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| The Continuous Visualized! Santa Mičule, Student, Art Academy of Latvia Edgars Lielzeltiņš. Continuous 08.05.–30.05.2013. kim? Contemporary Art Centre | |
| The first solo exhibition of Edgars Lielzeltiņš (born 1984) was entitled Continuous, an appropriate title for a body of works united by their motif of repeating cycles and endless reiteration. The exhibition was on view at the kim? Contemporary Art Centre for three weeks in May. By gathering together works created over a longer period of time, the young artist had composed an elegant exposition of video miniatures, supplemented with an installation of a bunch of balloons on a clothes hanger. Edgars Lielzeltiņš graduated from the Department of Visual Communication of the Art Academy of Latvia in 2012, and over the last few years he has participated in several contemporary art and video festivals in Latvia and Europe. His works are characterized by laconic reserve, visually implementing things and processes which outside the realm of art are merely insignificant daily moments, or no more than fleeting thoughts. By concentrating on word play between the idea and its manifestation, the artist creates poetical illustrations of various activities which slowly transform into the next one, none of them having a clear beginning or end. The artist’s attitude towards his role in art is just as balanced and deliberate: for now, he is not rushing to make concrete plans or to continue his education – instead he has taken “time out” to think and to observe. It could be said that the process of observation is the mental source material of Edgars Lielzeltiņš’art. In the written introduction to his exhibition Continuous he points out: “I am not able to create an artwork from scratch, I can observe and capture my observations.” The works displayed at the exhibition indicate that the artist has fo- cused most often on observing common everyday activities such as skiing, smoking, or rubbing one’s eyes. He transforms the triviality of these actions into a symbol of continuity, hence also, in a sense, a symbol of eternity. The uniting element is the pursuit of new ways of how to transform a (continuous) action into a visual sign. The interplay between these two forms had set the scenario for both in- dividual works and the exhibition itself, just like in the rhetorical question “which came first, the chicken or the egg”, and the viewer can only guess if the movement of a work came before or after its visual embodiment. Thus the measure of success of the exhibition is mainly how well the author has managed the task of visualizing the continuous. In addition to the main artistic aim of the exhibition, each work emanates a certain joy of discovery about the way in which it has been possible to transform the image. This is why it is hard to apply the term “animation” to these works – the terms “movies” or “moving pictures” are much better suited. The moving pictures are populated by anonymous images, stripped to the minimum, but still recognizable. Motifs such as pages from a book without the book itself or with the letters missing, a dark figure of a skier, cigarette smoke without the smoker, hands rubbing the eyes, make the reality of Lielzeltiņš’ art anonymous and discrete, without any thematic divergences. Each of the works displayed at the exhibition Continuous includes a brief detail of the daily routine, but by using a continuous loop, the moment, poetically speaking, expands into eternity. | |
 Edgars Lielzeltiņš. 2013 Photo from the private archive of Edgars Lielzeltiņš | |
| The formal presentation of Edgars Lielzeltiņš’ works is testimony to the tendency of local contemporary artists to aestheticize each centimetre of the exhibition space. Those viewers who are not interested in the moment, nor eternity, had the chance to enjoy an el- egant exposition noir which provided a meditative visual experience. For instance, the video work Ziema (‘Winter’) featured a skier whose tracks in the snow gradually turned into paper strips. By project- ing the video onto a pile of paper, an interesting textured effect was achieved which enlivened the filmed material and allowed it to avoid two-dimensional flatness. To follow, a brief conversation with Edgars Lielzeltiņš about the continuous in his solo exhibition and also outside it. Santa Mičule: You have graduated from the Department of Visual Communication of the Art Academy of Latvia. What does visual communication mean to you as an artist? Edgars Lielzeltiņš: I used to have a blog called “visual work- out”, and for me it was like daily exercise in which I intensively devel- oped and made notes of visual ideas in my blog. I tried to reflect on what was important to me, about what I’d seen, guiding my words into visual language – visualizing my thoughts by means of colours, shapes, pictures and letters. Visual thinking is important to me, it is important to work on developing it. To learn, over time, how to transmit your thoughts to others. Speaking of this same blog, in the beginning I tried to update it daily with drawings or ideas, but with time I understood that there are many things which are not suitable for public display: they are just an intermediate step which you have to keep to yourself. S.M.: When viewing the exhibition Continuous, the first thing that strikes the viewer is the prevalent black-and-white aesthetic. In the process of creation, how important to you is the visual appeal of the works? E.L.: Visual appeal is not so crucial – the value of the work is more important, that’s what I am thinking about when I am creating a work or viewing art. The works for the exhibition Continuous were created over quite a long period of time; initially I didn’t think about a potential exhibition and I was making other pieces alongside these works, responding to other needs. The direction in which my art was gradually moving inspired me to get rid of colour, to place emphasis on black and white and achieving a “clean” exhibition space. How- ever, after the exhibition was put up I noticed that, when looking over the room, the lighting caused coloured spectrums to flash in your eyes from time to time – an unexpected detail, a play of light which I was happy about. S.M.: I’ve noticed that young artists are wary of being defined as representatives of one specific art medium. Do you have a definite sense of belonging to a particular art form, and are you in favour of such classification in art in general? E.L.: Not really, although the majority of my works made at the Academy were videos. I myself don’t think in these kinds of categories, and when I create a work I don’t consider it important to do it in a particular medium. I used to study sculpture, and then I did view things through a sculptor’s prism. When I enrolled in the Depart- ment of Visual Communication, video was like a challenge which I wanted to try. Now it’s not so important, I’m more interested in finding the best way of showing my idea. | |
 Edgars Lielzeltiņš. The weight of time. Installation. Fragment. 2013 Photo: Ansis Starks. Publicity photos Courtesy of the artist and kim? Contemporary Art Centre | |
| S.M.: Where do you see your place among the artists of the younger generation? E.L.: That’s a difficult question. I can’t declare that I really see myself as an artist. There are still some lingering doubts – not because art doesn’t interest me, for example, now I’m working more in graphic design, which is yet another area. I’ve always stood a little apart, my friends are from other social circles, and so I am, but at the same time I am not, part of the artistic milieu. S.M.: What are the most important things you gained from your first solo exhibition? E.L.: Generally I had the feeling that the exhibition should have taken place earlier, let’s say, a year ago. Right now it’s an event that has taken place for me only. For a long time I had difficulty expressing myself publically, showing my work, but then the exhibition just is and it’s easy to do, without thinking about how well or badly it has turned out. After the exhibition it’s easier to do what I want. At present, I don’t have any concrete future plans, and it’s a good feeling – I don’t know what’s going to happen next, nothing burdens me. S.M.: The works in your exhibition are, on the one hand, based on observing and recording everyday things, but on the other hand, they have an air of mystery about them, as they don’t reveal any concrete messages or stories. E.L.: It’s probably like that for the viewer. For me, each work has its own story. I remember the moments when I came upon an idea, when the works took shape. For me the long time spent creating the works is of importance – that is the story the works contain. For example, the work Saņemšanās cilpa (‘The loop of pulling yourself together’) came about exactly because I had to get my act together to make something. While struggling to finish something before a certain deadline, I was hounded by the persistent thought that I had to pull myself together. The moment you are convinced that you are doing the right thing, it helps you to persevere. Technically, the time spent on putting a work together is very long; while working on a video loop about my own need to pull myself together, which made me put in a concentrated effort for about a month, I noticed that as time passed the volume of work became smaller and also my great enthusiasm had diminished, so I had to pull myself together again to get it all done. | |
 Edgars Lielzeltiņš. Ziema. Instalācija. 2013 Photo: Ansis Starks. Publicity photos Courtesy of the artist and kim? Contemporary Art Centre | |
| S.M.: The exhibition left the impression that you are interested mainly in the changeability of an image, with movement as the most important means of expression. What does continuity mean to you? E.L.: The inner movement and action is important to me. I’ve not made a conscious effort to express those aspects visually in my works. The works displayed at the exhibition are set to a continuous loop, hence the title. It’s something you can’t get rid of. Most often I first find a title that formulates the idea, and only then I create the visual material. S.M.: What is your attitude towards the technologization of art? You yourself use a very time-consuming and complicated technique to create your art. E.L.: The medium doesn’t determine whether I like the work or not. It would be much easier and faster to do what I do using digital technologies, but it’s important to me that there is a certain subtlety in the finished result, without any artificial effects or tricks. S.M.: In your opinion, what are the opportunities for a young artist to get ahead in Latvia and to do the things that they like? What is your experience in this respect? E.L.: There are exhibitions and events where young artists can introduce themselves, but at the same time it all disappears again somewhere. You have to constantly think and do something. With regard to my own work, after a while it seems that it’s just been some kind of fiction and no more. If there is no continuation, that’s the way it remains. Only those who have the drive will be able to assert themselves in the art world. | |
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