HENRIJS PREISS (LATVIAN B. 1973)
No.181
2009
acrylic and varnish on board
99 x 123cm
ARR

Provenance:
Rod Barton, London
Acquired from the above by the present owner in 2009

Exhibited:
London, Saatchi Gallery, NewSpeak: British Art Now, 30 May – 17 October 2010
St Petersburg, State Hermitage Museum, Newspeak, 25th October 2009- 17th January 2010
Adelaide, Art Gallery South Australia, Newspeak, 30th July - 23rd October 2011
London, Rod Barton, Innerer Klang (Group Show: Luke Dowd, Andrew Palmer, Tim Phillips, Henrijs Preiss, Berthold Reiß), 26 September - 31 October 2009

Literature:
Patricia Ellis, NewSpeak: British Art Now: From the Saatchi Gallery, Booth-Clibborn Editions, London, 2010, pp.229 (illustrated in colour)

Artist Description:
Henrijs Preiss studied set design in his native Latvia before coming to London to study art. He thinks about his paintings in relation to theatre: his abstract shapes look like blueprints for stage settings where the viewer might imagine actors’ movements or different possible stories. Preiss’s work is influenced by a wide variety of cultural sources, from religious painting to urban architecture and computer game graphics. Preiss uses the imagery and styles of these references to make his abstract patterns. Each of his paintings is based around a central motif that suggests a mystical emblem.