Rīgas Galerija

SANDRA KRASTINA

Sandra Krastiņa (b. 1957) entered the Latvian art scene during the early 1890s. Together with young painters, her contemporaries, she attracted much attention and radically changed prevailing conceptions about the Latvian figural painting. The fame of this generation of artists has not diminished since that time.

In 1988 Sandra Krastiņa participated in the young artists’ exhibition “Post-Traditionalism” at the Central Artists’ House in Moscow. In 1990 Krastiņa and like-minded artists participated in the legendary exhibition-action “Gentle Fluctuations” at the Exhibition Hall “Latvija” (Riga). This exhibition strengthened radicalism of the young artists’ group and favored new influences in Latvian art.
In 1991 and 1995 Sandra Krastiņa’s solo exhibitions took place at the Art Museum “Arsenāls”. In 1999 the artist set up her solo exhibition “Painting and painting” at the State Museum of Art.
The painter took part in group exhibitions at Frauen Museum in Bonn (1992), Grand Salle de l’Aubette in Strasbourg (1997), Maison du Danemark in Paris (1998), Municipal Gallery in Bremen (2002), Zvolle City Museum (2002), and other important exhibitions of Latvian art.

Sandra Krastiņa’s early works correspond to the traditions of figural painting and demonstrate subtle, warm coloring. The artist’s images are always endowed with an overtone of psychological analysis. Early individual and group portraits of her contemporaries that explore the human destiny are transformed in the motif of “little man” during the late 1990s. The artist’s solo exhibition in 1999 was distinguished by quintessence of her creative research, working out the new, so-called “blue period”.
Sandra Krastiņa now continues to explore and perfect her painterly mode of expression, using new and peculiar means. Particular attention is paid to paintings’ texture – the artist often uses ashes or sand in her creative work.

Sandra Krastiņa’s works are found in the collections of the Latvian National Museum of Art (previous title - State Museum of Art), Museum of the Artists’ Union of Latvia, State Tretyakov gallery in Moscow, Ludwig Museum in Aachen as well as in private collections in Latvia and abroad.