Juris Dimiters

A disident's icon. 2013. Cardboard, oil. 80x56cm

2013

Juris Dimiters is among the most intellectual and witty artists of his generation. The characters of his works – paintings and posters – mostly are anthropomorphised fruits and objects. Placed within games of mutual interrelationships, they have become actors in the theatre directed by the artist. Over time the personages of the still-lifes have constantly transformed and migrated both among groups of work and media, embodying new roles in each of them. Nevertheless, they have always actively commented on one of three subjects – power, society and the everyday. J.Dimiters’ paintings and posters strike with directness and irony, uncharacteristic of Latvian art. His works are characterised by laconic, finely executed form imitating reality, that contrasts with aptly expressed visual and conceptual content paradoxes inspired by surrealism. They are endless riddles, whose meaning changes depending on time, context, the viewer’s erudition and perceptions. The exhibition “Theatre of Things” is the most substantial display of J.Dimiters’ work in Latvia in the last 20 years. Along with the popular posters, it will present the early as well as recent paintings, providing a comprehensive overview of the artist’s oeuvre. The exhibition is structured in several thematic sections, highlighting both the three most popular subjects of power, society, and the everyday, as well as turning separately to the background of the artist’s poster production and his early search for painterly handwriting. The exhibition coincides with the publication of a survey dedicated to the posters of Juris Dimiters with an introduction by Jānis Borgs. Juris Dimiters (1947) was born into the family of artist Džemma Skulme and actor Artūrs Dimiters. He graduated from J.Rozentāls Riga Art Secondary School (1965), Department of Stage Design at the Art Academy of Latvia (1973). He has earned the most acclaim with posters, in the 1980s participating and receiving awards in local and international exhibitions of poster art. Many of the posters have been mass-produced, and, thanks to their current socio-critical content and precise, easily-readable subjects, have attained wide recognition in the society. J.Dimiters’ posters can now be counted among the classics of Latvian art.