Egils Spuris
Born in 1957, Riga, Latvia
Lives in Riga
I had the luck to be born in the family of Lia Spure, a teacher, and Egons Spuris, an art designer and one of the leading Latvian fine art photographers from 1960-ies to his death in 1990. I grew up in the atmosphere of art and artists. My Father taught me a lot and around mid 1970-ies I participated in several fine art photo exhibitions in Riga, Yugoslavia and France. Later I took part in various projects of my Father and other artists and designers working with them and learning from them. Alongside with my studies at the Foreign Language Faculty of Latvian State University (1980 – 1985) I worked as the interior designer for two supermarkets in Riga (1978 – 1979 and 1981 – 1986) after which I worked as a craftsman for a Latvian national art product enterprise (1986 – 1991). Since then I have been a freelancer dealing with different projects. Alongside with art and design I have also been an English teacher, I have worked as a translator and interpreter for Latvian Deposit Bank, I have translated several fiction books from English to Latvian.
In 2007 I bought my first digital photo camera and returned to fine art photography which I had set aside for so many years. Most of my works fall under painterly photography and most of them represent minimalism or abstractionism. I do not have many photos of people. Because I am mostly interested in what is going on inside them, their internal world. Regarding works I keep to the point that “the less there is, the more you see”. Once a contact between the viewer and the work has been established and the work has started to speak to the viewer, it gives rise to associations, feelings... whatever, and the only restriction to what people see is the viewers' own experience, the richness of his/her internal world. When I take a photo, it is just an image to work on. Sometimes, at the moment of pressing the shutter, I have a clear idea what I want to show. But sometimes the idea is quite blurred, abstract, more sensation than an idea. In such cases the image itself tells me what to do while I am working on it and I have no idea what it will lead me to during the process.
Photography (or drawing with light) for me is just means of creating a picture and there is no difference whether it looks like a traditional photo, a piece of graphic art or a painting. What is important – it must speak. It is a must for the author to be able to step over the threshold after which his vision, his world, his idea or his feeling starts prevailing the material things depicted. It is a must to be able to create, release and direct this “sacred flow” in a way that it undisturbed reaches the audience.
Exhibitions and other
1973 – 1975
Several group exhibitions in Riga, France and Yugoslavia.
2007
Bought my first digital camera and returned to photography.
2014
Curated and arranged the American fine art photographer’s Wei Chen solo exhibition in Seattle, WA, USA.
My photos were used for anniversary edition of Latvian Museum of Natural History.
Since 2015 I take part in the annual international Arteground Art Festival, Viljandi, Estonia.
2017
International art plein air “Līvzeme 2017” and the exhibitions that followed in Ventspils and Dundaga, Latvia.
Group exhibition of Latvian artists in Malmitalo, Helsinki, Finland.
Annual group exhibition devoted to Independence Day of Latvia “JĀ/Neatkarība” arranged by Jūrmala municipality, Jūrmala, Latvia.
2018
Took photos, reproduced paintings and restored century old photos for the autobiographical book by Jānis Sūna “Starp piecu varu likumiem” (publisher “Jumava”, 2018).
Group exhibition of Latvian artists to congratulate the gallerist Agija Sūna on her 80th birthday, European Union House, Riga, Latvia.
International group exhibition “Randāls” in Ogre (Latvia), Viljandi (Estonia), Tallin (Estonial).
Annual group exhibition devoted to Independence Day of Latvia “JĀ/Neatkarība” arranged by Jūrmala municipality, Jūrmala, Latvia.
Group exhibition devoted to 100th anniversary of Latvia “Raduraksti”, gallery MuseumLV, Riga.
2019
Group exhibition “Satikšanās”, A.Sūna Art Gallery, Riga, Latvia.
Cover photo for the book by the American writer Ilze Berzins “Happy Girl”.
International group exhibition “Randāls”, Hungary.
Group exhibition “Spēka avots”, gallery MuseumLV, Riga, Latvia.
Annual group exhibition devoted to Independence Day of Latvia “JĀ/Neatkarība” arranged by Jūrmala municipality, Jūrmala, Latvia.
2020
Group exhibition “The Fifth Civilisation”, gallery MuseumLV, Riga, Latvia.
Group exhibition of northern states artists “The Northern Dimension”, Jurmala City Museum, Jūrmala.
Annual group exhibition devoted to Independence Day of Latvia “JĀ/Neatkarība” arranged by Jūrmala municipality, Jūrmala, Latvia.
