Māris Čačka – Sense of a Feeling – solo exhibition
Opening: 22.01.2024, 6 PM
Exhibition: 22.01.2024 – 31.03.2024
Exhibition Curator: Dr. Anna Kłos
Organizers: Retroavangarda, WIT Academy, Apollo Rida, Embassy of Latvia in Poland
Free entrance
Māris Čačka, an artist, curator, and director of the Rothko Museum in Daugavpils since 2020, presents his latest works at his first solo exhibition in Poland. The exhibition will last from January 22nd to the end of March 2024 at the Retroavangarda Gallery in Warsaw.
Čačka’s extensive exhibition history includes over 80 shows, with 19 solo exhibitions in Latvia and 12 abroad. His new exhibition focuses on abstract paintings, where the square formats symbolically define the space of dialogue between the artist and the viewer.
The artist’s original technique combines graphics and painting. Expressive paintings with a vivid, dense texture surprise with an extraordinary color palette, constructing a space that engages the viewer and evokes emotions. The interweaving layers of color and light are utilized by Čačka to create an illusion of depth. Through these layers, we delve deeper into the artist’s personal world, full of subtle nuances elusive to words. The essence of this exhibition, titled “Sense of a Feeling,” seems to convey that which cannot be described in words but can be felt through the senses.
“Sense of a Feeling” is the latest chapter in my ongoing autobiographic story that traces the individual physical and mental changes I experience as I grow into maturity. This complex personal account is expressed in the language of visual arts through a distinct visual vocabulary of fluid forms and shifting fields, which I consider the fittest means for my self-realisation.
My artistic reflections capture the sense of a feeling I extract from my lived experience or visualise the fleeting, inexplicable inklings that cannot be put into words. Sensations and the actions they trigger are the two principal catalysts for my artistic output – they set things in motion and also determine the outcome in terms of technique and implicit message.
I have a long record of partnerships with galleries and curators in different countries. The latest project in Retroavangarda Gallery is my first solo exhibition in Poland. It is ably curated by gallerist Anna Kłos.
Māris Čačka
The artist is working at the intersection of painting and printmaking. His abstract works – stunning multilayered fields of shimmering kaleidoscopic color – produce a visual flood of limitless variety of hue. Vibrating elusive light and color, developed out of his artistic process: an accumulation of spontaneous, reactive gestures of adding, moving, and subtracting paint, create a clear perception of movement. Changing the perspectives brings new images to life. Despite unnatural palettes, flat sheets of color, and obvious trails of the artist’s tools – like marks and scratches over the painterly surface, you can’t avoid the illusion of space in his works. They often act like windows through which we see the landscape outside. But more often you may take it like ‘inner landscape’, reflecting the state of soul.
Farida Zaletilo
MĀRIS ČAČKA
Born 4 June 1976 in Varakļāni
Education and qualifications: 2017 – ecological tourism (specialist); 2011 – MA in arts (graphic art); 2009 – Doctor of pedagogical sciences (art education)
Career
13 Feb 2020 onwards – Daugavpils Mark Rothko Art Centre (from 2023 – Rothko Museum), director
2013–2020 – Daugavpils Mark Rothko Art Centre, deputy director
2013–2014 – Rēzekne College, guest docent
Apr 2012 – Dec 2012 – Daugavpils Mark Rothko Art Centre, exhibition curator
2004–2012 – accredited professional bachelor study programme “Computer-Aided Design” (programme code 42214), programme director
16 Aug 2010 – 1 Sept 2011– Faculty of Music and Arts (Daugavpils University), acting dean
Apr 2010 – Aug 2010 – Department of Art and Design (Daugavpils University), department head
2006–2010 – Arts Department (Daugavpils University), department head
1998–2014 – Department of Art and Design (Daugavpils University), assistant, lecturer, docent
Membership in professional organisations and councils
21 May 2021 onwards – State Culture Capital Foundation expert in visual art and chairman of the expert council for visual art, from 3 Oct 2021 – council member
17 Apr 2020 onwards – Latvia’s Council for Visual Art (council member)
2016–2018 – State Culture Capital Foundation expert in visual art, 2017 – chairman of the expert council for visual art, foundation council member
17 July 2011 – 1 Nov 2014 – Latvian Artists Union (board member)
12 Feb 2011 onwards – Chamber of Graphic Arts (member)
4 Dec 2010 onwards – Latvian Artists Union (member)
2008–2010 – NSEAD / National Society for Education in Art and Design (member)
8 Aug 2005 onwards – Art Teachers Union (rebranded as SIVIA in April 2020), member, board member
28 Dec 1998 – 8 Aug 2005 – public organisation “Art Teachers Union” (Reg. No. 000803891) – founding member
Creative projects, art projects (management, participation)
Čačka has organised or managed more than 50 projects (including 25 projects funded by the State Culture Capital Foundation).
His exhibition record dates back to 1997 and extends to more than 80 appearances, which includes 19 one-man shows in Latvia and 12 solo exhibitions abroad.
Čačka’s curatorial practice is ongoing since 2004 and branches into exhibitions and symposiums in domestic and international venues. The latest and most notable examples in this line include:
Valdis Bušs International Painting Plein Air (curator and creative producer since 2017 in cooperation with Viļaka District Council, from 2022 – with Balvi District Council); International Latgale Graphic Art Symposium (curator and creative producer since 2012);
Silva Linarte International Painting Symposium 2019 and 2020 (concept author and creative producer);
Bruģu Street Promenade Mural Project 2019 in Daugavpils (creative producer); Daugavpils Art Night 2017, 2018, 2019 (cross-disciplinary concept author and creative producer), etc.
Major solo exhibitions (In Latvia)
2023 (14 Apr to 3 Jun) – “ATTACHMENT”, Balvi District Museum, Balvi
2023 (18 Jan to 1 Apr) – “NOTES”, Daugavpils Secondary School of Art and Design “Saules Skola”, Daugavpils
2023 (24 Mar to 9 Aug) – “OTHER DIALOGUES”, Valka Cultural Centre Exhibition Hall, Valka
2022 (18 Feb to 7 Apr) – “NEURO-PATHWAYS”, Rīga Art Space, Rīga
2021 (May to June) – “DIRECT DIALOGUES”, Daugavpils Local History and Art Museum, Daugavpils;
2020 (7 Feb to 15 Mar) – “Dialogues. Parallels. Dimensions”, Madona Local History and Art Museum, Madona;
2018 (19 Jan to 11 Mar) – “Definite and Indefinite Dialogues”, Dubulti Art Station, Jūrmala
2016 (15 June to 24 July) – “Indefinite, Definite and Told”, Latgale Culture and History Museum, Rēzekne
2016 (20 May to 3 July) – “Indefinite, Definite and Told”, Daugavpils Clay Art Centre, Daugavpils
2014 (2 June to 11 July) – “Similarly Different” Art Pegazs Gallery, Rīga
2012 (23 Oct to 1 Dec) – “…Kneeling”, Latgale Art and Craft Centre, Līvāni
2012 (25 Apr to 31 May) – “Roads”, Daugavpils Local History and Art Museum, Daugavpils
2012 (14 Feb to 9 Mar) – “Different Times”, Jēkabpils History Museum, Jēkabpils
2011 (11 Jan to 11 Mar) – “Prints without Numbers”, Daugavpils District Culture Centre, Daugavpils
2010 (10 May to 4 July) – “Pebble Prints”, Atašiene Culture Centre, 1 Ceriņu Street, Atašiene, Krustpils District
2009/2010 (27 Nov to 31 Jan) – “…On Cloud’s Edge”, Park Hotel Latgola lobby, 46 Ģimnāzijas Street, Daugavpils
2006 (15 Feb to 15 Apr) – “Buchstaben”, Southern Latgale Municipalities Training Centre, 2 Rīgas Street, Daugavpils
2004 (14 Feb to 14 Apr) – “Days”, District Centre for Popular Education and Culture, Daugavpils
2001 (May to Aug) – “Home”, Daugavpils Pedagogical University, Arts Department exhibition hall
Major solo exhibitions (Abroad)
2023 (7 May to 22 September) – “My Notes”, Dusetos Art Galery, Dusetos, Lithuania
2022 (7 May to 11 Jun) – “Me. Reflections” Berlin Black Box Pop-Up-Gallery @ Siggel Art+Fashion, Berlin, Germany
2022 (9 Apr to 9 May) – solo exhibition in the European artist exhibition project in Beijing, China
2020 (22 Oct to 23 Nov) – “In Reflection”, Šiauliai County Povilas Višinskis Public Library exhibition hall, Šiauliai, Lithuania
2020 (15 July to 15 Oct) – solo exhibition in the European artist exhibition project in Henan (Central China)
2019 (15 May to 2 June) – “Dialogues. Parallels. Dimensions”, National Centre for Contemporary Arts, Minsk, Belarus
2016/2017 (27 Nov to 18 Jan) – “Indefinite, Definite and Told” Pashmin Art Gallery, Hamburg, Germany
2016 (8 Sept to 31 Oct) – “Indefinite, Definite and Told” Juozas Miltinis Drama Theatre, Panevėžys, Lithuania
2014 (13 Nov to 24 Dec) – “Similarly Different”, Marc Chagall Museum, Vitebsk, Belarus
2014 (8 May to 25 May) – “Similarly Different”, Anna’s Chapel, Görlitz, Germany
2013 (23 Aug to 12 Sept) – “Similarly Different”, Šiauliai University Gallery, Šiauliai, Lithuania
2012 (12 Jan to 2 Feb) – “Stories”, Skizze Gallery, Šiauliai, Lithuania
Featured in Latvia’s public art collections
National museum of Latvia, Madona Local History and Art Museum, Daugavpils Local History and Art Museum, Latgale Culture and History Museum (Rēzekne), Ventspils Museum, Talsi Museum, etc.
Čačka’s work is also featured in museum and private collections in Austria, Belarus, Germany, Lithuania, Monaco, Norway, Poland, Turkey, United Kingdom, etc.
Featured artist in art fairs
2019 – Shanghai (China)
Awards and commendations
2023 – Commendation by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Latvia
2014 – Annual Award for Culture by Daugavpils City Council
2014 – Junior Chamber International Latvia’s Annual Award for Culture
2010 – Commendation by the State Agency for Intangible Cultural Heritage
Publications
41 papers, including 8 publications in scientific journals and books, 16 publications in conference proceedings, 17 abstracts
photo report from the opening of the exhibition: