EXHIBITIONS
HUNGER GAMES. DISTRICT RIGA
The artificial, colorful lights entice spectators from afar. Like an invitation to a sensational show, the gallery's window displays the striking title "Hunger Games." Once, these brilliant neon lights hinted at the promises of the dawning electronics age, serving as symbols of exhilarating progress. Bright signs once marked commercial venues or acted as lighthouses for weary souls wandering in the dark of night in search of fleeting pleasures. Though neon has lost much of its original popularity today, becoming more of a niche design feature, its glow still guides the bored and spiritually thirsty.
This time, behind the colorful light's invitation, stands Kristians Brekte. As always, the trickster of this time, once again playing with the familiar symbols and methods of consumer culture. Under the mesmerizing lights, he deftly lures the viewers consciousness into a labyrinth, where instead of confronting the Minotaur, one must face the collective Shadow. But the sign does not deceive - these are the Hunger Games, and not everyone will emerge victorious. The tricksters mirror may repel those of weak spirit.
For those who dare to look into the shadow, the trickster-shopkeeper presents a carefully curated catalog. For the more resolute, he provides shopping carts; for the aesthetes, echoes of antiques from a time long past. The offerings are as varied as the heart desires - lost souls, mummies, suffering and of course souvenirs that bear witness to their time. It's worth mentioning that the Shadow holds no true higher powers. Instead, illusory figures beckon participants to engage in games of luck, or gaze threateningly at supplicants trough primate masks.
The exit must be found by one's own means, and each must determine for themselves who this trickster really is. A villain, a hero,
or a bold transgressor of boundaries. Perhaps he is just like us, only a bit more sensitive, brave, and audacious.
Curator: Ieva Stalšene
FEAR
A light left on for the night, alarm, guard dogs, weapons, passwords, diets and vaccines. It is all because of the fears of people around us, illnesses, death, fears of losing some kind of property or fears of ourselves. Isn't there something else behind these formal reasons? The works done in the intaglio printing technique aim to reveal a set of rituals we do being afraid of things and phenomena. According to that, different casual or very strange expressions of fears have been summarized, making one think of how far the reflexes can go and what the possible consequences can be.
DEAD AIN'T GONE
Self portrait exhibition.
ARSENAL
“Arsenal” has become the main keyword for the event, both through an attempt to build a link with the function of the building of the ARSENĀLS Exhibition Hall of the Latvian National Museum of Art (LNMA) over the centuries, and pointing towards the history of armament and its relevance today. Kristians Brekte’s most ambitious personal exhibition to date consists of new works – large-format paintings, ready-made objects and multimedia installations – all on the military subject.
SHUT UP
MADONNAS
Kristians Brekte and the exhibition's curator Ieva Kulakova trace the lives of seven women working on the streets.For more than half a year, the two engaged in a detective-like process to get to know these girls' everyday lives. The exhibition has become, in a way, a documentary study - what are the fates of these women and our sometimes erroneous stereotypes about them.
It is inspired by the story of Mary Magdalene, which tells of the possibility of transforming one's life by encountering the true love of God. On the other hand, it is a well-known fact in the history of art that the models for saints are most often real people who are the artist's fellow human beings, with a wide range of occupations.
The models in the exhibition, the Madonnas of Riga, are women engaged in intimate service in Riga and the Riga region.
What attracts the authors of the exhibition is not only the proximity of the abyss in the model's personality.
The revelation of the seven models chosen for the exhibition is realised on three levels.
Firstly, the artist's interpretation of the character in question in eight large-scale watercolours. Secondly, the story of each character and the circumstances of their encounter, as recorded by the exhibition curator. At the end of each story, there are also the models' own answers to simple questions that reveal their personalities through everyday details. Finally, each Riga Madonna is a co-creator of the exhibition - with photographs taken by herself with a Kodak disposable camera.
