NADA Miami 2020

​427 gallery presents a solo exhibition by Latvian artist Jānis Dzirnieks at its Riga location and works by Jānis Dzirnieks, Evita Vasiļjeva and Kaspars Groševs in NADA Miami 2020.

In artificial lighting, there are several printed wall pieces on view. “Tiled River” by Jānis Dzirnieks. In the creation of his works Dzirnieks (b. 1992) collaborates with algorithms he doesn’t fully understand: he makes screenshots of pop-up ads and banners on the internet that are then forcibly deformed with the Content-Aware Scale tool in Photoshop. The images are UV printed on isolation material—extruded polystyrene that is covered with layers of epoxy resin.

Evita Vasiljeva (b. 1985) is a Latvian artist based in Amsterdam and Riga who works primarily in sculpture and installation. In the “Soap Opera” (2019) series she combines steel rods and soap combined with pigments, laser prints on plastic, flies collected in Latvia, wires, painkiller pills, matches, chocolate, scent, etc. Vasiljeva’s objects set up stages in space on which to interact with each other and surroundings.

Co-founder of ​the artist-run ​427, Kaspars Groševs (b. 1983) presents the painting “Hai!” (2020) that ​references West Berlin-based Latvian mail artist, curator, and promoter of cultural contacts, Valdis Āboliņš (1939–1984)​​. The ghostly character appears as a spirit of 427 that hides in between dusty graffiti-covered facades and wet asphalt.

427 gallery was opened in 2014 with the aim to frequently show contemporary art, to uncover signs, to cast nets, and to exchange with confabulations. During this time the gallery has opened almost 50 shows, working with local and international artists, as well as extending international collaboration beyond Latvian borders (with recent projects in Paris, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Brno, and Berlin).