ILZE HELGELAND Artist

Statement.

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https://follow.art/card/ilze-helgeland 

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Exhibition. Nostalgia​

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Time is elusive and as time passes it seems that technology also becomes a contemporary element of our lives. Only 100 or even 50 years ago, people were excited about technology that for the new generation already seems ancient. Only few decades ago the technology of the time were a part of peoples’ homes and lives, and symbols of status and luxury, now the old items are disappearing into the junk yards for eternity

 

What I intend to do with my series of paintings “Tech-Nostalgia” is to bring these earlier appreciated items back to life on the canvas. My intention is to make them visible again, and give them the honour in retrospect. At the same time I am trying to tell the story of time that is slipping away and how these technical objects are gradually disappearing from our apprehension. They are in a way becoming abstracts.

 

I use transparent colour schemes and abstract geometric shapes. In some of my paintings, I let the humans tell their story. It adds a Nostalgic element and the story becomes complete.

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Exhibition. Memory Thistle

The author examines the significance of collective and individual memory and its impact on the construction of personal identity and the trajectory of an individual’s life. The artworks produced within the framework of this research demonstrate how visual images, symbols, and cherished objects, unconsciously retained in memory, influence subsequent choices and decision-making processes. The author advances the proposition that motives sedimented in memory recur over time and may become determining factors in an individual’s daily actions.

In the course of the creative process, the author collaborates with two actresses—Guna Zariņa and Baiba Broka—documenting objects and memories of emotional significance to them. These elements are subsequently transformed into visual narratives and compositional structures. Within the cycle of paintings, motives functioning as imprints of memory recur and progressively assume a dominant role within the pictorial compositions. The artist, who is also the author of this work, seeks to articulate how recurring memory motives may be integrated into painting through diverse formal strategies, thereby establishing a meaningful connection between the artwork and the viewer.