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ARNIS BALCUS


"Latvian photograher Arnis Balcus works with the issues of personal and collective identity, memory and history. In his latest work "Amnesia" the artist is staging various rituals that have died out from our daily life due to social and political changes. These situations feature the lifestyle of Latvians and other post-Soviet countries for the last thirty years. Collective amnesia - forced or voluntary suppression of separate memories - has contributed to the fact that these rituals have fallen in oblivion for both to deny the Latvian Soviet identity and get over recurrent political and economical failures."




Arnis Balcus’ solo exhibition “Episodes” was on view at the 1st and 2nd floor of Riga Gallery from 6 to 26 September, 2006. That was the first solo exhibition of the London-based Latvian artist at Riga Gallery. The next solo show "Flowers" will take place at Riga Gallery on January 2008.
“Episodes” was altogether different from the previous series of snap-shot photographs “Myself, Friends, Lovers and Others” that was on view at Balcus’ solo exhibition at State Museum of Art, Exhibition Hall Arsenāls Creative Studio and made the artist widely known outside Latvia.
In "Episodes" Balcus had use B-category film aesthetics and comics to create series of black-and-white photographic stories, dealing with stereotyped and banal subjects of love, hate, good and evil, sex and violence, reversing them and provoking a chain of new associations. The artist was speaking about the sexual power of woman and reverses the traditional ideas on the roles of women and men.


Arnis Balcus participates in exhibitions since 1994. The artist had solo exhibitions at Giedre Bartelt Gallery in Berlin (2007, 2003),Matthew Bown Gallery in London (2005, 2006), State Museum of Art Exhibition Hall Arsenāls (2004), Fotogalerie Wien (2004) etc. He has participated in significant group shows like Moscow Art Fair ART MOSCOW (2007, 2006), exhibition "Power of the Body" at Riga Gallery (2006), group exhibitions at Giedre Bartelt Gallery in Berlin (2004, 2005), exhibition “What is Important?” organised by Latvian Centre for Contemporary Art (2004), II Ars Baltica Photo Triennial (1999) etc.

More information: www.arnisbalcus.co.uk

EXHIBITIONS

FLOWERS
EPISODES

ARNIS BALCUS. Self Portrait With Anda



ARNIS BALCUS. From photo story "Enemy Within"



ARNIS BALCUS. From photo story "Enemy Within"



ARNIS BALCUS. From photo story "Enemy Within"



ARNIS BALCUS. Ghost From the Last Summer



ARNIS BALCUS. From photo story "Killing Rampage"



ARNIS BALCUS. From photo story "Killing Rampage"



ARNIS BALCUS. From photo story "Killing Rampage"



ARNIS BALCUS. Rose



ARNIS BALCUS. Sword fern



ARNIS BALCUS. Poinsettia



ARNIS BALCUS. Matthiola



ARNIS BALCUS. Gerbera



ARNIS BALCUS. Untitled, Riga



ARNIS BALCUS. Bronwyn. London