Kristaps Ģelzis was born in Riga in 1962. He studied art at the Art Academy of Latvia, graduating in 1986. Since then, his blend of postmodern methodological diversification and culturally reflective propositions have turned him into a pivotal figure of Latvian contemporary art, alongside the likes of Ojārs Pētersons, Andris Breže, Oļegs Tillbergs and Juris Putrāms.
A sharp observer of his surroundings, Ģelzis assesses and transforms the reality around him to reveal, express and depict hushed, invisible or uncomfortable truths. His art is thus culturally loaded and relies on a shared vernacular, symbols and archetypes. Through these, he seeks to translate a perceived communal feeling, often relating to issues of national identity, statehood or emigration, topics at the heart of Latvian society. The artist balances these culturally specific themes with universal imagery, namely by recontextualising beloved characters from popular culture (e.g. superheroes or Disney characters) or depicting situations that force the viewer to reconsider their relationship to the icons in question. His Laika laukums (Time Square) exhibition at the Riga Gallery in 2000 highlighted commonalities and differences between the American and Latvian cultures.
As the meta-critical message takes obvious precedent, Ģelzis is not limited by his means or tools. Throughout his career, he has developed the ability to work with any and all available materials and techniques – academic drawing, watercolours, painting, ready-made objects, high-tech materials, photography, digital prints and video or textile displays all form part of his artistic project. Gelzis’s plastic paintings are the most recent addition to his visual language, but have already evolved. This technique relies on the use of polyethylene, plastic tape, adhesive tape and acrylic pigment. Since 2015, these material compositions have become more painterly in their structuring.
Ģelzis has exhibited extensively since gaining popularity in the mid-1980s: at the Ludwig Museum (Museum of Contemporary Art) in Budapest, Hungary (1991); at Pori Art Museum in Pori, Finland (1992); Riga – Lettische Avantgarde at the Staatliche Kunsthalle Berlin in West Berlin, Federal Republic of Germany (1988); Personal Time in Warsaw, Poland, and St Petersburg, Russia (1996); Virtuale at the State Museum of Art in Riga, Latvia (1996); as part of the exhibition of Latvian art during the Art Moscow project at the Central House of Artists in Moscow, Russia (2001); at the Städtische Galerie Bremen in Bremen, Germany (2002); as part of the Riga Gallery project Masks at the Seventh International Contemporary Art Exhibition ART MOSCOW 2003 (2003) in Riga, Latvia; at Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art in Helsinki, Finland (2004).
Gelzis also represented Latvia at the 54th Venice Biennale and received the Purvītis Prize in 2011.
