We welcome in Latvian artist Jana Brike as she joins us for her debut release The Day When Time Stood Still available in standard and hand-embellished editions! Born in year 1980 in Riga, Latvia, a small country in the North-East of Europe, Brike has studied academical painting in the Art Academy of Latvia and has exhibited her work internationally in professional venues since 1996. Read on as Jana Brike gives us the full story behind her The Day When Time Stood Still and much more…
1x: Tell us a little bit about this piece?
Jana Brike: The painting title is complete paradox, of course. It is connected to my perception of reality in meditative states. The actual theme is based both, on girl-tribe relationship, and loosely on three graces story. It explores what is beauty to me. Beauty is a feeling. It is not to be merely pretty. It includes bravery, and wisdom, and strength, and imperfections that makes one unique. Beauty is a feeling, and you need a feeling to perceive it. Beauty is a heart shining out, and you need your heart’s eye open to see it.
The ocean is something that overwhelms you. Be it emotions or life in general, it is where you decide if you are dust blown in the wind, or if that hurricane is within you, and your consciousness is bigger than it.
I sort of “translate” the painting, but it is of course very intuitive, the image is born much like a dream, so I can tell just about what it stirred up in me, working on this.
1x: Was this piece part of a recent theme, series or show that you had? If so how did it fit into that given grouping?
Jana Brike: This was the main piece in my “After the End of Time” solo exhibition a couple years ago, with FB69 gallery in Munster, Germany.
1x: What materials were used to create this piece?
Jana Brike: It is oil painting on canvas.
1x: When was this piece created and how long did it take to complete?
Jana Brike: I finished it about two years ago, and it took almost a year to complete, of course, working on other things at the same time. It still is one of the biggest paintings I have ever created in my life. About 8×5 feet or so.
1x: Tell us a bit about your process and how the idea and execution came about for this piece?
Jana Brike: I painted a couple of seascapes before this, and just couldn’t get enough, I had to explore more of this theme, bigger and in more detail. I’ve had these exceptionally vivid dreams of hurricanes, tsunamis and tidal waves for all my life. I materialize and resolve these dreams through my paintings. Water is a strong symbol and has a specific archetypal meaning – it stands for emotion. Strong, mysterious, sometimes deadly, overpowering, uncontrollable. And these seemingly frail beautiful little calm wistful creatures of mine, standing amidst a storm either not really noticing, or as masters and child-gods – it is similar to how I have often felt in my life.
I must add I don’t see the environment as external from my characters. It is a hurricane within their soul-space really. It cannot be deadly until one perceives it as such.
1x: Does this piece differ at all from work you’ve done in the past? If so, what do you feel is unique about this piece?
Jana Brike: It definitely was more ambitious than any of my previous work. More detailed. Also, before this one I rarely if ever painted more than one figure. My characters were always lonely, trapped within their own self-sufficient universe. Starting from this one, relationships between the characters in my work have become more and more important for me.
1x: If you could take a guess, what is it about your work that you feel resonates with people?
Jana Brike: My work is very emotional, very deeply connected to my personal experiences and feelings. Although the details and conditions of everybody’s life is different, the very base that makes us human is the same, and everybody can relate to that. I can just hope to touch on that string through my work.
1x: Describe the piece in one gut reaction word.
Jana Brike: Stillness.
The Day When Time Stood Still by Jana Brike – Click To Purchase
1x: When did you first start making art?
Jana Brike: I think the awareness that this is potentially a piece of art and not a simple scribble came already at a very early childhood. I wrote in my kindergarten finishing papers I am going to be a painter when I grow up. I was 5 at the time.
1x: Do you remember what your first piece was?
Jana Brike: The one I remember was a portrait of my mom with kettles at a stove. I was 3 at the time. I still have it saved somewhere.
1x: Which artists did you draw inspiration from early on?
Jana Brike: I loved to learn from the classical masters of Renaissance. I enjoyed their capture of biblical or Roman mythology scenes, the ideal beautiful people and the leisurely manner in which they made love, committed adultery and murder, or just went on with their daily lives.
1x: Which artists inspire you now?
Jana Brike: Now I am actually more inspired by artists themselves, not separately the final product. The way some artists transcend their emotions and life conditions through their creations, the way they process the dark matter of the soul. I won’t call names though.
1x: What would you say is your ideal environment like when working? Do you listen to music, watch movies etc.
Jana Brike: In the starting stages of the work I like either silence or some unobtrusive instrumental music. During the long hours when I work on countless details, I usually listen to some audio books, lectures on countless subjects, also movies.
1x: If you could collaborate with any living artist who would it be and why?
Jana Brike: “The Tree of Life” by Terrence Malick is one of most beautifully shot movies of all time. It’s cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki is genius. I have a film stuck with me which I’d like to make, and I do have a dream team in my mind.
1x: If you could collaborate with any deceased artists who would it be and why?
Jana Brike: I would want Erik Satie to compose music for my film.
1x: What was the first piece of art that you bought? Do you still have it?
Jana Brike: Some beautiful flee market finds when I couldn’t afford anything else.
1x: What was the last piece of art that you bought?
Jana Brike: The last was some beyond exquisite sacred geometry paintings in Nepal.
1x: Any big shows or events coming up that you’d like to share?
Jana Brike: Yes, there definitely are! But I’d like to reveal them when time draws closer. All I can say, the next 3 years are going to be busy!
1xRUN: Where else can people find you?
Jana Brike: Website – Instagram @janabrike – Facebook
– 1xRUN