Ilgvars Zalāns
He came into the eyesight of the wide circle of international collectors and art-lovers after his world-wide tour of action-painting – 25 minutes long performances, staged in 33 countries around the Globe, on the streets, in halls, museums, galleries, river banks and any other places one can only think of.
His passion for colour, vigorously poured on canvas with a joy of a 15 year-old, for an external spectator can even look excessively spontaneous and playful. However, the artworks of Zalans are always the result of his rigorous “eye-thinking”, hard work and thorough study of everything generations of artists did before him. His works discover the sensitivity for colour one can hardly overestimate.
Being born in a tiny town of Latvia, he was brought to painting solely by his intuition and destiny – none would ever think he could make it with “just being an artist”. Spending years and years in torturous attempt to fit in, one day he realized the inevitable – for him to paint means to live.
Ilgvars Zalans creates lush, vibrant pieces that are at once unsettling for their mashed up textures as they are awkwardly beautiful. Of his art, he says: ‘I focus on images and motifs that are fundamental, archetypal, and universal in human experience, as opposed to those that are socially determined’.
Any object, creature or place, which Zalans takes as a topic of the new work, becomes a puzzle piece in the discovered picture of his world – full of life, joy and love itself.
Residency awards
Year Award Country
2014 Artist in Residency grant, Perahu Art Connection Center, Yogyakarta Indonesia
2012 Artist in Residency grant, HOM Art Center, KualaLumpur Malaysia
2011 Artist in Residency grant, Highland Art Center, Chengdu China
2010 Artist in residency grant , Kamiyama Tokushima Japan
2010 Artist in Residency grant, Organhaus Art center Chongqing China
2007 Artist in residency The Rodríguez-Amat Foundation, Girona Spain
2006 Scholarship from the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science of the Netherlands Netherlands
2005 Artist in residency grant, GAV Foundation, Delhi India
2004 Artist in Residency grant, Fundacion Valparaiso, Almeria Spain
Represented in collections
The artworks of Zalans can be seen in the different parts of the world. These are some of the profound collections that we are proud to mention:
Collection Country
Kate Rothko Prizel & Christopher Rothko collection USA
ERARTA contemporary art museum, St.Petersburg RUSSIA
Ukrainian State Art museum (Zaporozhe branch) UKRAINE
Green Valley Corporation, Tokushima JAPAN
Organhaus Art Space collection, Chongqing CHINA
GAV Foundation, Delhi INDIA
