'Audit' by Reinis Lismanis

About

The Gerald Moore Gallery is delighted to present Audit, a solo exhibition by Reinis Lismanis from 12th September to 12th October 2024. The private view will be on Thursday 12th September from 6 to 8pm. We will also host the private view for Monsoon Clouds and Golden Orioles – The essential beauty of India miniature painting by Jacqueline Synnott on the same evening.

Audit continues the artist's investigation into labour and the materiality of image-making, to address notions of quality, success, and failure in both art and daily life. The show's title acknowledges the etymology of the word audit which originates from the Latin ‘auditus’ meaning ‘a hearing’. In contemporary usage an audit suggests a systematic examination or review. For Lismanis such a ‘taking stock’ became necessary when he moved studios, forcing him to re-evaluate the materials and the processes that underpin his creative practice.

Lismanis broadened his repertoire of creative techniques to combine inkjet ink, spray paint, printed imagery and repurposed advertising banners to create new works on canvas. This approach reflects his interest in giving new contexts to discarded materials and exploring the ephemeral nature of commercial image-making. A crucial aspect of this new body of work is the artist's experimental approach to printing on canvas. Using an old inkjet printer, Lismanis folds and forces large canvases through the device, embracing the unique and unpredictable outcomes. Such methods highlight his fascination with the intersections of intentionality and chance in artmaking, while also serving as a metaphor for navigating constraints in both artistic and quotidian contexts.

Lismanis’s often uses imagery that relates to quality control in the manufacturing process, which in turn alludes to broader notions of success and failure. By reproducing elements such as colour calibration patches and alignment marks from items such as milk cartons and biscuit boxes the artist transports their hidden graphic details into an aesthetic realm. An approach that encourages us to see relationships between the mundane and the artistic and prompts a reconsideration of our perceptions of value.

Interspersed among these abstract forms are recognisable images: a concerned figure from an IKEA manual, serving as a humorous yet poignant reminder of the anxieties and struggles present in everyday life. These elements, combined with blocks of colour, form a visual language that is both familiar and disorienting, mirroring a complex interplay between routine and uncertainty. The introduction of these identifiable elements marks a shift in Lismanis' practice, incorporating more personal aspects of everyday life into his work.

Through Audit, Lismanis continues to challenge conventional narratives surrounding artistic production and value. By embracing imperfection, chance, and the aesthetics of the ordinary, he invites a reassessment of our perception of success, failure, and the beauty of the incidental and commonplace.

The exhibition is open to the public on Saturdays from 10am to 4pm and by appointment.

Reinis Lismanis (1992) is a Latvian artist based in London, UK. He has held solo exhibitions at Exhibition Hall Arsenāls, Latvian National Museum of Art and LOOK! (Riga), Brockley Gardens and no format (London) and Brighton CCA: Dorset Place (Brighton). His works have been included in group presentations at Zuzeum Art Centre (Riga), KAI Art Center (Tallinn), Benaki Museum (Athens), National Library of Latvia (Riga), Riga Photomonth and Riga Photography Biennial, Fotopub Festival (Novo Mesto), Galleria SP3 (Treviso) and FUGA (Budapest). Lismanis has published two monographs – Trial and Error (Skinnerboox, 2019) and T6031_T6061_T8001 (NoRoutine Books, 2019). Lismanis studied at the University of Brighton and Birkbeck, University of London. He currently teaches photography at the Camberwell College of Art.

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The Gerald Moore Gallery is a young centre for modern and contemporary art with learning at its heart. Opened in April 2012, in Mottingham, the gallery is uniquely set within the grounds of Eltham College and is a valuable resource for the students and the local community. The gallery has gained momentum hosting some exciting exhibitions including works by Matisse, Louise Bourgeois, and Cornelia Parker, whilst supporting emerging local artists. In unison with the exhibitions, the gallery's outreach programme works with local community groups, teachers, and schools, creating lasting relationships with our locality. Gerald Moore Gallery was made possible with the foresight and generosity of Old Elthamian, Dr Gerald Moore, many of whose works are archived at the gallery and who has a permanent exhibition on display.