The message of artist Alda Dobenberg’s paintings is currently related to the theme of birds. In the cycle of crows on view in the LMS gallery, the heroines of the paintings are conditionally and expressively treated in varied movement, flight, croaking, etc. Although the artist started exploring the image of the crow with the means of artistic expression already in 2015, the image currently resonates with the emotional and economic instability of the author and his fellow citizens at the moment, caused by the pandemic, the war in Ukraine, the rise in prices and service costs.
Expanding the topic in the context of world cultural history, its development can be found in examples with ambiguously treated concepts of bird and flight – the ancient Greek fable about Icarus, the biblical Old Testament story about Noah and the raven, in the mythology of ancient Rome, where the signs sent by the god Jupiter could be seen in the behavior of birds, observing flying or eating, etc. It should also be mentioned the semantics assigned to birds in Latvian folklore and national romanticism, modernist stylistics, for example in the works of Jānis Rains, Eduards Veidenbaums.
The artwork of the artist Alda Dobenberg is interesting both with the chosen image of the crow and the peculiarity of the painting technique, as the author paints with his own oil paints. The artist creates them from various materials that are ground in a grinder, and uses furnace soot and zinc powder to create imagination.
Commenting on his work, Aldis Dobenbergs has concluded: “Birds are the best models. At the same time expressively graphic, painterly, smart and exciting. I depict them as ballerinas in various poses, they are useful as allegorical characters, expressing some deeper thought, an actual problem in people.” The main characters and models – crows – seen in the exhibition in the LMS gallery can also be treated as the author’s auspices (auspices – lat. val. – signs sent by Jupiter). The viewer is encouraged not only to see the different emotional states of the birds, which are highlighted by the monochrome tonality and expressive handwriting, but also the sensitivity and heightened perception of a creative personality, to feel the developments in the world as signs that everyone should try to understand for themselves.
Aldis Dobenbergs won LMS exhibitions in 2018 Art Days 2019. Sixty prize – the opportunity to create a personal exhibition in the LMS gallery. In a personal exhibition Crows. Modern auspices the artist’s latest works made in 2020-2022 are on display. year.
Aldis Dobenbergs is a painter and art teacher, whose artwork is one of the most unique in Latvian art. The artist graduated from the Latvian Sports Academy in 1979, having achieved good results in the discipline of javelin throwing. However, the call to visual arts prevailed, and he continued his education at the Pedagogy Department of the Latvian Academy of Arts under the painter Īra Rozentāle. The author has held several personal exhibitions, participated in group exhibitions and plein airs in Latvia and abroad.
Alda Dobenberg’s personal exhibition Crows. Modern auspices The LMS gallery is on display until July 30.
The exhibition is organized by the association Artists’ Union of Latvia.
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