Solo show. Ilze Preisa. "Metaphorical games"
25.01.2023. – 22.03.2023.

Symbol is the key word for Ilze Preisa's artistic practice, which includes painting and graphics. This concept can be applied to all the elements we encounter in Preisa's art - the depicted objects and the colors used. They are combined in compositions full of surreality, which encourages the viewer to indulge in the excitement of translating the content of the works. Ilze Preisa uses Greek myth and biblical motifs in her works, but without setting specific boundaries for the understanding of the offered symbols. Often, the characters of biblical plots and ancient mythology in the modern context become accurate exponents of the current ideas of the era. The presence of mythological motifs, which we encounter in the works of Preisa, is a common phenomenon in modern art, indicating the timelessness of mythological themes. The works are dominated by references of the world's cultural heritage, but highlighting this or that plot, the artist emphasizes personal stories that are important to her. Through mythological characters, the artist talks about human nature, human qualities - passion, betrayal, anger, love. Human nature does not change. Consequently, the associations created by these images are perfectly useful for highlighting one or another aspect of human nature.
In the art of Ilze Preisa, the iconography includes a wide variety of images - a bull, a symbol of power and the strength of the earth, which causes tension with its presence of power, a dress as a symbol of transformation and disguise suggests with its irritating energy, exotic birds, which are beautiful and scary at the same time, the beautiful Medea, whose head is decorated the elegant snakes that repel and tempt at the same time, the curtain that covers the unknown space and encourages you to make a decision - to open it to view or not, cats with wings - the effective symbols of power. A significant element in almost every work of this exhibition is the black-and-white floor arranged in a checkerboard pattern, where we recognize well-known environments in the history of art, from Renaissance rooms to today's modern rooms. This element tends to combine the works of the exhibition into one story consisting of many continuations.
An important element of Ilze Preisa's art is color, which the artist organically incorporates into her theory of symbols. It is almost impossible to determine which of the elements used in artistic practice more accurately expresses the symbolic message of Preisa's artworks - color or the depicted object. Ideally, they complement each other and live in perfect symbiosis.
I.P.: "The series of works Red/Black/White was created by reflecting on the events of recent years, what is happening in the world, around us and in Me.
I chose these three colors because, in my opinion, they best allow me to express this story, reveal my feelings and show my perspective on it. They are strong colors with versatile symbolism in art and culture. Colors that will always contrast with each other. Applying this spectrum of three colors and combining them in different variations, a different story is formed every time. This is my conversation with the viewer".
The exhibition exhibits lithographs made by Preisa, in which the artist continues the themes realized in the paintings, but thanks to the technique and black and white aesthetics, other intonations are formed. I.P: "In these works, I seem to rest myself, in this way also resting my mind from the saturation of the world's "colors".
Art scholar Diana Barčevska
In the exhibition "Metaphorical games" five musical compositions of the Swedish musician and composer Fredrik Carlquist (clarinet, saxophone) are played, which were inspired by the paintings of the painter Ilze Preisa. This music was played for the first time in Barcelona, at her exhibition “Metaphorical Space”.


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