May 012 Print

Painting allows me to tell a story without using words. The works contain fragments from what we have seen and experienced everyday, placed in a different reality, thus highlighting the story itself. The scenes depicted can take place elsewhere, but the spaciousness and infinite space allow the viewer to interpret. The sense of space and freedom is important. The people depicted are my friends, acquaintances or accidentally met people brought into the stories I created. Otherwise, the storyline changes in the work process where the event is transformed. The imaginary world through which I want to actualize a theme or image may be relevant to me or the public at the time. The stories in my works have a free space that allows each viewer to conjure up their own scene. Ilze Smildzina holds a master's degree in painting from the Latvian Academy of Art in a figurative workshop and a master's degree in graphic design. The artist has created several solo exhibitions in Latvia and Lithuania, as well as participated in various local and foreign group exhibitions and art competitions, including ArtParis art exhibition, representing Saatchionline Art Gallery (2011), 6th Beijing International Art Biennale (2015, 2019), Paint One Another Know One Another ”exhibition in Beijing (2016), Art Gemini finalist exhibition in London (2017, 2018), as well as art symposia in France, Belarus, Finland, India and Cyprus. Ilze's artwork is featured in private collections in Canada, Belgium, France, Sweden, Germany, Ireland, the United States, Belarus and Latvia, the National Association of Chinese Artists and the Luciano Benetton Collection.