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.
Text: Solvita Krese