Envija “I am Bad”

From 28 October to 29 December, the solo exhibition “I am Bad” by the painter Envija will be on view at the INTRO Hall of the Riga Art Space

The exhibition is conceived as a territory of expressive, rowdily free painting. It consists of oil paintings in various formats painted over the last two years, as well as some sculptural and ready-made objects. Envija’s works attract with their lushly unmediated painting, where the artist's inner revelations are intertwined with a free movement between painting genres and references to the world masters of painting. 

Envija: “Away from the concrete, away from the narrative, where there is only sensual work with material, it’s about tension of colour and surface, about form without purpose, about expression, the search for form, the fact that it cannot be caught, it’s about naked painting for painting's sake. I don't want a story, I want to be someone who doesn't talk. I want it to be about substance, about lines, squares, curves and colour harmony. Just about the surface tension. Energy doesn't need meaning, energy lives in the brushstroke. Energy is dispassionate about the story. I don't want a story.”

Envija has chosen to use only her first name as her painter's name. In 2021 she graduated from the Art Academy of Latvia in the painting department. She furthered her knowledge of painting at the Art Academy in Gdańsk (2014-2015). Since 2013 she has participated in several group exhibitions in Latvia, Lithuania and Poland, and has held four solo exhibitions. Major exhibitions and projects in recent years: ES_TEXT, LNMM, 2022; solo exhibition “Myth for Private Use” at Māksla XO gallery, 2021; Survival Kit 11, 2020; solo exhibition “We Will All Laugh, Mourn, Cry, Laugh Again” at Jūrmala City Museum, 2020; Indulis Zariņš/Ieva Iltnere and Envija, Art Needs Space Summer House at Esplanade, 2019.

The exhibition is organised by the Association of Culture Institutions of Riga City Council Riga Art Space Exhibition Hall, supported by Riga City Council and the State Culture Capital Foundation.

Photo: Pēteris Rūcis