About
In a process-oriented manner, the artist Reinis Lismanis acknowledges and challenges the conventional structures and frameworks present in image-making and art production, utilizing his experience working in different artist studios in London. Arrangements is an assemblage of pre-existing material and conceptual elements developed for (as well as rejected from) previous projects that have been revised and reworked during the pandemic. These are exhibited alongside newly produced material, generating new iterations and interpretations.
Although formally Lismanis’ works can be classified as paintings, their origins and materials are distinctively photographic. His main materials are glossy photo paper and leftovers from inkjet cartridges, used in photo printing, and his colour palette is dictated by the CMYK colour model, which stands for the four primary colours Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Key (Black), which combine to create all other colours during the printing process. The material presented in this exhibition has evolved out of continuous use of the paraphernalia of photographic and artistic production, as well as supplies and scraps leftover from producing photographic images – thin slices of paper reminiscent of photographic test prints are rearranged on top of each other, and traces have been left by in paint-covered packaging material. By adding household goods – such as sponges, glass and shower cleaners – to his tools,
Lismanis deglamourizes the processes of art production, reminding us that the artist studio is not just a space of creation, but also of everyday life, with the same routines as anywhere else; the kitchen and floors still need to be cleaned. Consequently, Lismanis’ unwavering commitment to systems, materials, production conditions, studio and exhibition spaces results in an open-ended, playful conversation between the formal qualities of the work and the subjective everyday. His fragmented and spontaneous approach creates new forms, meanings, associations and arrangements and pays attention to the structure of things as such.
Reinis Lismanis (1992, Jurmala) is an artist based in London, UK. He has held solo exhibitions at Exhibition Hall Arsenals, the Latvian National Museum of Art in Riga, Brockley Gardens and no format in London, and at Brighton CCA: Dorset Place. His works have been included in group shows at KAI Art Center (Tallinn), Benaki Museum (Athens), the National Library of Latvia (Riga), Riga Photomonth and Riga Photography Biennial, Fotopub Festival (Novo Mesto), Galleria SP3 (Treviso) and FUGA (Budapest). Lismanis has published two monographs – Trial and Error (Skinnerboox, 2019) and T6031_T6061_T8001 (NoRoutine Books, 2019). Lismanis holds a degree in photography from the University of Brighton and is currently studying art history at Birkbeck, University of London. Riga Photography Biennial (RPB) is an international contemporary art event in Latvia, focusing on the analysis of visual culture and artistic representation. RPB covers issues ranging from cultural theory to current socio-political processes in the Baltics and the wider European region. Curator: Evita Goze Thank you: Zane Onckule, Liāna Ivete Beņķe, Līga Spunde
Opening hours on 26.04 (RLT) 18-22
Ģertrūdes iela 62A