Sunday, May 22, 2011

Kristaps Ģelzis, text by Mark Svede (2005)

I have to admit I have had this book for a while, and had looked at the images of Ģelzis' work, but not read Mark's text (shame on me.) Mark always write so well, and brings in his knowledge of the art world in so many different ways. I think what amazed me the most is how well versed my friend Mark is in what is and has happened in Latvia. He is half Latvian, but hasn't followed the normal path of doing all things Latvian, so his grasp of the nuances there are quite astounding. (At least to me, my own grasp of nuances are probably minimal, as I don't keep up with events in Latvia regularly, and just have spurts of immersion with my family, the library world, etc.)

As much as I appreciate art, I do like it when someone explains things to me, so it was great to have images of Ģelzis work, especially his installations, along with Mark's explanations and interpretations. I know he is good friends with Ģelzis, and I recognize a couple of the pieces from Mark's home, so I assume he has a pretty accurate take on what Ģelzis is trying to say.

I chose to read the text in English, as I know that was the language in which it was written, but I did glance over to the Latvian text occasionally, especially when it was an especially complex concept or passage. It was fun to see how it translates into Latvian.

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