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The young painter Ziemele depicts this very familiar feeling of having suddenly
forgotten such a generally known thing as, for example, the author of ‘The Last
Supper.’ In her exhibition at the Stockholm gallery ‘Candyland,’ large format
abstract paintings depict strange, unordered maps of thought-waves (I supposed
to say this about an abstract painting?). Ceramic tongues Scattered on the floor
are a yet another reminder that ‘this thing is not on the tip of your tongue.’ The
ideas that Ziemele developed in her in-depth research are presented with an
unobtrusive and subtle humor.
The ability to laugh — mostly at one’s own expense — is also present in the work
of the painter Elīna Vītola. For the last 28 years she’s been hoping to become an
artist. She used various strategies in order to achieve that. Her latest attempt
was an exhibition at the Kogo Gallery in Tartu titled ‘Common Issues in Painting
and Everyday Life – Crapstraction’ 3 . In it Vītola examined the ways of becoming
a renowned ‘crapstractionist.’ It is important to admit that her success depends
only on us — curators, gallerists, collectors, wall decorators and critics —
because the artist herself has barely any leverage in this hierarchy. And it’s
unlikely that Vītola is going to pick her laurels any time soon. The thing is that
Elīna was born in Eastern Europe, and, although the UN has recognised all three
Baltic states as part of Northern Europe, this fact will probably not help the artist
in her career.
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The only survivors in the complicated art market hierarchy are those who are
discovered or remembered by curators. A mere glance at Vītola’s paintings might
be enough to understand what we are dealing with. In order to see the image,
we have to use our ‘magic eye.’ 4 in order to5 If we are lucky, a deer, a fairy, or the
Lion King will appear in front of us. It might also be an upholstery pattern from a
grandmother’s armchair. Or maybe you will get extremely lucky and see the artist
herself, who will then tell you that, for the first time in her life, she has
created a new pattern that incorporates all the previous patterns she did not
invent herself. You might as well come to a conclusion that trying to find
recognisable images in an abstraction is a common everyday task. Vītola has
published her manifesto which I am not going to reveal to you here, as it
available on her Instagram profile. It is significant that the artist reproduced her
manifesto on two of her works: a painted sofa, and on an incredibly long canvas
roll of which only a very tiny part is visible.
In Elza Sīle’s exhibition æA Decent Little Hike on Roads Rural and Dangerous,
Plus Ugly’ at the Alma Gallery one can find many things except for paintings in
a classical (conservative?) sense. “I used classic painting materials: graphite, oil,
and acrylic. My works — or rather my compositions — are something between a
painting, a board game, and a miniature stage; they look like landscapes created
with traditional painting materials and in keeping with the classical
conventions,” the artist said in an interview. Despite the use of conventional
materials, her approach is definitely unconventional. She utilises the painting
materials as construction elements to build houses and towns, playgrounds and
parks, toilets and what not. The exhibition showcased adhesive prints depicting
tattoos with the reproductions of the paintings displayed in the same room, only
depicted on a human body; plates with maps of imaginary places; and artist’s
poetry. She places some of her works in parallel to the ground (no one said that
paintings must always be placed vertically against the wall). Here are some of
her poignant insights on the conventional understandings about painting (what
does it even mean—creating ‘pure’ or ‘impure’ hues; or constructing a painting
that is ‘too big’ or ‘too small’?):
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Crapstraction – an art term related to “Zombie Formalism” coined by art critic Walter Robinson, is basically
a mechanism for collectors to make loads of money. The scheme is simple: find an emerging
artist-abstractionist, buy his/her work ass-cheaply, groom the artist’s name, put the work on auction and
get a big buck. And now many of them, unrecognizable from each other, smoothed out and fused together,
groomed and smudged, decorate the walls of the wealthy. Oh, how lovely are those decorations that do
not disturb my tranquil life!
4 Remember the children’s game in which, as described in spoki.tvnet.lv, one has to choose a point in a
picture (it is best to start somewhere in the middle) and allow yourself to see images through keeping your
focus fixed on one spot it? No need to strain your eyes and stare, simply look ‘through’ the image. It is ok
to lose focus at first. Don’t give up, keep looking. After you’ve seen your first image, others will arrive with
less effort.