Livia Graudiņa's solo show "Surface of Depth" opens in Liepāja
Artist Līva Graudiņa's solo exhibition "Dziļuma virsma" (Surface of Depth) is on at the Liepāja Latvian Society House, her first solo show in Liepāja. Most of the works are new paintings inspired by walks in Gauja National Park.
The Liepāja Latvian Society House is currently hosting "Dziļuma virsma" (Surface of Depth), a solo exhibition by painter Līva Graudiņa. It is the artist's first solo show in Liepāja. Graudiņa lives in Cēsis and moved there from Riga; she draws ideas for her paintings from walks in Gauja National Park.
From Cēsis to Liepāja
Last summer Cēsis hosted her solo exhibition "Gaismas atmiņa" (Memory of Light), which prompted the idea of a show in Liepāja too. The exhibition's curator, Liepāja-based artist Dace Dēliņa-Lipska, encouraged the meeting with local audiences. In her view, Graudiņa's work is marked by virtuoso, academic painting with a Latvian and transcendental feeling, and she reads the exhibition's title as a immersion into oneself and a search for authenticity.
Several works from "Gaismas atmiņa" are on view, but most of the show consists of new paintings made for Liepāja. For the first time, the artist's works contain this much green.
Water reflections and transparent painting
The concept grew out of the artist's photographs, which often feature reflections in water. She is drawn to the two worlds in them: the visible one and the hinted depth beneath. She sees the painting's surface as a conditional reflection of reality, while the sense of depth comes from materiality and spatial effects.
Graudiņa primes her canvases with chalk ground, which allows her to paint transparently. Her paintings usually come together in one or two passes, nearly in the alla prima technique, in very thin, transparent layers.
She stresses that the exhibition is not about her or about nature, but about feelings and experiences: each viewer can find their own memories and sensations in a painting. Her earlier tones were more muted and softer, but this summer she began using green and red.
