Sabīne Vernere New Works, 2021

In the most recent series, informed by loneliness, the pandemic and the art residency in Paris, the image is shifting, embodying ‘strength charms’ and ‘incrusted landscapes of memory’. Working, at length and systematically, Vernere wields control over the material, coaxes it, so that ink transforms or embodies flesh, landscape, emotion, you name it. The flow of ink has been brought across directly from processes of nature, such as a river emptying itself into the sea, spring waters mixing with the soil (‘… it’s hard to explain, but the way a fir tree grows and the way ink flows seem the same to me’) and so forth. As the days are spent losing oneself in front of the screen (‘… down on my knees in front of a sheet of paper, feverishly checking my phone, expecting who knows what while I’m waiting for the ink to dry’), the fluid landscapes become solid, forms turn angularly mechanical and compositions central. At the same time, there’s a growing need for shelter. These new works – an affirmation of celebrating everyday intimacy – serve as an allegory of the shackles of life and the infrastructure of the mind, artificial and oppressive frameworks, the very solidity of which (like layers of color, paintings that have ‘blossomed’ on the metal-imitation background covered with cotton paper) is/must be overcome.    

Sabīne Vernere (b. 1990) holds a master’s degree from the Painting Department of the Faculty of Visual Arts at the Art Academy of Latvia. She has perfected her skills at at the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb and the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp. In 2016 she debuted at MVT’s series of exhibitions titled BlumbergsBezgalība, showcasing Bezkaunīgs – her bachelor’s thesis – at an eponymous solo show. Her works have been on show in a number of group exhibitions in Latvia, including the Dubulti Art Station, the Kuldīga Artists’ Residency, the Art Center Brūzis in Cēsis, the Great Amber exhibition hall in Liepāja. Internationally, her works have been exhibited at Nida Artist Colony, Entusiastide Klubi MYU in Tartu, Quartair in the Hague, Beffroi de Montrouge in Paris, The Art Building in Vra (Hjørring, Denmark), Centrul de Internes in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, and elsewhere. Since 2020 she has been heading the experimental Pilot art space of the Art Academy of Latvia. In fall 2020 she held a solo show in Rīga at premises on 40 Brīvības street. She partook at the JCE residence in Paris in 2021.