Ilmārs
Blumbergs’ solo exhibition THE GLASS PEARL GAMES will present the artist’s
paintings, assemblages and objects. The artist does not limit himself by common
artistic means but uses a wide, colourful and unordinary spectrum of materials –
resin, plastic, wood, charcoal, glass, various organic materials, banal
ready-made objects – beads, plastic figurines etc.
Blumbergs
can be considered the most influential representative of mythological thinking
in Latvian art. His theme in art is the existence of human being; the object of
artistic research – life and death.Symbols and irony are always intertwined in the artist’s works. In this
exhibition it shows in the absurd texts (“Friend Searching for Beads”, “Devil
Take the Content, Stress the Form, Vitja”, No Joy in Life, Read Koran”,
“Freedom is Dangerous” etc.) attached to the works but one should remember they
have come from life in the form of quotes, graffiti and slogans.
The
title of the exhibition recalls the cultic novel “The Glass Bead Game” (1946)
by Hermann Hesse, dealing with the intellectuals of the province of Castalia
and their never-ending game, and Blumbergs joins the process with
enthusiasm.But in his case more important
is the “game” involving the basic principles of art and existence as well as the
ideas of the world’s leading musicians, poets and philosophers. The artist
states: “The present lacks any unifying cultural principle focused upon a
certain goal; that is why multiple “games” feature in the title of the
exhibition. There is none single core to art. It is multi-polar and cannot be
classified as neatly as Hesse did. The very
basic rules of what is art are not really clear. In addition, there is a
question whether the game and its players are needed by the society at all?”
Ilmārs
Blumbergs’ solo exhibition “The Glass Bead Games” will be on view on both
floors of the Riga Gallery. The show includes also the dedication to the
Mozart’s opera “The Magic Flute”; the artist had started working on it already
in 1998 together with the prominent Russian director Yuri Ljubimov. The work on
this theme has been presented in different versions, including the staging of
“The Magic Flute” at the Latvian National Opera together with the director
Viesturs Kairišs and multi-media exhibition at the Latvian pavilion at the 49th
Venice Biennial in 2001; the work is going on till now.
Works in selected public collections:
Latvian
National Museum of Art (former State Museum of Art), Riga
/ Latvia
EduardsSmiļģisTheatreMuseum,
Riga / Latvia
Literature,
Theatre and MusicMuseum, Riga / Latvia
TartuArt Museum,
Tartu / Estonia
The
PushkinMuseum
of Fine Arts, Moscow / Russia
Theatre-Museum of A. Bahrushin, Moscow
/ Russia
State
Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow / Russia
Kunsthalle, Hamburg / Germany
BochumArt Museum,
Bochum / Germany
CityMuseum,
Pori / Finland
CityMuseum,
Chamaliers / France
National
Gallery of Australia, Canberra / Australia
JaneVoorheesZimmerliArt
Museum, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey
/ USA
Selected private collections:
Dr.
Guntis Belēvičs’ private collection
Māris
Bensons’ private collection
Justs
Karlsons’ private collection
Ieva
Laukers’ private collection
Ilmārs Blumbergs was born in 1943 inRiga
/ Latvia.
In
1972 Blumbergs graduated from the Painting Department of the LatvianAcademy
of Art. His versatile personality is manifested not only in painting but also
in graphic arts, stage and costume design, graphic design, book design,
posters, photography, videos, installations and sculpture.
Selected awards
2001 Prize of the
Baltic Assembly for the stage and costume design for the Mozart’s opera “The
Magic Flute”
2003 Silver Medal
of the Prague Stage Design Quadrennial for the stage and costume design for the
Mozart’s opera “The Magic Flute”
2005 Prize of the
Year 2004 awarded by the Artists’ Union of Latvia
for the solo exhibition “Prayer about Seeing” in Oratorio di San Ludovico in Venice
2007 Dante
Alighieri Award for the “Venetian Books” Project
2009 “Players’
Night Award 2009” for the life-long contribution to the theatrical art
Since
1962 the artist participates in significant art exhibitions in Latvia
and abroad.
Selected solo exhibitions
1995“All about Hesiod”, Riga
Gallery, Riga / Latvia
2000“Threshold”, Vigeland’s Museum,
Oslo/Norway (together with Gļebs Panteļejevs)
“Logi/Windows”, LatvianNationalMuseum of Art, Riga /
Latvia
2002 “Logi/Windows”, Lichthof des
Auswartigen Amtes, Berlin /
Germany
“Aida.
The Magic Flute”, Luxemburg Garden Greenhouse,
Paris / France
“House-Keeping”, Gallery Daugava, Riga / Latvia
2003“Drawings are in the Box”,
Riga Gallery, Riga / Latvia;
TartuArt
Museum, Tartu / Estonia
2004“Prayer about
Seeing”, Oratorio di San Ludovico, Venice / Italy
2005“Prayer about
Seeing”, Riga Gallery, Riga / Latvia
Selected
group exhibitions
1984“Nature.
Environment. Man”, St. Peter’s Church, Riga / Latvia
1988–1989 “Riga –
Lettische Avantgarde”, Kunsthalle, Berlin / German;
Exhibition
Hall Weseburg, Bremen
/ Germany;
City Gallery Im
Sophienhof, Kiel / Germany
2001
“Riga 800 Magic Flute”, Latvian exposition at the 49thVenice
Biennial, Chiesa
di San Lio, Venice/Italy
“The Face of
Graphics”, Riga Gallery, Riga / Latvia
