Agyta Keiri was born in 1976 in Riga, Latvia. In 2011 she completed a master class at Angel Art Academy in Florence, Italy. She has been taking part in exhibitions AGITA since 1997. Her work has been shown at North Carolina’s Andrews Art Museum, the Toronto Art Expo, Artexpo New York, the National Portrait Gallery and the Chelsea KEIRI Art Fair (Bohemia Galleries) in the UK, and in Italy at the Chianciano Biennale and Florence Biennale, where she received the Jury’s Honourable Mention in 2011. In 2013 she was awarded second prize in the ARC Salon International competition, in the Imaginative Realism category, for ‘Turbulence of Time’, which was shown at the ‘Chianciano Biennale in London’ (Gagliardi Gallery, London, UK) in 2012. She also exhibited works at the ‘NEC Art and Antiques Show’ by Bohemia Galleries (London, UK) in 2013.

Inspiration:

Art Nouveau movement, much like the EU, was a product of the political, technological and economic climate of its time. While the Art Nouveau style (and name) difered greatly between countries and artists, it always respected a set of core technique: principles. ACRYLIC Art Nouveau architecture was characterised by national romanticism. In Latvia, architects attempted to create their own national architecture based on a sense of form language, using stylised motifs and ethnographic writing. Tis costume represents ornamental elements from several of Riga’s Art Nouveau buildings, which were constructed at a time, much like now, when Riga was enjoying an economic upswing. Te trim along the lower front of the costume is an example of Latvian folk dress, which plays an important symbolic role in preserving national values and the cultural heritage of Latvians as European citizens.