Dita Lūse

I am drawn to places where the presence of history can be sensed – the twilight of medieval monasteries and cathedrals, the echoes of corridors and cloisters, where I can savour space, feel depth and perspective, sense the awe-inspiring presence of time. The play of light in Gothic windows can open up a space or quieten it, ornament emphasises spatiality, and motifs let the works be given a dimension of time.

Light and time interest me in their various manifestations. I am fascinated by the constructions nature makes, brought out in the light of an X-ray, by the chance to stop a moment, to look into a mystery, to reveal the invisible. I study the plastic forms of bones in the play of light that radioactive rays create. I see the connections and the interplay in structures made by human beings and by nature, and the relative meaning of time in relation to light and matter.”

Dita Lūse is widely known for her nuanced oil paintings and for her particular technique in oil, which recalls the fragility of watercolour — thin, many-layered applications of paint make an impression of lightness and transparency. Her work takes in a wide range of subjects, but at its centre stand the relations of light and time. Lūse often depicts spaces saturated with the presence of memory, bringing out the depth and atmosphere that light creates.