On Thursday, October 14, at the age of 67, designer and artist Māris Steķis passed away, told the Latvian Artists’ Union.
From 1970 to 1978, Steak studied and graduated from the Wood Art Processing Department of the Riga Secondary School of Applied Arts. His teachers were Voldemārs Tiltiņš, Vīgants Bauers, architect Pēteris Martinsons, Georgs Barkāns and designer Jānis Borgs. Steak’s classmates were designer Uldis Bergs, sculptor Inta Berga, artist Ojārs Pētersons and others.
While studying at the Riga Secondary School of Applied Arts, Steak started making metal jewelry. After his studies, he worked in the production association “Daiļrade”.
From 1979 to 1984, Steak participated in the architectural innovations of the Latvian SSR – in the creation of a model village of a state farm in Mālpils.
Steķis has also made a great creative contribution to the development and implementation of interior design for several buildings, including the administrative building of Mālpils State Farm Technical School (1981).
Since 1986, the artist has created works for interiors and exteriors in metal. The object of large-scale modernism was important for the forecourt of Mālpils Secondary School, which also includes the name of the school. Steak has created interior objects, stainless steel furniture according to architect Maris Gundars’ design projects for the sanatorium “Riga Jurmala”, the still current Latvian Television (LTV) symbolism – conceptual letter composition “TV”, created as a visual advertisement in the lobby of the LTV center.
Steak has created interiors and decorations of the entrance node, inscriptions for pharmacies in Saulkrasti, Dubulti (1988), bookstores “Zīle”, “Zolitūde” (Riga, 1989). In cooperation with the artist Jānis Krievs, Steak has also created design projects for the Daugava store in the “Latvijas” district of Slavutich, Ukraine. The city was built after the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant displaced the inhabitants of Pripyat.
Steak has participated in exhibitions since 1979. He has been a member of the Latvian Artists’ Union since 1989, and architects, designer Jānis Pipurs, painter, designer Aleksandrs Stankevičs and metal artist Raimonds Rinkevičs issued recommendations for his membership.
“Skaties.lv” expresses its deepest condolences to the relatives and colleagues of the artist Steak.-
– .
