Daiga Grantina. So Sun dog harena

Daiga Grantina’s abstract spatial structures hover at and stream from the ceiling, hang from walls, nestle on columns and spread across the floor. They consist of artificial materials like plastic, metal, cloth, silicon and lighting elements but have, nevertheless, an organic feel. In the bulging, vitally shimmering tension of their surface they develop an immense, corporeal attraction in the space, calling to mind the peculiar appearance of deep-sea creatures, extraterrestrial beings or intestines. Others feel like mangled, artificial bodies with their scattered, broken forms. With the diverse combination of materials, or, perhaps, the sheer expansion of the room, an astounding lightness and mobility inhabits the character of all of the sculptures, endowing them with an almost dancerly capacity. Daiga Grantina’s fascination with light plays a role here; her works are often semi-transparent. They shine or reflect sources of light. In this way, a kind of Baroque space emerges: a mythology of artificial materials, whose trompe l’oeil-effect catches the eye and leads it through the space, immersing the entire environment in a rhythm of light, volumes and bodies. Despite the apparent associative possibilities, Daiga Grantina’s vocabulary remains purely abstract. With the motif of corporeality and the close connection between sculpture, space and perception as is inherent to the work of Lynda Benglis, Eva Hesse or Richard Tuttle, she bridges an historical gap to the post-minimalist art of the ‘70s. Daiga Grantina’s approach—transforming synthetic materials into strange, almost-natural entities, which lead a type of independent existence in their often precarious position in the space— is, nevertheless, extremely contemporary. For her exhibition, “So Sun dog harena” at Capri, Daiga Grantina developed an extensive on-site sculpture, which creates a correspondence between the interior walls and the exterior space via the display window. Sculptures, light and space blur into an inseparable unity, which, however, does not let itself be fully grasped. It gives rise to a field of reflections— its own universe, in which the sculpture itself, as a fragile entity, refracts and reflects the light.

Daiga Grantina, born in Riga, Latvian, in 1985, lives and works in Paris. Solo exhibitions were held, amongst others, at Kunstverein Hamburg (2017), Kunsthaus Bregenz (2016), Galerie Joseph Tang, Paris (2014) and at the Neuen Kunstverein Aachen (2012). She has participated in numerous group exhibitions, including FRAC Nord-Pas de Calais (2014), Kunstwerken Berlin (2014) and Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2013).