Glebs Pantelejevs

Glebs Pantelejevs (1965)

Glebs Pantelejevs is one of the most exquisite and versatile Latvian sculptors, who works in all traditional fields of sculpture - he creates free-standing statues, environmental objects and monumental works. Gleb Pantelejevs' sculptures have a perfect plastic form - clear, concise, minimalistic. It can be photorealistic, abstract, static or kinetic. The artistic form is enriched by the choice of various sculptural materials, that Glebs Pantelejevs often brings together creating witty and contrasting combinations. His works are made of bronze, aluminum, iron, granite, marble, wood, glass and synthetic materials. The content of these artworks is just as diverse, including philosophy, wit, social criticism, cultural history and politics. (Ilze Zeivate)

Glebs Pantelejevs has shown himself as a strong representative of 21st century intellectual post-modernism. Not only is his “God given” perfection of material and form admirable, but also his willingness to risk by creating extremely multi-layered characters, ironically playing with significant historical symbols, and overstepping traditional boundaries of sculptural taboos. This is a balancing act worthy of an acrobat: Pantelejevs plays and links supposedly incompatible materials with the same seriousness as he turns our views about the ideals of society and cultural and historical canon upside down; he takes the liberty to glorify clichés and bring elements of kitsch into the “temple of art”. In the end, this is a search for balance with the artist’s own ego. (Inese Baranovska)

Glebs Pantelejevs (1965) lives and works in Riga. He graduated from the Department of Sculpture at the Art Academy of Latvia in 1991 and is currently an associate professor in sculpture at the Art Academy of Latvia. He has participated in exhibitions since 1991, including sixteen solo exhibitions in Latvia, Russian, and Norway. Glebs Pantelejevs also created set designs for the project Black Over Red (2001) co-produced by Theatre Cryptic in Glasgow (Scotland) and the Latvian Radio Choir as well as Andris Dzenitis’ chamber opera The Book of Your Silence (2005). He has participated in and won many environmental art competitions. His most significant public projects include the memorial to Krisjanis Valdemars in Riga (1997), the Pictograms of Zemgale (2001) groups sculptures by the Lielupe River bridge in Jelgava, Black Threshold (2003) by the former KGB building on Stabu iela in Riga, the monument to Colonel Oskars Kalpaks in Riga (2006), the Bridge and Eternity (2007) memorial in Jurmala, and Thumbtack (2012) at the Katzow Sculpture Park in Germany.