From September 15 to October 31, the Ventspils Main Library will host the solo exhibition “Stone, Scissors, Paper” featuring the works of artist Jānis Kupčs. The exhibition opening and meeting with the author will take place on Monday, September 15, at 17.00:XNUMX p.m.
The title of the exhibition is a reference to the three types of art on display – painting, graphics and ceramics. Jānis Kupčs has lived in Ventspils since 2002 and works regularly, creating both solo exhibitions and participating in group and competition exhibitions.
Currently, from September 5, the Rothko Museum is exhibiting the artist's work "Fabriciusi" at the Peter Martinsons Biennial exhibition, reproducing and reducing the monument familiar to Ventspils residents to a convenient, "symbol for our fear of being misunderstood, fear of history, that can be placed in every nightstand."
Meanwhile, the exhibition space “Civita Nova” (“Lielais Dzintars”, Liepāja) will host an exhibition of paintings by J. Kupčs “Without Punctuation” from September 11.
Sepia drawings are like notes from a diary, allowing us to look into the artist's walks in the cities of both Latvia and Lower Germany. A significant part of the exhibition consists of porcelain and ceramic figures that engage in a witty dialogue with the viewer, making the latter remember various artifacts (Cultural ears, Apples are important to humanity) or by turning the folklorized thanks of Soviet childhood into miniature grotesques – Marta Krustinsone protects Lenin, Militiaman or karateka (which one is stronger).
The artist graduated from the Department of Ceramics at the Tallinn University of Arts and received a master's degree from the painting workshop of Aleksejs Naumovs and Kaspars Zariņš at the Latvian Academy of Arts. Since 2000, Jānis Kupčs has been the author of more than 17 solo exhibitions, the largest part of which are painting projects, the titles of which alone indicate a poetic and also postmodern attitude. In turn, his ceramic works contain both rich cultural layers and tasteful irony.
Jānis Kupčs also regularly participates in international projects – the International Ceramic Biennale European Ceramic Context 2018 Curated (Bornholm, Denmark), the Gavrilov-Jam High Firing Symposium (Russia), the Kaunas International Bone China Symposium (2022), etc.
Works: in the collection of “Swedbank” (Riga), “Deutsche Bank” (Bonn, Germany), Riga Porcelain Museum, Ventspils Museum, Talsi Museum, Vilaka Museum, Rothko Museum, private collections.
