Oto Holgers Ozoliņš’ solo exhibition 'Solution to a Non-Existent Problem'

From 2 February, the Intro Hall of Riga Art Space will host the solo exhibition Solution to a Non-existent Problem by the artist Oto Holgers Ozoliņš. Exhibition will be open to visitors until 19 March.

On a Sunday morning, socks, blouses and nightdresses are fluttering in the wind. While hanging laundry, thoughts swell and flutter like unruly sheets. Twenty laundry pegs, otherwise they will float away. Meanwhile, on the shore, sand crunches under twenty planks, reeds part, water ripples. Hundreds of casts with a fishing rod, then watching the bait sink and the line tighten. Each small action is threaded through with a thought that leads back to the thinker. Both fishing and hanging laundry can be a form of daily meditation in which the mind becomes effortlessly still and quiet.

It is through looking inwards that the artist becomes the initiator of new ideas. They are neither clear in detail nor infallible, but they offer new ways of thinking about the world. Through constant experimentation, a new form is created. The wooden peg has gone from an everyday object to a challenge. In contrast to the endless refinement, the peg is stripped of its function, turned into a sculpture until it shines on a velvet pedestal. Meanwhile, the boards that were lying in the workshop have taken on a new shape and have been marked on the drawing. A similar boat was built at the seaside at the beginning of the last century, but is now being replaced. Only this way something different can become of what already exists and turn into a new reality.

At the same time, the boundary between the studio and the exhibition space is blurred, raising the question of at what point an object becomes a work of art. Whether it's when it's placed on the podium under the glass dome, or when the first sketch is pinned to the wall. The neutralised pegs, on the other hand, offer a new perspective on everyday tasks. By freeing the silhouette of the peg, the person hanging the laundry has also been freed from the work. There is no need for her to be sad, however. Maybe the time has finally come when she can come along to catch some flounder.

Oto Holgers Ozoliņš (1997) graduated from Riga School of Design and Art, and in 2022 received a Bachelor's degree in Humanities from the Art Academy of Latvia in Visual Plastic Arts, Sculpture. Since 2018 he has been participating in group exhibitions and in 2022 held a solo exhibition 400 MORNINGSat Smilga Gallery. In his work, the young artist ironically addresses themes of current interest in society using sculptural methods.

Curator: Roberta Atraste 
Visual identity: Krišjānis Beļavskis

The exhibition is organized by the Association of Culture Institutions of Riga City Council and the exhibition hall Riga Art Space with the support of the Riga City Council and Kokmuiža.