Čakra
Installation, 2012
Frost and winter cold, it almost feels as if your nose is falling off. Wrapped up in warm clothes, ice anglers are sitting in a frozen and snowy landscape, like proud mushrooms. They make accurate circular cut-outs in the white surface, and with a satisfied facial expression attune themselves to several hours of sitting and waiting. They spend hours this way, focusing on the spot that connects this and the other world, as if practicing unconscious meditation in a field of ice. Ice anglers are apparently not influenced by factors such as freezing cold or spring thaw, causing them to think that the visible is a ritual necessary for the internal world – the soul.
Artist's Bio:
Kārlis Vītols was born in 1979. In 2001 he graduated with a Master’s degree from the Graphic Art Department of the Art Academy of Latvia, while in 2003 he obtained a second Master’s degree from the Department of Painting at the Academy. Vītols has been taking part in exhibitions since 1997. He has organized five solo exhibitions that express a tendency to broaden the ideas touched upon in his paintings, using other media – comics or animation. Vītols’ works show a solid interest in mythical thinking and its development today. He has received several awards for his works in animation. Vītols’ hobbies are making music, such as playing the harmonica, and he uses these skills in producing film scores. Vītols uses the nickname Kloijhi.