Painter Ieva Iltnere invites to the “Slide Evening” / Article / LSM.lv

There were times when we immortalized the special events of our lives in slides and held hour-long slide evenings. Such are also remembered by the painter Ieva Iltnere, who has dedicated an exhibition of her latest works in the gallery “Art XO” to the memories of childhood recorded in the slides.

The idea for the exhibition “Evening of Slides” for Ieva Iltnere came from moving the family archive. A large part of the photos were taken in slide photographs, because at one time almost every house had a slide projector and families used to gather and look at the photos together.

“The first spoke – what faded colors and photo defects. But the next thought was inevitable about youth, about childhood, about those evenings. And about how time has changed. Now, for example, it deletes the failed shots immediately, ”says the artist. “Then it was – photographed all summer, in the autumn you only saw. Everyone sat down and waited for the event – what you look like, because no one already knew. “

The artist’s works are recognizable by her characteristic, exquisite half-tone handwriting.

Faded slide images in paintings have turned into black and white photographs.

“Those images of what my grandmother’s girlfriend looked like a hundred years ago and what my granddaughter is next to are at the same time something very versatile. We all take photos in Jurmala, near a flowering bush. We take photos with children, ”explains Iltnere.

Much of the work was created during the pandemic, when the artist moved to the countryside, where she also painted.

“It is probably inevitable that there are reflections on what you really own, on the time and value of the people close to you, that is the value. I can touch you today, but maybe I won’t be able to touch you tomorrow, ”says the artist.

It will be possible to touch the memories of Ieva Iltnere’s slides with a glance in the gallery “Art XO” until the middle of October.

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