Otto Zitmanis was born in Riga in 1980. He studied at the Janis Rozentāls Art High School (1992–1998), before undertaking a Master Workshop of Black and White Photography run by Andrejs Grants (1997–1999). He eventually enrolled at the Art Academy of Latvia, specialising in fine art, and graduated with a Bachelor of the Arts, before starting a Master of the Arts, which he did not complete (2000–2004).
Zitmanis belongs to the middle generation of Latvian painters who all developed a very strong personal artistic vision. As a representative of this generation, the artist received his first critical and professional accolades while still a first-year student at the Art Academy of Latvia (2001).
His painting responds to the so-called super-beautiful superficial experiences in entertainment that are overly acclaimed today. The artist deems them most often decorative, meaningless and empty: contentless, in other words. Therefore, Zitmanis’s vernacular is full of broken, distorted shapes, sharp shadows and contrasting colours, accentuated by brutal strokes of colour. Emotions dictate Zitmanis’s subjects, narratives and style. Overtly subjective and haptic, his paintings give the public insight into his perspective on the world, via his harsh and humorous, highly colourful scenes, which are often titled in a way that elucidates the narrative.
Recently exhibitions include: A sense of community. Leave a message after the beep, LOOK! it’s a gallery, Riga, Latvia (2019); Midnight Soup with a Lady and a Red Cat, Gallery Room, Riga, Latvia (2012); Acts, Māksla XO gallery, Riga, Latvia (2011); And so every day, Perzzi Gallery, St Petersburg, Russia (2010); Otto’s Wrath, Alma Gallery, Riga, Latvia (2010); Otto Zitmanis, Alma Gallery, Riga, Latvia (2009); Overweight, Māksla XO gallery, Riga, Latvia (2009); ‘Brainstorm’ music group, album design for There must be something, Gallery 1st floor, Riga, Latvia (2008); Sprats in Milk, Māksla XO gallery, Riga, Latvia (2008); Našķu Bumba, Latvian National Museum of Art, Riga, Latvia (2007).
