This year, the jury evaluated the artistic value, contemporaneity, creative work and painting quality of the students’ artwork. The aim of the SEB scholarship is to support the talent and mastery of young artists and to motivate them to create new works whose quality will be appreciated internationally and in the long run. Playing with classical painting methods and techniques, the fellows develop contemporary painting as an important and enduring medium of art.
Antra Priede , Vice-Rector for Studies at the Latvian Academy of Sciences , states that “By limiting the selection criteria of the competition to the limits of the media, it might seem at first sight that this is not in line with the trends of contemporary art and its multidimensional ecosystem. However, this competition, which for more than a decade allows us to get to know the current trends in contemporary painting, justifies this division. Especially because every year the medium is highlighted, which is important not only for the existence and cultivated tradition of our academy, but also because students’ experimental solutions expand the boundaries of painting language and expression, their conceptual message and materiality studies. It is the freedom of the study process, which alternates with the search and the mood of one’s creative polyphony, that is revealed in these works, which are not yet limited by the actualities of the art market or the encapsulation in one’s successful handwriting. “
“The current geopolitical situation has also created challenges for Latvian society, testing our ability and desire to stand up for our values and freedom. We can express our position in various ways – by making political decisions and amending laws, by making comments in the public sphere, and by using art as a communication tool, which is often among the loudest and most effective mouthpieces. At a time when there are so many sensitive topics in the public space that we can’t find a common denominator, art has new opportunities to make the discussion better and to help build bridges where it was previously impossible to build them. At the same time, the topic of sustainability is no less important in today’s context, forcing us to review the forms and materials of its expression in the field of art.”points out Ieva Tetere , Chairman of the Board of SEB banka .
