Urbānie mūki: portretu konteksti Ata Jākobsona personālizstādē Padures muižā
Urban Monks: Contexts of the Portraits in Atis Jākobsons’s Personal Exhibition at Padure Manor

Summary/Abstract: The article analyzes the male portraits of the Latvian painter Atis Jākobsons, which were on display in 2022 in his exhibition at Padure Manor. The thematic dominants of these portraits are related both to the revelation of the inner world of his masculine objects (especially with the presence of timelessness, ecstasy, and androgyny in his paintings) and also to Orientalism (a racialized representation of the Other in the European art tradition). The analysis of individual works reveals how portraits of contemporaries are modified, depriving them of elements of modernity, to create timeless images that represent European painting traditions while at the same time partially becoming self-portraits of the author, in which the author’s emotions are projected. Jākobsons’s choice of models shows his interest in a southern, dark type whose representations recall European art’s Orientalist tradition yet avoid distancing or subordination. The analysis of the works is complemented by the characteristics of Jākobsons’s exhibition, which focuses on placing the artist’s works in the context of modern Latvian contemporary art.

• Details
• Contents