Orange Painting

The résumé of Mareks Gureckis is unlike the ordinary life career of a Latvian artist. While his first public appearance on the art scene was together with the female artist Juta Policja, now he is completely independent and reveals his own characteristic features, along with self-exploration and creation of true art of painting. Mareks is among the painters searching for pure aesthetics, and his artworks are an ode to the picturesque. Just like aesthetes from the 18th century who went looking for the authentic scenic essence in the landscape, Mareks is revealing the true substance through his touch of the colours and painting techniques. Although his key means of expression are the paints, the compositions are far from pure abstractions. Main subjects of his works – pianos, Greek amphorae with cogwheels on top, chess pieces and boards – can be easily placed among semiotic focal points. Indeed, life is like a chess board with pawns and the royal couple playing strategic games; however, that is not the point of Mareks’ paintings. The surprising filigree virtuosity he produces the painting as if by magic reminds of the once studied Aristotelian catharsis, which the artist experiences at the time of creation. Subjects are only secondary in this artistic play, and give way to colours with their rhythm and decorative nature. Only few might misinterpret the delicate finished surface factures, scumbles and dripping as impulse-induced; however, the shiny boldness throwing the Greek vases in vibrations similar to those of a rave party is the evidence of the artistic and creative freedom sought by so many of us. Aesthetic games with the surface of the painting are nothing new, yet only few make it beyond the subtle border which distinguishes the art of painting from the sample catalogue of a house painter.