Other events in Baltic States

One of the most awaited “Riga 2014” events will be taking place at the “Riga Bourse” Art Museum from the 12th of April to the 22nd of June – Latvia-born U.S. artist VIja Celmins’ solo exhibition “Double Reality”, informs BC The Latvian Institute.

This is the American artist Vija Celmins’ first solo exhibition in Riga – the city where she was born and lived for five years until 1944 when she and her family had to flee Latvia.

It is safe to say that the scope of the upcoming exhibition is unprecedented for Latvia – we will see works from the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the National Gallery of Art in Washington, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Museum of Modern Art in Frankfurt, Foundation Cartier in Paris, Tate Modern in London, National Galleries of Scotland, McKee Gallery in New York, the artist’s own collection of her artworks, and we may feel honoured that, besides these works, the exhibition will also include the artist’s works from the Latvian National Museum of Art collection, the U.S. Embassy in Latvia, and the Mūkusala Art Salon.

The exhibition has been made as broad as possible to show the public works that represent Vija Celmins’ art during the various periods of her creative career spanning fifty years. The exhibition will feature paintings, sculptures, objects, and drawings in pencil and charcoal, as well as prints – mezzotints, aquatints, dry points, etchings and wood engravings.

Vija Celmins’ renowned and convincing presence in the American art elite, her works included in the world’s most prestigious museum collections and exhibitions – all speaks for itself, as if reminding us that perhaps we have failed to notice that the Latvia-born Vija Celmins is an important living international artist.

However, what is the secret behind the value of her art, who is Celmins herself from the viewpoint of art and life – that is something that we have known very little about so far.