The solo exhibition “Identification” of the artist Diana Dimza-Dimmes is on view at the Museum of Puppet Art and Design of the “Romas dārzs” gallery. Irliepaja.lv asked the artist to answer the portal’s questions.
What does creating a work of art mean to you? What is this process?
DDD: Everything starts with sketches for me. Every exhibition I make has its own sketchbook, where everything goes – ideas, feelings, phone numbers of the people involved, events, texts, etc. A kind of accumulation is formed, and then already in the process the thoughts are sifted. Already while painting, in the process, the work sometimes leads in a completely different direction.
Which branch of art is closer to you at the moment – painting, textile art or something else?
DDD: I don’t distinguish between sectors, in contemporary art the boundaries can be very conditional.
In exhibitions for the last ten years, the works form a story, and they arise depending on the message.
It can be painting, objects, drawings, video, textile, metal, etc.
Are all the works of the “Identification” exhibition created specifically in Liepāja?
DDD: Yes, all the works have been created specifically for this exhibition and the space in which they are located. The room is complicated, so I went to Liepāja specifically to see it at the time of the change of exhibitions. Some of the ideas were fun – I wanted to put myself as a mermaid in a niche of the room, but it changed in the process.
Exhibition selection. Photo: Robert Streich.
Where did you get the knowledge not only about such a word as tuft*, but even what material they are made of?
DDD: My mother grew up in a fishing family during the war. I lived quite a bit along the coast, where fishermen mended nets and dried fish. It was a great pleasure to turn the herringbones on the eddies. I had forgotten the word “bunch”, but my colleague at the museum reminded me of it, and the memory returned.
Why do you like this material and why do you use it in your works?
DDD: The bunches came to me accidentally and unexpectedly. They immediately seemed very valuable to me, because they have lived their lives by the sea. I thought they were so beautiful! The theme of the exhibition, sea waters and tufts as witnesses of marine life.
Have you painted works in the shape of a water drop before? Why did you choose this particular form?
DDD. The shape of the drop was a surprise to me. Very beautiful shape. Earlier in the exhibition “Spectre of Faith” in the house of Rainas and Aspazijas in Baznīcas Street, Riga, some of the paintings had the shape of a beehive. Form determines content.
Water is undoubtedly an important element and no one can live without it, but why exactly is water important for your identification? What makes it special for you?
DDD: Water is freedom for me, probably an inherited feeling, because my mother had that feeling too. Water as a unifying element for all humanity, for everyone.
Tell us a little about your large-format works – what materials, colors, techniques have you used and why?
DDD: The large paintings have author’s technique written on the back, and it is. The linen canvas is sewn, structured, then primed with rabbit glue (rabbit skin glue – irliepaja.lv), as in ancient times, and then with white primer. Then painting with acrylic paints begins.
A special pigment has been added to the blue shades, which gives a shimmering effect. I have been painting on structured canvases for a very long time. The texture changes by pulling on the subframe and then priming. I see an important order of things there, meaning.
Structural pastes and mother-of-pearl pigments are also used in the painting “Migla”.
Exhibition poster. Photo: Robert Streich.
What were you thinking about when creating the central installation of the exhibition?
DDD: In my opinion, there is no central installation in the exhibition, there is such a walkable space that every wall and place has its own story. But when it comes to “Mermaid’s Head”, it is more like an object. This head was initially inspired by the Liepaja artist Miķelis Pankokas, and then by the artist’s feeling in this world.
What does your day job involve?
DDD: I am the curator of educational programs at the Latvian National Art Museum. I generate and conduct.
What else do you like to do when you’re not at work and painting?
DDD: Lately I like to do nothing, but it’s rare. Likes to plant plants in the ground and watch them grow,
likes to make something delicious, bake bread with lavender, plant pumpkins. Watching the ships float in the sea.
How has your relationship with Liepāja been so far? Have your works been exhibited in Liepāja before?
DDD: During our studies, we spent a month in Liepāja during our training, I remember how we flew to and from Liepāja by plane – adventures. Then I was in the plein air about ten years ago, and those works were then visible in my exhibition in the Kalnciem quarter during the Riga festival.
Diana Dimza-Dimme’s personal exhibition “Identification” at the gallery “Romas dārzs” in the Museum of Puppet Art and Design can be viewed until October 15. The gallery is open from Tuesday to Saturday from 12 to 18, Sunday from 12 to 15.
* Pieces of cork or wood for the net along the edge, with which it floats (tezaurs.lv)
2023-08-25 02:26:27
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