Indrikis Gelzis
Bingo Gaze
September 17 - October 19, 2024

  • 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

  • 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.

  • Born

    Riga, Latvia, 1988. Lives and works in Riga, Latvia


    Education

    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