Publication in the newspaper Kultūrzīmes, 8–14 III 2023.
Supplement to Latvijas Avīze
Art historian Ingrīda Burāne
A humane spiritual experience
(excerpt)
In art and in culture, mercy is a notion that cannot be put flatly at all. Almost everyone has in one way or another heard, and used, the phrase: art is merciless. And in every sense — for the artists themselves as much as for the viewers. But without sinking into empty musing or historical references, I should like, with concrete examples, to single out two art exhibitions in which I met, in a particularly arresting way, a humane spiritual experience useful to everyone.
The first exhibition was a journey to Pārdaugava, to a gallery I had not known until then — “Rāmis”, whose day-to-day work is the framing of works of art. The present owner, Jānis Dāvis, took the trade over from his father. They have long been in contact with the best suppliers of mouldings and other materials in the world; they have framed the restored works of Rundāle Palace and Zaļā Manor and framed the works of Imants Lancmanis's recent solo exhibition for the display at the Latvian National Museum of Art.
The gallery's rooms, the workshop fittings, the way the young people engage with their exhibition visitors, the orderliness of the works, the balance of the display all point to one thing — not far from the Torņakalns cemetery (where I go to have a word with Jākabs Kazāks) a cultural place worthy of respect has taken root, and it cherishes large plans for the future. The gallery was only set up in the summer of the previous year, but it has already shown solo exhibitions by good painters several times (Madara Gulbis, Māris Upzars and others).
Džemma Skulme's exhibition of 15 paintings really does show unseen, interesting watercolours; they alternate with works known from before and recall a familiar truth — in times of confusion one must hold to tested values, which give consolation and harmony and remind us of the strength of wise personalities.
The exhibition “Džemmas akvareli” (16 February – 21 March 2023) is beautifully complemented by the grand master Ritums Ivanovs's portrayal of Džemma Skulme (2021/22, canvas, oil, 75 x 100), which at the beginning of February could still be studied, together with other portraits and self-portraits, in the display “Vērotāja laiks” at the Kuldīga Art House. A precise and capacious term, I think. Most of us at present are, more than ever, only watchers, because the great and the small, which cross and alternate in Latvian society in practical deeds and donations as much as in resistance to the fifth column, oblige us to take firm decisions, to go, to act, to help our Ukrainian sisters and brothers. In this regard the artists work without ceasing.