The House of the Black Heads at Night

1991–2008, oil, mixed technique on canvas, 130x130 cm (with frame 141x141x4,5 cm) /// Painter Kārlis Siliņš’ (1958) works stand out for their expressive and materially rich style. The artist’s painting “The House of the Black Heads at Night” is unique for its visual intensity and for the story of its creation: it was begun in 1991 but completed only in 2008, with the compositional concept refined over more than fifteen years. The central motif is Riga’s House of the Black Heads – one of the city’s symbols of history and architecture. Siliņš interprets it in an expressive, monumental manner, shaping the silhouette into a dynamic, organically pulsating structure that vibrates in red and dark tones. The nails and sawdust used in the work give expressive relief to the canvas’s surface, creating the impression that the building’s structure is materialising. /// The artist’s signature is located in the lower right corner of the painting.