彼德列斯（Peteris Sidars），拉图维亚纤维艺术家。1978年毕业于拉脱维亚国家美术学院染织服装系。作品曾多次入选瑞士洛桑国际壁挂双年展。

艺术家自述

Artist Statement

During the Soviet times a pressure from „the above”-–the ruling political elite--was being applied dictating artists how to work. It was stipulated and supported by the Ministry of Culture and the Foundation of Arts. During this period the artists had the opportunity to take inspiration from the heritage of the ethnic art that left its imprint on many forms of art – metal, wood, leather, glass, and textile art. In a way it was interesting however, on the other hand – the artwork became exaggerated and homogenic. In my early work I used motives from the region of Southern Kurzeme (Courland). Ethnography, improvizations combining dense colors, experiments with novel materials and glorious colours – all of the above has been put into my early tapestries and are related to the manifestations of my inner self. During the studies my interest in subjective deformation of the form and intense mounting of expression by the application of various materials began to increase. It allowed me to approach the notion of experimentation. I worked intuitively, without thinking about the composition and this gave me more boldness to experiment, permitting me to see the conclusion of my work. There were and still are some pieces of work that cane be developed futher. I am happy about the continuation of my work and their further motion. Motion occupies a major place in my creative life. I have been influenced by abstract painting, modern sculpture, and installation art. During the Soviet times we, artists, didn’t have much of an opportunity to get acquainted with culture outside the boundaries of the Eastern block countries. We had more opportunity to have contacts with cultures from the Eastern block and the Soviet republics. However at all times I took an interest and tried to obtain information about the artistic life of the countries around the world through art magazines. During the Soviet years the only way I could get hold of these magazines was unofficially through my friends in Moscow and St. Petersburg since they were prohibited by the Soviet censorship. By examining those magazines, I draw boldness to seek new materials, to improvize, and, most importantly, to dare to be creative.

The Perestroika period was the time when my artistic boldness made me work more intensively and take a delight in finished work, as „the world belongs to the brave.” In my inner self I have never felt like a typical representative of the Nordic mentality since I consider myself more as a passionate, vehement, and intense person. As regards the typical traits of the Latvian mentality, I see in myself a continuous need to develop, to be constantly engaged in something and to patiently and ardently work thus discovering more and more new materials and ways of expression for my art. During the Soviet times, the Baltics, including Latvia and Riga, were the pioneers of the Soviet textile art. Subsequently Latvia was the place were Soviet sympoziums of art took place that were attended by the artists from countries friendly to the Soviet Union as well as artists from the Soviet republics who had an opportunity to see the work of the Baltic artists giving them pleasant surprise and stimulus for their creative development. I have always been interested in a synthesis of seemingly disparate things, a skill to notice new dimensions in various mundane materials being it textile, textile fibre, children’s building blocks, copper wire, glass fibre, pots of clay or peat, hot glue, lamination technique et al. Any of the material we incidentally encounter, can provide us with an impetus for creativity—currently I am interested in mixing natural material with new technologies and new materials of the 21st century. In a way it is a meditation involving things found in nature and the passion of my imagination – a mind of an artist where emotions and sensations prevail over mathematical calculation. What matters to me is the creative process itself, the cognition, the examination of the micro and macrocosm of the universe. Emotions, an unfettered flicker of feelings, and power of imagination encoded in each and every individual is what matters to me in life but they have to developed, not dulled. This is a neverending motion, it always envisages opportunity for further development. Art is my lifestyle and my only true passion. I do not create my works with any embedded messages or manifestations, they are not created for any philosophical purpose nor they are meant to be described or translated. My life’s driving-force is motion and motion is the essence of my work. In my work I try to make joy and to continue the play started in my imagination. I consider them more of an experimental nature, that I want to continue.