11.04.- 11.05.2024

Galerija "Māksla XO"

Elizabetes iela 14, Rīga, LV 1010

JĀNIS DEINATS

The Masses

“Seeing the visual masses around is not always easy. One can walk through them or pass them by without even noticing them. So, where does the term “mass” start? From 3 or 30 people in one place? Of 500 or 720 leaves on a branch of a tree? Can the “mass” be a granite monument in the city centre? Of 3 or 4 raspberries on a piece of cake? How big does a cloud have to be to say “it’s a mass” – Ivars Runkovskis.
In the solo exhibition, “The Masses” at Maksla XO Gallery, Riga (curator Diāna Barčevska), 10 latest large format photographs - fragments from the series “The Masses” are exhibited, in which Jānis Deinats explores the typology of visual masses, which is formed by the multi˗meaningful relationship between the general, idealized model (mass) and a single individual or compositional detail, sometimes grotesquely exacerbated in view. It allows us to see both the beauty and the tragedy of the masses.
The mass media extensively covers a spectrum of topics ranging from mass events, societal consciousness, and cultural uprisings to production, interpersonal relations, and diverse cultures, delivering this information daily. However, the most essential unit of mass content is the individual, a mass member, without realizing it.
The unstaged scenes form a set of everyday and natural compositions of the urban world, with the poetic aesthetics and mystery characteristic of Jānis Deinat’s photography. The movement appears as an essential compositional element in the exhibited works that intensifies the many layers of events and characters’ interrelationships. The set of elements of the subject and nature form a natural composition, where each element is an equal participant in the captured scene. In the new works, you can recognize the presence of physical colour characteristic of Jānis Deinat’s art when we see the effects and colour suggestion characteristic of painting in the photograph. (Diāna Barčevska)

Jānis Deinat’s works stand out in Latvian photo art with an artistic and, at the same time, sensitive look, which notices the unusual where not everyone can. He is brilliant – very diverse and always surprising. (Inta Ruka)
Jānis Deinats (1961) graduated from Jāzeps Vītols Latvian State Conservatory, the Faculty of Culture and Art Sciences (Theatre Department). He has been engaged in photography since 1989 and participates in photo exhibitions. The most notable exhibitions of recent years are – group show “Portrait in Latvia. 20th Century. Facial Expressions” (2018, Latvian National Museum of Art, Exhibition Hall Arsenals, Riga, Latvia), solo show “Jānis Deinats. Times. So Sweet” (2022, Art gallery MuseumLv, Riga, Latvia). In the summer of 2024, Jānis Deinat’s solo exhibition “The First Five Years” is expected in the Latvian National Museum of Art, Riga. Works in public collections: Latvian National Museum of Art, Riga, Latvia, Latvian Museum of Photography (Riga, Latvia). Zuzāns Collection (Art Centre “Zuzeum”, (Riga, Latvia).

More: 

https://replay.lsm.lv/lv/ieraksts/ltv/324285/jana-deinata-fotografiju-izstade-galerija-maksla-xo