Indrikis Gelzis
Bingo Gaze
September 17 - October 19, 2024
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Polina Berlin Gallery is pleased to present Bingo Gaze, an exhibition of new sculptures by Latvian artist Indrikis Gelzis, on view from September 17 through October 19, 2024. Comprising four sculptures and a spatial intervention with a narrative sound and timed-light component, the exhibition invites a contemplation of human perception.
Voice assistant:
R) A Wind caused by a yellow paper butterfly
E) The maze of your gaze.
D) A lottery machine full of sleeping eyeballs. Which will be the lucky ones?
B) Two long eyes trapped in the nest
L) Geese that flew away from the skin
U) Standing ovation, seated ovation, sleeping ovation
E) Cave after cave after cave how should I behave?
G) If only you saw through the eyes grown in my garden
R) How I yellow, is how I blue is where I green
E) Barber of a hairy tongue
E) Seasonal confidence
N) Exit strategy from propeller roots
G) A word moving like a balloon losing air
R) Eight peeled eyeballs
E) A wave won't harm itself
Y) A cold breeze of benzodiazepine
The works included approximate the height of a person; though static, their sinuous steel limbs appear as though they may be functional. Their voluminous cores unfold outward, opening up and peering out onto the world. In turns, the exhibition space is washed in red, green, and blue light, respectively; the primary colors of the RGB spectrum that, when combined, reproduce an infinite array of colors. The light abruptly changes with a click, like a game show moving on to its next segment. Concurrently, the space is bathed in sound; words and phrases that tease the listener into parsing out meaning. As when watching a television program or gazing at a computer screen, the wavelengths of light are mediated through the human eye to construct our reality. Gelzis' reference to the eye and its perceptual powers reveal its role as a mediator between the self and the world. Indeed, reality is a construct that is tied to randomness, to chance.
Through his practice, Gelzis explores the relationship between biological and mechanical bodies. He mines the dichotomy of the linear and the spatial, and the system as it relates to its parts. Interested in imagery that is based on an inquiry into object-oriented ontology, his work offers a glimpse into the ever-shifting relationship between humans, nature, and technology.
Light Choreography:
Red Sector
Phase 1. White bulbs lit daylight for 3 minutes
Phase 2. Red bulbs lit for 00m50s accompanied by an audio narrative
Blue Sector
Phase 1. White bulbs lit daylight for 3 minutes
Phase 2. Blue bulbs lit for 01m03s accompanied by an audio narrative
Green Sector
Phase 1. White bulbs lit daylight for 3 minutes
Phase 2. Green bulbs lit for 01m07s accompanied by an audio narrative
Grey Sector
Phase 1. White bulbs lit daylight for 3 minutes
Phase 2. Red, blue and green bulbs lit for 00m56s accompanied by an audio narrative
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Indrikis Gelzis (b. 1988, Riga, Latvia) lives and works in Riga, Latvia. He earned an MA in Visual Communication from the Art Academy of Latvia and a Postgraduate degree from HISK – Higher Institute for Fine Arts, Ghent. Gelzis has presented solo and two-person exhibitions at Jenny’s (New York), Tatjana Pieters (Ghent), Castor (London), CINNAMON (Rotterdam), and ASHES/ASHES (New York). He has participated in group exhibitions at Tatjana Pieters (Ghent), and Union Pacific (London). Gelzis’ works are included in the collections of the Latvian National Museum of Art, Riga, Latvia; Museum of Recent Art, Bucharest, Romania; S.M.A.K. The Municipal Museum of Contemporary, Ghent; The Lewben Art Foundation, Vilnius, Lithuania; and CELINE ART PROJECT, Paris.
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Born
Riga, Latvia, 1988. Lives and works in Riga, LatviaEducation
2016 | PgD, HISK - Higher Institute for Fine Arts, Ghent, Belgium
2014 | MA, Art Academy of Latvia, Department of Visual Communication, Riga, Latvia
2012 | ArtEZ Institute of the Arts, Media department, Enschede, Holland
One-Person Exhibitions
2024 | Bingo Gaze, Polina Berlin Gallery, New York, NY
2023 | Watery Day’s Eye, Kim? Contemporary Art Centre, Riga, Latvia
2022 | Yawn Holding Fields, Tatjana Pieters, Ghent, Belgium
2021 | Daily Charts, Suprainfinit gallery, Bucharest, Romania
Still life of a still life, Tatjana Pieters, Ghent, Belgium
2020 | Figure of Everything,Castor, London
2019 | Pause for the cause, Cinnamon, Rotterdam, the Netherlands
TABLEAU, ASHES/ASHES, New York, NY
2018 | Nightball Effect, King’s Leap, Brooklyn, New York, NY
Skeleton of the wind, with Viktor Timofeev, Suprainfinit gallery, Bucharest, Romania
The Man in the Moon, with Adja Yunkers, Belenius, Stockholm, Sweden
2017
Rest and Vest, Galerija Vartai, Vilnius, Lithuania
Aeolian Breath, Tallinas Street 10, Riga, Latvia
Between the sheets, Cinnamon, Rotterdam, the Netherlands
Sky’s The Limit, Hole Of The Fox, Antwerp, Belgium, text by Domenico De Chirico
Tastes Like Headaches, Kim? Contemporary Art Centre, Riga, Latvia, text by Kyle Hilton
2015
Two unexpected visitors, Arsenals Creative studio, Latvian National Museum of Art, Riga, Latvia
Patiently Becoming a Sculpture, Mākslai Vajag Telpu, Riga, Latvia
We Have a Thing in Common, Galerija Vartai, Vilnius, Lithuania
2014
Specifying Interpretations on a Single Individual, Riga Art Space, Intro Hall, Riga, Latvia
2013
Blind Sounds, Entrance Gallery, Prague, Czech Republic
2012
The Meeting, Kim? Contemporary Art Centre, Riga, Latvia, curated by Zane Onckule
Blind Sounds, Kim? Contemporary Art Centre, Riga, Latvia, curated by Zane Onckule
2011
Lost in Eyeshot, Cesis Contemporary Art Centre, Cesis, Latvia
Selected Group Exhibitions
2024
Flame, grasp me silently, FLⒶT$, Brussels, Belgium
Superstudio #3 Off the Wall, Stellar, Antwerp, Belgium
REVERSE(D) RADICALISM, Tatjana Pieters, Ghent, Belgium
2022
Vagabond \ A Place Hard to Place /, Jenny’s, New York, NY, organized by Kim? Contemporary Art
Centre, Riga, Latvia
2021
Force[d] Majeure, Kim? Contemporary Art Centre, Riga, Latvia
Black Market, Kim? Contemporary Art Centre, Riga, Latvia
2020
The 4 Gate Connection, Tatjana Pieters, Ghent, Belgium
2019
DARK MODE, ASHES/ASHES, New York, NY
Close Up, Cesis Contemporary Art Centre, Cesis, Latvia
A closed mouth gathers no feet, DASH, Kortrijk, Belgium
2018
Doors of Paradise, Union Pacific, London
The Last Rave, Diesel Project Space, Liege, Belgium
Heavy Metal, Galerie Jérôme Pauchant, Paris
Superposition, Joshua Liner Gallery, New York, NY
2017
NNN, Latvian National Museum of Art, Riga, Latvia
Monsone, Suprainfinit gallery, Bucharest, Romania, curated by Domenico De Chirico
Wholesome Environment, Lundgren Gallery, Palma, Spain
Lockers V2, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, the Netherlands, curated by Diego Diez
Form Cannibalism, The Stable, Waregem, Belgium
2016
The Empty Fox Hole?, HISK, Ghent, Belgium, Curated by Philippe Van Cauteren
2015
A Bigger Peace, a Smaller Peace, Latvian Railway History Museum, Riga, Latvia
Influx, Era VI VII VI, New York, NY
2014
Salon, Kim? Contemporary Art Centre, Riga, Latvia
2013
Consul’Art 2013, Pavillion- M, Marseille, France
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