Exhibition of Agate Bernāne Opens

On Wednesday, July 10, an exhibition of works by Agate Bernāne, a bachelor's student of painting at the Latvian Academy of Art (LMA), was opened at the design hotel "Grand Poet Hotel". The exhibition entitled "Girl with a Canary" will be available for viewing until October 10.

“I believe that a good artist needs to challenge themselves. While working on my pieces, I research a lot and also question my own thoughts. This process gives rise to new ideas and changes my perspective on the world around me. Inspiration for painting comes to me unexpectedly. It can be triggered by anything – a dusty window sill, a pile of laundry, chipped nail polish, tension, dreams – anything that evokes certain feelings. Sometimes it is easier to paint than to find the right words to explain how I feel. In the process of creation, I merge with the artwork, giving it my spirit so that it can live on independently,” says the artist Agate Bernāne, inviting everyone to visit the exhibition.

Inese Baranovska, the head of the Decorative Art and Design Museum at the Latvian National Museum of Art and a lecturer at LMA, highlights that Agate's works stand out among those of other students with their unique perception of the world. “Her paintings possess visual sensitivity and the ability to see and perceive. The artist reflects on everyday life events, but in seemingly banal situations, she tries to capture the universal essence of the world, connecting the forms of the past, present, and future. In her painted visions, everyday reality intertwines with imaginations and dreams – replicas of art history, travel notes, symbols of popular culture, and rituals of daily life,” comments I. Baranovska on her student's works.

The exhibited paintings were created over the past two years. The artist philosophically explains that they represent paintings within a single dream. The encounter with canvas, brushes, and colors brings back the pleasant excitement of meeting a canary. In the dream, the girl hosts the canary, feeding and caressing it. In the white walls of her apartment, she lets it spread its wings. It has no name, no age, and it is impossible to understand where it flies from and where it disappears, but she has become attached to it. The water and food bowls for it are empty, and the girl feeds, caresses, and listens to its song again. They meet, sometimes more often, sometimes less, for almost two years.

Agate Bernāne was born in 1996. She previously studied at the Jānis Rozentāls Riga Art High School (2012-2016) and is currently pursuing her bachelor's degree at LMA. She has participated in projects such as "Film Art Action Party" (2015), "Art Belongs to the Nation" (2015), "RAF. Jelgava. Art." (2013), as well as several group exhibitions. She has received the Pēteris Avena Charity Fund "Generation" Excellence Scholarship twice (2014, 2015). This year, in June, she participated as a representative of LMA in the international contemporary art fair ArtVilnius'19.

The open exhibition at "Grand Poet Hotel" is Agate Bernāne's first solo exhibition.

Any interested person can evaluate the paintings by assigning a special sticker to the closest artwork – a coin worth five grand – which is available at the hotel. Māris Alnis, the manager of "Grand Poet Hotel", explains that at the end of each exhibition, the hotel acquires the most highly regarded painting by visitors, thus creating the unique "Grand Poet Art Collection" of works by young Latvian artists. The collection currently includes paintings by three young artists – Madara Kvēpa, Justīne Seile, and Ella Mežule – which are displayed in specially designated areas of the hotel, delighting visitors and art enthusiasts from around the world. The opening of the next exhibition is planned for this autumn.

About the “Grand Poet Art Collection”
On June 14, 2018, the Latvian Academy of Art and the "Semarah Hotels" hotel chain signed a memorandum of cooperation to support and develop young artists in Latvia. Its goal is to support the academy's students and young Latvian artists, encourage new achievements, raise self-awareness, and build an international career. The cooperation provides financial support for talent development, creates space for organizing solo exhibitions, and promotes the development of art in Latvia.

About “Grand Poet Hotel”
“Grand Poet Hotel” is part of the Latvian hotel chain "Semarah Hotels". The hotel chain currently includes the resort hotel "Lielupe" in Jūrmala and two hotels in Riga – the four-star historic hotel "Metropole" on Aspazijas Boulevard and the elegant five-star design hotel "Grand Poet Hotel" at Raiņa Boulevard 5/6. Each of them has its own unique story and values.

The newly created "Diplohemia" concept of "Grand Poet Hotel" combines design solutions characteristic of diplomacy and bohemia, created by the internationally acclaimed and award-winning concept and design agency "Stylt Trampoli" (Sweden). The project was developed by the architectural office "Sarma un Norde" (Latvia), preserving the architectural uniqueness of the building. The name of the hotel embodies duality, which is often reflected in poetry – pragmatism and bohemianism.