Andris Eglītis

Laboratory of Poetic Research

Gelatine, mould, potassium permanganate on canvas, 2017

In characterizing his work, Andris Eglītis chose to quote a fragment from an interview with Theodore Zeldin:

“RL: […] What makes humans different from animals, plants, fungi, machines?

Zeldin: I would say that they possess imagination and curiosity and this makes them think that the world is not what it looks like.” (From Arnis Rītups' interview with the Oxford historian Theodore Zeldin in the magazine Rīgas laiks, June 2017, p. 19).

Spending his summers in Drusti – in a corner of the Latvian wilderness without a proper access road – Eglītis disappears “into the wild”, striving to coexist with the self-sufficient natural environment, humbly listening, observing and submitting to it, as well as struggling against it and retaking his territories. Nature is also given an equal role in the development of Eglītis’ works, being invited to demonstrate both a kind of imagination and a curiosity. Merging chance with certainty, large-format paintings are made over long periods of time out in the pond, swamp, forest and meadow, where the sun, wind, rain, insects, birds and animals leave their traces on them, letting Eglītis himself climb out of the role of the anthropocentric creator and feel like one of nature's creatures.

Artist's bio

Artist Andris Eglītis (b. 1981, Riga, Latvia) lives and works in Riga and Drusti Parish. Although Eglītis has chosen painting as his main artistic medium, he also enjoys making sculptures in an outdoor studio, occasionally with the help of the neighbouring beaver colony, and creating architectonic etudes as arrangements for paintings. His works are permeated by an interest in the relationship between the material and the immaterial, as well as the interaction between aesthetic form and practical (un)usability. In 2013, Eglītis was awarded the Purvītis Prize for his exhibition Soil Works. In 2015, together with the artist Katrīna Neiburga he represented Latvia at the 56th Venice Art Biennale. In the near future, he plans to open a feral art space in the rural territory of Drusti Parish.

Text: Solvita Krese