Arturs Virtmanis

The idealist Rainis and the decadent pessimistic American philosopher Eugene
Thacker is probably a strange combination, but this time I was building the kind of reference bridge with their works. And this is a continuation of my experiments with intermittent, short-lived existing works of art that began a few years ago at the Drawing Center
within the framework of the experimental program Open Sessions. In my case, "dust" is more than just metaphor, but at the same time a game with dust in the literal sense - coal and its traces on a white paper surface. In the Dust of This Universe is a paraphrase of the melancholic meditations of the philosopher Taker: the world of the apocalypse premonitions. Rainis, on the other hand, spoke of the possibility of an idealized, higher position. Here between these two extremes I draw a black, fragile line ...

A monumental charcoal drawing with a depiction of a truly indeterminate giant figure could represent Raini: A mountain that seems to be looking far away from us ...

Dark, amorphous, almost exclusively emptied graphic works represent Eugene Tacher.
A black sphere or disk - like a negative sun - is a hybrid form that exists between the two thinkers.
Somewhere in the middle are us and everything else ...
/ A.Virtmanis /

Curriculum Vitae

Education

1986-1990 Riga Applied Art Collage, B.Design

1990-1996 Latvia Academy of Arts, MFA

 

Awards and nominations

2018 Tomorrow Never Comes, nominated for Purvitis Award, in category for The Best Work of Art/

Exhibition of the Year, Latvia

2017 Fucking Times installation nominated for The Artwork of the Year, by main daily newspaper

Diena, Riga, Latvia

2013 Nominated for Purvitis Award, in category for The Best Exhibition of the Year, Latvia

 

Solo shows

2020 The Sun doesn't know dark it is/ In these worlds dust

Gallery Bastejs, Riga, Latvia

2018 Against The Tragic Wall - MEN Gallery, New York City

2013 10 000 Melancholy Folds - Riga Art Space, Riga, Latvia

2005 Simulations - Control-room/Hunters Lodge - Remote Gallery, Jersey City

2003 Drawn from Life - Company Gallery, Syracuse, New York

2001 Urban Mantra - Mental Gallery, Hoboken, NJ

1999 Signs and Signals - The Gallery Space at Grace Church, Jersey City

 

Selected projects

2018 Linda Vista - set design for the play at The New Riga Theater, directed by Alvis Hermanis

2015 Bronze Horseman - design of projection images for a staging of a ballet Mikhailovsky

Theater, St. Petersburg, Russia

2014 Open Sessions, The Drawing Center - a two year program that facilitates exploration of new

modes of art production and presentation, NYC

2014 The Gospel According To The Other Mery - design of giant photo murals for the set,

director Peter Sellars, English National Opera, London

2013 Queen Of The Night - commission of a mural and site specific installation for an immersive

theater project, Paramount Hotel, New York City

2012 Sochi Olympics Opening Ceremony - design of giant inflatable scenic objects,

in collaboration with George Tsypin, New York City

2011 Sea Glass - carousel design, in collaboration with George Tsypin, Lower Manhattan Cultural

Council, Battery Park, New York City

2010 Spiderman - Turn Off The Dark - 3D object design for the set, New York City

2009 The Spiral in The Sky - concept design for an observation tower, in collaboration with George

Tsypin and NY Waterways, NYC

2008 A Bird in Your Ear - set design, in collaboration with Doug Fitch - Fisher Center at Bard

Collage, NY

2002 Two Theaters - installation at the Venice Bienalle of Architecture in collaboration with

George Tsypin, NYC; Venice, Italy

2000 Souvenirs for the End of The Century - in collaboration with Boym Design Studio,

"American Century”, Whitney Museum of American Art, NYC

Selected group shows

2018 Portable Landscapes - On Bridges of No Return, The State Museum of Art, Riga, Latvia

2018 Future State - installation Tomorrow Never Comes, Museum Arsenals, Riga, Latvia

2017 Contemporary Art from Eastern and Central Europe - Xin Dong Gallery, Beijing, China

2017 Side-Step - jewelry by contemporary artists, Puti Gallery, Riga, Latvia

2017 From the End of Time - Fucking Times - Riga Art Space, Latvia

2016 Survival Kit 8 - To Perish in Fantasy at Stricka manor house, Riga, Latvia

2016 Exquisite Corpse - Planthouse Gallery, New York City

2015 Narrative Axis - Blue Star Contemporary Art Museum, San Antonio, Texas

2015 Name it By Trying To Name It - The Drawing Center, New York City

2015 Distant Moods on a Blue Evening - Cesis Art Festival, Cesis, Latvia

2015 Above Ground - Popper mag at Gallery Alma, Riga, Latvia

2014 Open Sessions 2 - The Drawing Center, New York City

2014 The Poor Farm, Little Wolf, Wisconsin

2014 Graphic-S - Riga Art Space, Riga, Latvia

2006 The Drop - Exit Art, New York City

2005 The Superfly Effect - Jersey City Museum

2005 Subversion - Gallery PS122, New York City

2004 The Presidency Show - Exit Art, New York City

2004 Big America - Fishtank Gallery, Williamsburg New York City

2004 The Group Show - Fishtank Gallery, Williamsburg New York City

 

2003 99 Show - Cynthia Broan Gallery, New York City

2003 Cultural Explorations - Morris Museum, Morristown, NJ

2003 Manifestations - Denise Bibro Gallery, New York City

2002 New Growth - Art Newport/Pro Arts, Jersey City

2002 The Beauty of Big - Victory Hall/Jersey City Museum

2002 New Jersey Arts Annual - Jersey City Museum

2001 Art 111 - Jersey City Museum/Pro Arts

2000 Annex - Gallery X, New York City

2000 The Corridor - Gallery X, New York City

2000 The Powerhouse Show - Pro Arts/Fleet Bank, Jersey City

1999 Annual Sculpture Symposium - Baltic Sea Center, Helsinki, Finland

1998 Annual Gallery Artists Show - Chamot Gallery, Jersey City

1997 International - Marsha Child Contemporary, Princeton, NJ

1997 Celebrating Still Life - Mimi Ferzt Gallery, New York City

1995 House - preselection for Biennale Art Gend 96, M6 Gallery, Riga, Latvia