DMITRIJS LAVRENTJEVS
This catalogue was specially created for the exhibition “Educing the Archetype�. The gallery of contemporary art ARTALEA.COM thanks all the supporters for the implementation of this project.
“Educing the Archetype” Dmitry Lavrentyev 08.10 — 26.10.2020 Riga, Rietumu Bank Art Gallery
The artist Dmitry Lavrentyev (*1970) in the personal exhibition “Educing the Archetype” reflects to the mythical, archetypal and symbolic (“Phoenix,” “The Sad Lullaby”, “The Mysterious Bird”), including collective memory themes in the historical context (“What the fishermen of Liiv are quiet about”) and insight into biblical aspects of the world’s creation approach (“Adam”, “Eve”), thus involving the viewer in the intensive dialogue by the strength of an artistic expression. Although thematic aspects are repeated many times, their value is reflected in the nuances of variations. The artworks reflect a series of multi-layered elements and symbols, clues, inkling and points of contact, pointing to causation and making references to the interpretation of the archetypes by the founder of analytical psychology Carl Gustav Jung. The depiction of artworks features several universal images, motivations and combinations. The image of mother, in the form of Madonna, is found in the artwork “Nude”, the image of the child is depicted in the “Last Supper”, the notion of the shadows flashes in the artwork “The Lonely Tree”, while the archetype anima/animus, defined by Carl Gustav Jung, appears in “The Farewell” and the wise man’s wisdom is recognized in the diptych “The Meeting.” They reveal the pursuits of the golden-era and ambivalent contrary distinctions: birth and death, happiness and affliction, good and evil, joy and pain.
Dmitry Lavrentyev’s rousing themes addresses the controversial course of the past that over the years have been overgrown or mesmerised by mythological stories. The idea of the meaning and ritualizing of totems as a sort of therapy (“Totenkopf”) also resonates here. The arti st’s expanded vision provides an expansion of the world’s origins, primitive faith, spiritual formation and maturation (“Silence”), intuition and notions, leaving open the question of desire fulfilment (“The Seabird”) and revival (“The Phoenix”). Intense colour contrasts, strong lines and a vibrant touch are
the constant
hallmarks of artistic handwriting by Dmitry Lavrentyev. The trend of expressiveness, deformation, exaggeration and emphasis on conviction gives the artist’s compositions a small dose of archaic expression and bravura openness, while his painting remains Evelina Vanaga September 29, 2020
challenging, dramatic and surprising.
PLASTIC SERIES
“The series “Plastic” series appeared spontaneously. In my workshop I found plastic sheets of appropriate size. Plastic is an excellent material that allows oil paints to remain fresh and bright after drying, while creating the effect of a work just written.” D. Lavrentyev
“Silence” 2020 Size: 40 x 30 cm, oil, paper, plastic
“THE SEA BIRD�, 2020 The owner of this work will be especially lucky, it is a shapeshifter. After a while, when the owner of the work gets tired of looking at it, the picture can be turned upside down uncovering a completely different artwork with another meaning and content in front of their eyes. Two in one.
Size: 40 x 30 cm oil, plastic
“The Saturday Evening” 2020 Size: 40 x 30 cm oil, paper, plastic
“The Farewell” 2020 Size: 40 x 30 cm oil, paper, plastic
“WHAT THE FISHERMEN OF LIIV ARE QUIET ABOUT” 2019 This painting appeared in Courland on the shores of the Baltic Sea, where Liiv fishermen live and go to sea. Many of them never returned home back to their families. What are the Liiv fishermen who have returned silent about?
Size: 40 x 30 cm oil, paper, plastic
“TOTEN KOPF�, 2016
This work was written in Germany at a workshop in Dusseldorf. And it was exhibited only once there at the exhibition. The painting is a dedication to the artist Helena Heindrickson
Size: 65 x 55 cm oil, canvas
“Phoenix” 2019 Size: 180 x 145 cm oil, canvas
“Nude” 2020 Size: 80 x 50 cm oil, paper
“The Sad Lullaby” 2020 Size: 65 x 55 cm oil, canvas
“The Mysterious Bird” 2020 Size: 65 x 45 cm oil, canvas
“Fifty Pagodas of the Samurai” 2020 Size: 140 x 135 cm oil, canvas
“The Perfumer” 2019 Size: 60 x 50 cm oil, canvas
“THE MEETING (DIPTYCH)” 2020
“This is my meeting with Albert Durer. The work is a paraphrase from his painting “The Four Apostles” and is considered one of the Renaissance pearls of painting in Germany. My complete rethinking of the sacred subtext of this work should not leave the viewer indifferent. Durer considered Peter as a phlegmatic, and Paul as a choleric.” D. Lavrentyev.
Size: 32 x 189 cm oil, canvas
“The Late Evening“
“The Lonely Tree“
“The Puzzle“
Opportunity to work with different materials always opens up new horizons for an artist and speaks about his versatility. Here are the art works on plywood, taken from the school kitchen, soaked in vegetable oil and flour, giving surprisingly deep colour and creating unexpected vibrations for perception 2017
Size: 49 x 49 cm oil, pastel, wood
“Last Supper“
DMITRY LAVRENTYEV Works of Dmitry Lavrentyev are individual. Whether it is painting, lithography, collage or sculpture – it is passionate impulsiveness and psychological tension fixation where intuition and the subconscious level is a primordial impulse, a mystical, magical power. Juicy, intense color contrasts, “ferocious” thick strokes and demonstratively sloppy, vibrating sharp line is important in his original style. Sometimes his characters are grotesque sometimes - spiritual, but always - surprisingly easy and ironic. Autodidact, under the impact of St. Petersburg artists turned to painting. Member of the Association of Latvian Artists since 1999. Paintings are held in private collections in Russia, Latvia, Germany, United Kingdom, Norway, NethAll photos: Edgars Sermulis
erlands, USA, Poland, Belgium, New Zealand, Denmark and Sweden. Participates in exhibitions since 1995.
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