GIRTS MUIZNIEKS

Girts Muiznieks (b. 1956) entered the Latvian art scene in the early 1980s. Together with other young painters of his generation he attracted much attention and brought radical changes to the traditional Latvian art scene. The fame of this generation of artists has not diminished since that time.
In 1988 Girts Muiznieks took part in the young artists’ exhibition “Post-Traditionalism” at the Central Artists’ House in Moscow.
In 1990 Girts Muiznieks and his like-minded contemporaries participated in the famous exhibition-action “Gentle Fluctuations” at the Exhibition Hall Latvija in Riga. This exhibition encouraged radical aspirations of the young painters’ group and promoted the adoption of new influences in Latvian art.

Girts Muiznieks had several solo-exhibitions in Riga Gallery (1993, 1994, 2003). He took part in important Latvian art exhibitions at the Zvolle City Museum (2002), Contemporary Art Museum Mucsarnok, BUdapest (1991), Museum of Art of the North Arizona University (1995), etc.

Girts Muiznieks is one of the most talented artists of his generation. His art is characterized by improvisation, impulsivity, fixation of the moment. In his works the refined colour and the rhythm of expressive lines twisted as laces, create entire images world rich of associations.
Although during his creative evolution Girts Muiznieks has distanced himself from figural painting ever further, concrete images of lips, eyes, female body have remained in artist's paintings. These sensual and emotional images travel from one work to another.
In artist's latest solo-exhibition "Ceremonial Portraits" (2003) in Riga Gallery resounded influences of French culture and Paris. They were present in both the choice of images (Napoleon, a knight on horseback, interpretations of artworks seen in Paris museums) and in the use of new material. Works on canvas that is the most common material in painting were exhibited alongside works on paper and metal, giving a chance to observe interaction between paint and different materials.
Girts Muiznieks received the Grand Prix of the Year 2003 for distinguished creative achievenment in this exhibition and in solo-exhibition "Paintings 2003" in Ivonna Veiherte's Gallery.

Girts Muiznieks' works are found in collections of the Latvian State Museum of Art (Riga), the Artists’ Union of Latvia Museum (Riga), the State Tretyakov Gallery (Moscow), M. K. Ciurlionis Museum of Art (Kaunas, Lithuania), Georgian Museum of Art (Tbilisi, Georgia) as well as in private collections in Latvia and abroad.


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