Polina Berlin Gallery is pleased to present Bingo Gaze, an exhibition of new sculptures by Latvian artist Indrikis Gelzis, on view from September 17 through October 19, 2024. Comprising four sculptures and a spatial intervention with a narrative sound and timed-light component, the exhibition invites a contemplation of human perception. 

Voice assistant:

R) A Wind caused by a yellow paper butterfly

E) The maze of your gaze.

D) A lottery machine full of sleeping eyeballs. Which will be the lucky ones?

 B) Two long eyes trapped in the nest

L) Geese that flew away from the skin

U) Standing ovation, seated ovation, sleeping ovation

E) Cave after cave after cave how should I behave?

 G) If only you saw through the eyes grown in my garden

R) How I yellow, is how I blue is where I green

E) Barber of a hairy tongue

E) Seasonal confidence

N) Exit strategy from propeller roots

G) A word moving like a balloon losing air

R) Eight peeled eyeballs

E) A wave won't harm itself 

Y) A cold breeze of benzodiazepine

The works included approximate the height of a person; though static, their sinuous steel limbs appear as though they may be functional. Their voluminous cores unfold outward, opening up and peering out onto the world. In turns, the exhibition space is washed in red, green, and blue light, respectively; the primary colors of the RGB spectrum that, when combined, reproduce an infinite array of colors. The light abruptly changes with a click, like a game show moving on to its next segment. Concurrently, the space is bathed in sound; words and phrases that tease the listener into parsing out meaning. As when watching a television program or gazing at a computer screen, the wavelengths of light are mediated through the human eye to construct our reality. Gelzis' reference to the eye and its perceptual powers reveal its role as a mediator between the self and the world. Indeed, reality is a construct that is tied to randomness, to chance. 

Through his practice, Gelzis explores the relationship between biological and mechanical bodies. He mines the dichotomy of the linear and the spatial, and the system as it relates to its parts. Interested in imagery that is based on an inquiry into object-oriented ontology, his work offers a glimpse into the ever-shifting relationship between humans, nature, and technology.  

Light Choreography:

Red Sector

Phase 1. White bulbs lit daylight for 3 minutes

Phase 2. Red bulbs lit for 00m50s accompanied by an audio narrative

 Blue Sector

Phase 1. White bulbs lit daylight for 3 minutes

Phase 2. Blue bulbs lit for 01m03s accompanied by an audio narrative

 Green Sector

Phase 1. White bulbs lit daylight for 3 minutes

Phase 2. Green bulbs lit for 01m07s accompanied by an audio narrative

 Grey Sector

Phase 1. White bulbs lit daylight for 3 minutes

Phase 2. Red, blue and green bulbs lit for 00m56s accompanied by an audio narrative

Indrikis Gelzis (b. 1988, Riga, Latvia) lives and works in Riga, Latvia. He earned an MA in Visual Communication from the Art Academy of Latvia and a Postgraduate degree from HISK – Higher Institute for Fine Arts, Ghent. Gelzis has presented solo and two-person exhibitions at Jenny’s (New York), Tatjana Pieters (Ghent), Castor (London), CINNAMON (Rotterdam), and ASHES/ASHES (New York). He has participated in group exhibitions at Tatjana Pieters (Ghent), and Union Pacific (London). Gelzis’ works are included in the collections of the Latvian National Museum of Art, Riga, Latvia; Museum of Recent Art, Bucharest, Romania; S.M.A.K. The Municipal Museum of Contemporary, Ghent; The Lewben Art Foundation, Vilnius, Lithuania; and CELINE ART PROJECT, Paris.

Born

Riga, Latvia, 1988. Lives and works in Riga, LV

Education

• 2016 | PgD, HISK - Higher Institute for Fine Arts, Ghent, BE

• 2014 | MA, Art Academy of Latvia, Department of Visual Communication, Riga, LV

• 2012 | ArtEZ Institute of the Arts, Media department, Enschede, NL

One-Person Exhibitions

• 2024 Bingo Gaze, Polina Berlin Gallery, New York, NY

• 2023 Watery Day’s Eye, Kim? Contemporary Art Centre, Riga, LV

• 2022 Yawn Holding Fields, Tatjana Pieters, Ghent, BE

• 2021 Daily Charts, Suprainfinit gallery, Bucharest, Romania
  Still life of a still life, Tatjana Pieters, Ghent, BE

• 2020 Figure of Everything, Castor, London, UK

• 2019 Pause for the cause, Cinnamon, Rotterdam, NL
  TABLEAU, ASHES/ASHES, New York, NY          

• 2018 Nightball Effect, King’s Leap, Brooklyn, NY
  Skeleton of the wind (with Viktor Timofeev), Suprainfinit gallery, Bucharest, RO
  The Man in the Moon (with Adja Yunkers), Belenius, Stockholm, SE

• 2017 Rest and Vest, Galerija Vartai, Vilnius, LT
  Aeolian Breath, Tallinas Street 10, Riga, LV
  Between the sheets, Cinnamon, Rotterdam, NL
  Sky’s The Limit (text by Domenico De Chirico), Hole Of The Fox, Antwerp, BE,
  Tastes Like Headaches (text by Kyle Hilton), Kim? Contemporary Art Centre, Riga, LV

• 2015 Two unexpected visitors, Arsenals Creative studio, Latvian National Museum of Art, Riga, LV
  Patiently Becoming a Sculpture, Mākslai Vajag Telpu, Riga, LV
  We Have a Thing in Common, Galerija Vartai, Vilnius, LT

• 2014 Specifying Interpretations on a Single Individual, Riga Art Space, Intro Hall, Riga, LV

• 2013 Blind Sounds, Entrance Gallery, Prague, CZ

• 2012 The Meeting (curated by Zane Onckule), Kim? Contemporary Art Centre, Riga, LV
  Blind Sounds, Kim? Contemporary Art Centre, Riga, LV

• 2011 Lost in Eyeshot, Cesis Contemporary Art Centre, Cesis, LV

Selected Group Exhibitions

• 2024 Flame, grasp me silently, FLⒶT$, Brussels, BE
  Superstudio #3 Off the Wall, Stellar, Antwerp, BE
  REVERSE(D) RADICALISM, Tatjana Pieters, Ghent, BE

• 2022 Vagabond \ A Place Hard to Place / (organized by Kim? Contemporary Art Centre, Riga, LV), Jenny’s, New York, NY

• 2021 Force[d] Majeure, Kim? Contemporary Art Centre, Riga, LV
  Black Market, Kim? Contemporary Art Centre, Riga, LV

• 2020 The 4 Gate Connection, Tatjana Pieters, Ghent, BE

• 2019 DARK MODE, ASHES/ASHES, New York, NY
  Close Up, Cesis Contemporary Art Centre, Cesis, LV
  A closed mouth gathers no feet, DASH, Kortrijk, BE

• 2018 Doors of Paradise, Union Pacific, London, UK
  The Last Rave, Diesel Project Space, Liege, Belgium, BE

• Heavy Metal, Galerie Jérôme Pauchant, Paris
  Superposition, Joshua Liner Gallery, New York, NY

• 2017 NNN, Latvian National Museum of Art, Riga, LV
  Monsone (curated by Domenico De Chirico), Suprainfinit gallery, Bucharest, RO
  Wholesome Environment (curated by Diego Diez), Lundgren Gallery, Palma, ES
  Lockers V2, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, NL
  Form Cannibalism, The Stable, Waregem, BE

• 2016 The Empty Fox Hole? (curated by Philippe Van Cauteren), HISK, Ghent, BE

• 2015 A Bigger Peace, a Smaller Peace, Latvian Railway History Museum, Riga, LV
  Influx, Era VI VII VI, New York, NY

• 2014 Salon, Kim? Contemporary Art Centre, Riga, LV

• 2013 Consul’Art 2013, Pavillion- M, Marseille, FR

Sculpture Magazine | Indrikis Gelzis | Lines Between: A Conversation with Indrikis Gelzis

Echo Gone Wrong | Indrikis Gelzis | Photo Reportage from the exhibition ‘Bingo Gaze’ by Indrikis Gelzis at Polina Berlin Gallery, New York

Art Viewer | Indrikis Gelzis | Indrikis Gelzis at Polina Berlin Gallery