  The artist's interpretation has doors which serve as isolation for an artistic symbol.  On the one hand, the doors are locked, but on the other hand they help us to "return to ourselves" so that we can even more appreciate simple human characteristics such as benevolence, mutual aid, support and mercy.  Isn't that the new gold?

A series of paintings, HOLY PLACES

In this series of paintings, the artist understands new gold as a set of eternal and transcendental values which join human history and culture.  These values include places which miraculously provide strength and energy while also healing and enriching the human soul.  There are wonderful places like that in every city.  Close to Pskov is a special village called Videlebye, and it was the birthplace of the wonderworker St Nikandr.  The artist has displayed his personal impressions while visiting the village.  A new pathway opened up for him, just as tradesmen in the past opened up pathways not just for trade, but also for contacts, understanding and friendship.

View of the future

Description of the work of art:

We usually see the future as a pathway that provides us with opportunities.  We can look back at the nicest moments of the past and receive strength from them.  A symbols of the past in this artwork is a nautilus which, since antiquity, has been one of the greatest secrets of nature.  It recalls the origins of the world and of life.  Angels are of symbolic importance.  They have watched and protected us every day in our lives.  It is so nice to believe or understand a bit that there is a higher force which protects us and cares for us.  Will that remain true in future?  What will we see there if we try to peek into it?

Sails at Stralsund I

Description of the work of art:

The organisers of this exhibition asked about the values that are most important to us and whether we are prepared to implement them in life.  This is similar to the artist's approach toward his work.  The inspiration is from the well-known and impressive skyline of the city of Stralsund, as well as the unique and historical landscape of brick buildings, which has, since 2008, been complemented by modern and white architecture at the OZEANEUM aquarium.  The transformation of this historical landscape enabled new reflexions about historical heritage and the present day, and not just in architectural and aesthetic terms.  In this example, relations and perspectives of history and modern times allow us again and again to sink into thoughts about old and new values.  In his work, the artist tries to place alongside one another the conflicts between this values and the dense existence, always keeping open eyes to the future.  The sail is an element which supplements this.  It is a symbol of freedom, encounters and movement, and it surrounds us as the Baltic Sea.  This is a challenge to consider old and new values not just in the context of Stralsund, but also in exchange with partners in other countries in the context of the present-day Hansa.  This creative thought is made more vivid by elements such as the high cable-stayed Rügen bridge, which makes it possible to cross this place against the background of Stralsund with ships that are as much as 40 metres high.  The colour tones of blue and amber were purposefully chosen for this artwork.

Tradition

Description of the work of art:

The most important value for Hanseatic cities is their history, which is more valuable than gold.  History magically attracts us and releases our fantasies and our time travel.  The inspiration for the fish ornament linocut came from the form language of the bottom of the Baltic Sea, with only various tones of blue and grey being used so as to focus attention on the pathways and bad pathways of the lines.  All four artworks play with symmetry and asymmetry, and as is the case with streets in old cities, they invite the soul and spirit to travel and investigate unknown places and pathways.

Wall drapery Riga

Description of the work of art:

This drapery used to be a tablecloth which lived one life.  It was stained and unfashionable, so the plan was to throw it out.  The structure and decoration of the tablecloth, however, suggested to the artist that she keep it.  She was delighted to transform it into a wall drapery, "Rīga," after sewing and recolouring it.  The blue colour is dark as night so as to better emphasise the gold and bronze applications that were specially preserved.  As the wall drapery, the tablecloth has been given a new life, and that can be interpreted in modern terms as the new Hanseatic gold.  The repurposing of various materials can lead to something wonderfully new.  That is an interpretation of art which inspires people to think about a value such as sustainability.

Water: Blue Gold

Description of the work of art:

Water is the gold of the 21st century.  It is a special element on our planet and a bearer of life.  Freshwater is not a renewable resource, and it is split un unevenly in terms of geography and time.  Freshwater resources are subject to ever greater pressures because of growing population numbers, as well as socioeconomic and ecological demands.  The situation is critical.  The United Nations has found that some 900 people in the world have no access to clean drinking water.  Without water supplies, cities and industrialisation become impossible.  There must be more responsible and effective work related to water resources.

The work of the artist is based on impressions and inspirations from nature.  The things that she perceives and recognises are turned into more alien things with the technique of collage.  The texture and layers which are created by the colours are combined with stones and sand to create a painting.  The artist purposefully uses sudden ideas when working on such paintings.

Noah's ark XXI and Premiere

Description of the work of art:

At a time of technologies and artificial intelligence, the new gold of Hansa is positive communication among people.  This, of course, is a form of art in all of its human manifestations.  In 2018, the artist began work on a series of graphic pages which he called "Electric Fargao."  Fargao is a technology developed by the artist as an idea about partnering with the viewer.  Paintings created with this technology involve a visual creative process in a multidimensional space, depicting things that have happened to the artist.  These are things which have simultaneously happened in the past, the presence and the future.  The artist offers an artistic environment to the viewer, but the viewer uses his own perceptions to create a new reality.  The paintings contain no hidden meaning, and they do not require any particular decoding.  In this sense, the artist and the viewer are creating the artwork together without forcing each of them to accept the other's rules of perception and intellectual instructions.

The Octopus Library

Description of the work of art:

Like Captain Nemo in Jules Verne's "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea," the artist wants to stand apart from the world and to secretly prepare everything that is needed for the travel -- the submarine, the library and the diving equipment.  The artist found paper, cardboard and textile at used goods stores or from recycled materials.  She travels down the river of time to a place that has existed for a long time, with origins even before people transformed nature into culture.