Amanda Ziemele receives the prestigious Purvītis Prize 2021
A seven-member international jury of art experts has awarded this year’s Purvītis Prize for outstanding artistic achievement to Latvian artist Amanda Ziemele (b. 1990). The prestigious 28,500-euro prize (before taxes) is the most substantial in the Baltic region and is awarded biennially.
The 30-year old artist was one of eight finalists, and received the prize for her solo exhibition Quantum Hair Implants at the Kim? Contemporary Art Centre in Riga (21.02. – 07.04.2019).
The award was ceremoniously presented this evening to Ms. Ziemele at the yard of the Art Academy of Latvia by Māra Lāce, the museum’s director and head of the jury, along with fellow jury members Jānis Zuzāns, the patron of the Purvītis Prize and longstanding benefactor of the LNMA, and Daniel Hug, the creative director of Art Cologne.
The four other jury members who chose Ms. Ziemele as this year’s Purvītis Prize recipient are Kasper König, the founding director of Skulptur Projekte Münster; Sergey Popov, member of the board of Russia’s Association of Galleries (Moscow); Sandra Hegedüs, founder of SAM Art Projects (Paris); and Adam Budak, director of Kestner Gesellschaft (Hanover).
The jury members reached their decison to award the prize to Ms. Ziemele at a closed session, during which they also evaluated recent artworks by seven other finalists: Skuja Braden, Valdis Celms, Krista and Reinis Dzudzilo, Kaspars Groševs, Ieva Kraule-Kūna and Elīna Vītola, Rasa and Raitis Šmits, and Aija Zariņa. All eight of the finalists’works can be viewed at the LNMA until August 8, at a special exhibition curated by Daiga Rudzāte and designed by Martiņš Vizbulis.
“This is a well-grounded opinion and decision of the majority of the members of the Jury. Members of the Jury noted the exceptionally high quality of all works of art as well as the diversity of art represented among the nominees. However, there can be only one winner. This year it is Amanda Ziemele, a young and expressive artist. The Jury concluded that Amanda offers an extraordinarily contemporary work of art. The artist has created an open space for everybody with no thing unnecessary, nor missing either. This space provides a certain feeling of freedom for everybody and everything. The experts think that this work of art has not been created with the purpose of putting it on the art market or for it to become eternal. It has been born as an unavoidable inner necessity,” said the head of the jury, Māra Lāce.
From left: Māra Lāce, Nauris Puntulis, Amanda Ziemele, Maija Tabaka, Jānis Zuzāns
The winner of the Purvītis Prize 2021 - Amanda Ziemele
Special award for lifetime artistic achievement goes to Maija Tabaka
Also this year, for the second time in the history of the Purvītis Prize, a special award for lifetime artistic achievement was awarded to painter Maija Tabaka (b. 1939), along with a cash prize of 10,000 euros (after taxes).
“Maija Tabaka’s imagination is limitless, and it is one of the pillars of her uniqueness. Fantasies, dreams and memories become reality in her paintings, just as they do in the works of Federico Fellini, where the true reality is imagined, since objective memories cannot exist; they can be but subjective, just like the fantasies of every individual,” writes Anda Treija, an art historian and head of the Daugava art gallery in Riga, in the catalogue for the 2021 Purvītis Prize.
From May 28 to June 9, the Delfi news outlet conducted a poll, during which the exhibition’s viewers could vote for their favourite work among the eight finalists. The most votes went to Samsara by the Skuja Braden artists’ duo, who received a special additional prize by Delfi culture section editor Nora Rieksta.
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Opinions of the members of the Purvītis Prize Jury
Adam Budak: “Precision and modesty equal poetry in Amanda’s painterly environments that are orchestrated in a masterful way across all parameters of a given space. Here, the painting is a performative act: stripped bare, it wanders across the room, adorns the doorway, levitates over the ceiling, adapting classical architectural components by almost mimicking them in a freestyle embrace. Amanda’s is a generous gesture - towards the painting itself, towards space, as well as (and perhaps most importantly) towards the viewer. The artist keeps activating the viewer’s attention, guiding the gaze in an almost cinematic manner, a one-long-shot-camera movement, comparable with the painterly move. The simplicity of an elemental form, along with the basic brushstroke act, makes it an unusual proposal which seduces the viewer with its freshness and certain wickedness, a sense of humor, and subversion. Here, the painting appears as a sensual practice, with care for materiality, with a focus on a texture, with subtle narrative nods towards childhood, memory, a need of protection, a critical nostalgia.
The jury highly appreciated the work of all 8 candidates, praising the selection for its diversity, regarding the medium, artistic approach and generational difference, as well as a high quality of all submitted project.”
Sandra Hegedus: “After a very unusual year where our habitudes were questioned, it was a great joy to come to Riga and be part of the Purvitis prize jury. The diversity of the propositions made it a difficult choice, the quality of all artists was outstanding. Our choice went to Amanda Ziemele. The poetry and beauty of her work, the apparently simple but studied strokes. The way she constructed her space, the supports, the sculptural aspect. A great artist.”
Sergey Popov: “The Purvitis Prize is always an experience of art, which is not, to my mind, related to only Latvian or Baltic art scene, but touches to problems, which are actual for people throughout the whole world. This time I expected from the Prize a serious program, basing firstly even on the images of the works, - but the exhibition that I’ve seen in the museum, exceeded my expectations. Some of the projects - especially complex installations of Dzudzilo, Rasa and Raitis Šmits, Ieva Kraule-Kūna & Elīna Vītola - were real breakthroughs in their fields. But the whole jury was enchanted by the painterly ensemble of Amanda Ziemele, which deserved its victory within its new borders of plasticity, feeling of space and poetic sensuality. She deserves the Prize, which is quite rare for painterly medium in 2021. So congratulations to the artist and Prize organizers for the exact direction of thought and action!”
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Arterritory.com presents the following photo report on the Purvītis Prize 2021 award ceremony.
Photos: Kristīne Madjare
Līna Birzaka - Priekule
Jānis Zuzāns and Māra Lāce
Performs Sign Libra (Agata Meļņikova)
Elīna Vītola and Ieva Kraule - Kūna
Kristaps Zariņš, Valdis Celms, Sergey Popov
Kaspars Groševs
Maija Tabaka 
Maija Tabaka and Nauris Puntulis
Nora Rieksta-Ķenģe and artists duo Skuja Braden
Member of the Jury - Sandra Hegedüs
Member of the jury - Adam Budak
In the center - member of the Jury - Daniel Hug
Māra Lāce, Nauris Puntulis, Amanda Ziemele, Jānis Zuzāns
THE PURVĪTIS PRIZE
The Purvītis Prize is the most prestigious and the most substantial visual art award in Latvia. Founded in January 2008, the Purvītis Prize was launched to amass regular and systematic information about the latest visual arts events in Latvia, promote development of new projects and original ideas, acknowledge the best achievements in Latvian professional visual arts and popularise the success of Latvian artists both in Latvia and abroad.
The Purvītis Prize is awarded biannually to an artist or a group of artists representing Latvia with outstanding work, which is deemed to be deeply connected to the developments of the era and forming a bridge between contemporary life, spiritual ideals and intrinsic values. The artist rated highest by a panel of experts and a specially established international jury is selected as the winner. The Prize is 28 500 EUR (including taxes).
The first Purvītis Prize was awarded in 2009 to Katrīna Neiburga for her video work Solitude. Artist Kristaps Ģelzis became the second winner in 2011 for his solo exhibition Varbūt (Maybe). The third Purvītis Prize was given in 2013 to Andris Eglītis for his one-man show Zemes darbi (Soil Works). The fourth winner in 2015 was Miķelis Fišers for his solo exhibition Netaisnība (Disgrace). The 2017 Purvītis Prize went to a group of artists – Krišs Salmanis, Anna Salmane and Kristaps Pētersons – for their exhibition Dziesma (Song). The sixth Purvītis Prize was awarded in 2019 to Ieva Epnere for her solo exhibition Sea of Living Memories.
The Purvītis Prize competition in visual arts is organised by the Latvian National Museum of Art in collaboration with the Museum Patron, SIA Alfor, and SIA Culture Project Agency ‘INDIE’ (Kultūras projektu aģentūra “INDIE”). The Purvītis Prize organisation is assisted by association Art Platform (Mākslas platforma) and P.R.A.E. Public Relations (P.R.A.E. Sabiedriskās attiecības).
