From June 10 to September 18, the exhibition “Visionary of the Era. Auseklis Baušķenieks“.
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The exhibition “Visionary of the Ages. Auseklis Baušķenieks” is dedicated to the artist’s work, in which he will focus on the issues of man, society, science and technology. The exhibition has four sections that grow into each other – man as an individual, man and family, man and society, science and the future. The exhibition is complemented by three kinetic objects created by Baušķenieks, which characterize the author’s passionate interest in radio amateurism.
According to the curator of the exhibition Agnese Zviedre, Auseklis Baušķenieks is a unique painter who, with his characteristic pastel colors and vibrating dotted painting method, masterfully depicted both mundane and less mundane scenes, reflecting on the era and society.
“Along with detailed portraits, the author’s works are inhabited by such unusual characters as aliens, robots and giants. It reveals the artist’s endless imagination and passion for the development of science and technology, science fiction and future world visions. “The absurd nature of the society and the regime, which was quite uncomfortable for the then power, was forbidden to mention Baušķenieks’ name in the press for a couple of years. .
The topicality of Ausekls Baušķenieks’ work today is related to the painter’s interest in people – everyday life, relationships with family, mood in society and the rhythm of life. The artist pointed out that the popular Soviet slogan “the main thing is a man” resonates with his painting, and he tried to reflect this much-desired and never-saturating being – a man – from different points of view. Highlighting human weaknesses, Baušķenieks confirms that it is part of the life experience that each of us goes through. It is in the works of Baušķenieks that it can be seen that, although times and powers are changing, the standards of what an individual should be, what a family should be, and how political discourses are formed are mostly wrong and often unattainable.
Auseklis Baušķenieks (1910–2007) studied at the Faculty of Architecture of the University of Latvia (1930–1933), learned drawing and pastel painting skills with Vilhelms Purvītis, and later entered the Latvian Academy of Arts, where he graduated from the Figural Painting Workshop (1933–1942). During the Second World War, Baušķenieks arrived at a labor camp in Germany and returned to Riga only in 1946. He worked as an artist-designer (1947–1948), led a group of fine arts at the Riga Pioneer Palace (1949–1962). Only in the second half of the 1950s did Auseklis Baušķenieks resume painting and participate in exhibitions. Despite the fact that the painter’s first solo exhibition took place only in 1975, he became one of the most popular Latvian artists. Auseklis Baušķenieks has had 22 solo exhibitions and an extensive retrospective at the Latvian National Museum of Art (2010).
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