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GIRTS MUIZNIEKS
CEREMONIAL PORTRAITS

17.12.2003. - 10.01.2004.

Ģirts Muižnieks’ solo exhibition “State Portraits” was opened at the Riga Gallery from 17 December 2003 to 10 January 2004. Most of the works exhibited were created from December 2002 to February 2003 when the artist stayed in Paris. The title of the exhibition points to the presence of particular personae – these are creatures, images and spectres “met” during the period when the paintings were created. This exhibition can also be described as a homage to them.

The central work of the exhibition is “State Portrait” that was exhibited at the show “Gentle Fluctuations” (Exhibition Hall Arsenāls, 2002). Ģirts Muižnieks’ sensual and emotional images that travel from one work to another unite this painting with works made in Paris. Influences of French culture and Paris are 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 are exhibited alongside works on paper and metal, giving a chance to observe interaction between paint and different materials. So the use of metal surface has created transparent and fragile effects.

Ģirts Muižnieks’ paintings show no pompousness typical of state portraits. His new paintings can be seen as contemporary versions of the classical Grand Style portrait where sensual and emotional layers are as important as the representative aspect. In some cases these works can be possibly called paraphrases of well-known historical subjects or attempts to reanimate something turned into dogmatic banalities. Spectators should not focus all their attention on the human images alone that seemingly follows from the exhibition’s title. Nothing is to be taken literally because Muižnieks’ painting is always mysterious.
ĢIRTS MUIŽNIEKS