Nominees for the 2019 Purvītis Prize have been announced
Nominees for the 2019 Purvītis Prize
17/01/2019
The professional group of experts on the nominating committee that selects the candidates for the Purvītis Prize, Latvia’s highest award in the visual arts, has closed their two-year period of deliberation (December 8, 2016 – December 31, 2019) and has announced the following eight artists/artist groups as finalists for the 2019 Purvītis Prize:
ĒRIKS APAĻAIS for the series of paintings titled Diaries from Earth, which were exhibited at Sporta iela 2 during the Riga International Biennial of Contemporary Art;
ĒRIKS APAĻAIS. Diaries from Earth. Installation view, 2014-18. Photo: Ivan Erofeev, ©RIBOCA
IEVA EPNERE for her solo show Dzīvo atmiņu jūra/Sea of Living Memories at the kim? Contemporary Art Centre;
Ieva Epnere. Exhibition Sea of Living Memories at the kim? Contemporary Art Centre. Photo: Ansis Starks
KRISTAPS EPNERS for his work Forget Me Not at the Kristaps Morbergs Residence during the Riga International Biennial of Contemporary Art;
Kristaps Epners, Forget Me Not. 2018. Photo: Kristīne Madjare
GINTS GABRĀNS for his augmented reality project SAN, realised in 2017-2018;
ROMĀNS KOROVINS for his solo exhibition Satori of Master Wu and Master Lee at the creative workshop held at the ‘Arsenāls’ Exhibition Hall of the Latvian National Museum of Art;
1a_Romāns Korovins. Satori of Master Wu and Master Lee 2011. Photography. Photo: Romāns Korovins
PAULIS LIEPA for the exhibition The Cabinet of Beautiful Arts at the Mūkusala Art Salon;
Paulis Liepa, The Cabinet of Beautiful Arts at the Mūkusala Art Salon. Photo: Paulis Liepa
THE ORBITA GROUP (Artur Punte, Vladimir Svetlov, Sergej Timofejev and Alexandr Zapol) for the exhibition Where Do Poems Come From at the floating art gallery NOASS;
Aleksandrs Zapols. Photo: Andris Priedīte
RASA ŠMITE and RAITIS ŠMITS for the exhibition Fluctuation of Microworlds at the RIXC Centre for New Media Culture.
Rasa Šmite and Raitis Šmits. Fluctuation of Microworlds at the RIXC Centre for New Media Culture.
After having visited more than 130 exhibitions over the last two years, the nominating committee selected 20 artists/artist groups to compete for placement on the final shortlist for the Purvītis Prize. The works of the artists proceeding to the shortlist will be presented in the finalists’ exhibition, which will be on view in the Great Hall of the Latvian National Museum of Art (LNMA) from March 23 to June 9. Beginning with March 23, the public will also be able to vote for their favourite nominee in a separate competition, the winner of which will also be announced during the 2019 Purvītis Prize Award Ceremony.
The recipient of the 2019 Purvītis Prize will be chosen by an international Jury, and the laureate will be announced on April 12 at a special ceremony which will be held at the Zuzeum Art Centre. The members of the Jury who have confirmed their participation are: Milena Orolova, Editor-in-chief of The Art Newspaper Russia; Galila Barzilaï-Hollander, art collector; Ursula Krinzinger, director and owner of Galerie Krinzinger (Vienna); Imants Tillers, Latvian-Australian artist, curator and writer; Jānis Zuzāns, patron of the Purvītis Prize; and Māra Lāce, Director of the LNMA.
In introducing the members of the 2019 Purvītis Prize Jury, the art portal Arterritory.com, in cooperation with the LNMA, is presenting a special exhibition in the 3rd-floor vestibule of the LNMA from April 10 to May 12: a part of Belgian art collector Galila Barzilaï-Hollander’s collection of chairs made by artists (notably, chairs constitute just one of more than 20 different conceptual and thematic branches of her vast collection). The starting point for this show is the chair’s image as an object of ceremony, in addition to the multitude of other meanings that have been attributed to it – and which explains why this seemingly purely functional object has regularly attracted the attention of many artists. ‘The chair contains something very basic; it embodies togetherness. As soon as you enter a room, you receive an invitation to sit down! It messages the sense that you are expected. The chair is very closely linked to communication,’ explains Barzilaï-Hollander. ‘The chairs in my collection are absolute objects of art – each one is different and has its own personal story.’
The Purvītis Prize is awarded biennially to an artist or a group of artists representing Latvia who have produced outstanding work that has been deemed to be deeply connected to the developments of the current era and forms a bridge between contemporary life, spiritual ideals, and intrinsic values. The author rated highest by a panel of experts and a special international jury is selected as the winner and is awarded a prize amount of 28 500 EUR (pre-tax). As the Purvītis Prize enters its second decade, the Prize’s organisational committee has announced that from this year onward, a prize will also be awarded for lifetime achievement in the arts, the recipient of which will be selected by the organisational committee of the Purvītis Prize. In 2019 this prize will be awarded to painter Džemma Skulme.
