lv

Zane Veldre

Crisis Point

Illustration, painting, 2012


A person goes about the business of living, and then suddenly there’s an instance when a heap of information and experience has been collected, and it all just goes up in smoke! All that you have understood, thought out, decided, simply BLOWS UP. And you have to start anew. Some people rush to swim against the tide, some start buying tomatoes only grown in Latvia and nowhere else; some decide to open a bar, others – to leave work or to start learning to play the piano. Everyone recognizes those little moments when we suddenly understand things that have seemed unclear before, or when we finally get the right feel for where and how to proceed. These moments are like explosions, when someone’s individual limit of patience is exhausted. (Z.V.)


Downshifting? I can affirm that I have been successful in avoiding this often- mentioned hurricane of life. During the last years, I have studied in both Latvia and abroad, and my survival had depended on one or another scholarship. Everything has always been a bit unstable, based on unpredictable and casual events and circumstances. I have always felt like a detached observer contemplating the big, real life; also the environment in which I grew up and I am still a part of today can be regarded as healthy and silent. Just distance few steps away, there is the possibility to spend time outside the city, to boil syrup from spruce cones and contemplate wild boars eating groats in the early morning. This means living your life without excess information and retaining balance. This is not rural tourism, but real life. Afterwards, I return to the city and enjoy its advantages – social circles, traffic and streets. But I think about, do not envy and occasionally also admire people who try to get along, solve questions of the right kind of lifestyle and have caged themselves.


Artist's Bio:

Zane Veldre is completing her Masters studies at the Art Academy of Latvia. Veldre has taken part in exhibitions “SEB scholarship in painting”, ”Most hidden dreams or what I have always wanted to show” (Nabaklab), ”Young Latvian painters II URBANKIDS.” (LNMM Arsenāls), ”Process” (Laimīgās mākslas muzejs).