Elza Sīle (1988) is a Latvian artist living in Switzerland who uses elements of painting, sculpture, computer-generated images and texts in her works. She is one of the young generation artists known for their original artistic signature and international recognition. In 2011, Elza won the SEB Scholarship in Painting, in 2020 she received the Werkschau Prize Zurich, and in 2021 the art stipend of the City of Zurich.
In 2019, Elza graduated from the Zurich University of the Arts with a Master of Fine Arts degree. She has selected painting as her medium, although, at first sight, her works seem to be far from painting. She contests traditional conventions by questioning the very nature of the painting medium and its limits. Her works resemble topographical maps, construction sites, cities or playgrounds, and in each of them the artist addresses a material or conceptual problem that is topical at the particular moment. Her pieces are included in many international public and private art collections.
“Knitted Absurdity”
Acrylic and oil paint on stainless steel sheet
100 x 78 cm
2022
Location: atrium, 2nd floor
This piece is from Elza’s personal exhibition “Bi-Dža, Ge-Ilk, Mir-Nul”, which is centred around her recollections of early childhood encounter with the cryptic contents of the Latvian Soviet encyclopedia. This piece belongs to the second part of the exhibition, the ‘Ge-Ilk’. The work visually resembles an absurd map, topographical remains or fragmented symbols floating on an empty background.
Thematically, it reflects fragmentation, loss of knowledge, fragility of symbols, and at the same time makes us think about memory, ideology and mechanisms of visual perception. It is part of Elza’s long-standing interests in linguistics, memory structures, childhood representations and collective narratives.
