LATVIA ; on June 21, 2023 at At 16.00, the opening ceremony of the book “Pastels and Haiks” by the architect and artist Daiņš Bērziņš will be held in the “Rīga Jugendstila centrs” museum.
In the book “Pastels and haikas” you can see 100 pastels depicting Latvian landscape, sky, waters, forests and meadows in the changing seasons. Each drawing is accompanied by a short, non-rhyming three-line, or Japanese haiku. The book concludes with the afterword of Ojārs Spārīš, professor of the Latvian Academy of Arts.
Dainis Bērziņš paints landscapes in pastel technique in parallel to his basic work in architecture. Rarely, but also paints still lifes, portraits and acts. Art scholars place pastels between drawing and painting, but Daiņas Bērziņas’s pastels, with nuanced color areas and the presence of small graphic lines, can be placed closer to the genre of painting. “We work with abstract architectural forms on a daily basis. At that time, when you don’t have to work with architecture, real feelings seem so attractive – to get a moment and not let it go”, the artist once said.
The author dedicated the book “Pastels and Haiks” to the memory of his wife, architect Benita Bēržina.
Dainis Bērziņš is an architect, assistant professor of the Faculty of Architecture of Riga Technical University, co-owner of “Vecumnieks&Bērziņi” Architects’ Office, co-author of many important projects (hotel “Hotel de Rome”, “Konventa sēta”, “Swedbank” building on Kaļķu street in Riga, Brothers’ cemetery in Lestenė). As an artist, Dainis Bērziņš is a member of the Liepāja artists’ society “Art Colleagues”, participated in 36 group exhibitions in Latvia, Lithuania, Germany and held 13 personal exhibitions, including an exhibition in the genre of still life in the museum “Rīga Jugendstila centrs”.
