Born in 1980, Krisjanis received a BFA from the University of Manitoba and an MFA from Columbia University. Krisjanis was also an instructor at the University of Manitoba from 2011-2015.
Recent solo exhibitions include: L’homlette, Winnipeg New Music Festival/Plug In ICA, Winnipeg, Fruit on Black, Actual, Winnipeg, Mangle & Plexus, at Katharine Mulherin, Toronto, Nervous Lattice, at Battat Contemporary, Montreal, Krisjanis Kaktns-Gorsline: Recent Paintings and Drawings, at Mullherin Pollard, New York, and Krisjanis Kaktins-Grosline, at Heather James, Palm Springs, California.
Krisjanis’ work has been featured in recent group exhibitions including: Abstract Objectives, Winnipeg Art Gallery, Re-Configuring Abstraction, School of Art Gallery, University of Manitoba, Indivisible at the Foreman Art Gallery in Quebec, Here We Aren’t So Quickly At Thierry Goldberg in New York, The Pheonix Art: The Renewed Art of Contemporary Painting, curated by Robert Enright at Simon Blaise in Montreal, and The Open, at Deitch Studios in New York.
Krisjanis was a semi-finalist in the 2011 RBC Canadian Painting Competition. In 2011 he was also the recipient of the Canada Council for the Arts, Research and Creation Grant.
For over a decade Krisjanis Kaktins-Gorsline has used the medium of painting to explore the influence of media and technology on contemporary subjectivity. For the artist, painting and subjectivity are often seen as synonymous, forming a creative milieu where experimentation with the medium of painting becomes experimentation with identity and experience. Kaktins-Gorsline’s work is distinct in the way that it folds diverse styles, tropes and processes into itself, along with representations of the artists’ body and experiences. These elements coalesce to form a practice in which identity is often located and dislocated in the same moment.
October 27 - November 8 - 2020
We are proud to exhibit at the 21st Annual Art Toronto, which will be both online and in-person at a Pop-Up in Toronto.
MoreOctober 28 - November 7 - 2020
Over the summer Krisjanis painted a suite of gritty plein-air landscape-based paintings deep in the Manitoba woods.
MoreBORN
1980 Winnipeg, MB
COLLECTIONS
RBC Collection, Toronto
TD Bank Collection, Toronto
Canada Council Art Bank, Ottawa
Dallas Price & Bob van Breda, Los Angeles
Steve Shane, New York
Nick Cave, Chicago
Eric Shiner, Pittsburgh
Fisher Landau Center for Art, Emily Fisher Landau, New York
Winnipeg Art Gallery, Winnipeg
Gallery One One One, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg
Art Gallery of South Western Manitoba, Brandon
EDUCATION
Masters of Fine Arts, Columbia University, 2008
Bachelor of Fine Arts Honours, Double Major: Painting/Video, University of Manitoba, 2006
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2020 In Place: Reflections From Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB
2019 Collage Party 4, Creative Growth, Oakland, CA
2015 Abstract Objectives: Painting and Sculpture, 1950 – Present, Winnipeg Art Gallery
2014 A Birdhouse as Minimalism, Library Gallery, Winnipeg, MB
2014 Actual Artists, Actual, Winnipeg, MB
2013 Looking Up: Contemporary Connections with Inuit Art, Winnipeg Art Gallery, Winnipeg, MB
2012 Re-Configuring Abstraction, University of Manitoba, School of Art Gallery, Winnipeg,MB
2012 Indivisible, Foreman Art Gallery of Bishop’s University, Sherbrook, Quebec
2011 RBC Canadian Painting Competition, Art Gallery of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta; Art Gallery of Hamilton, Ontario; Power Plant, Toronto, Ontario
2011 My Winnipeg, organized by Plug In ICA, La Maison Rouge, Paris; MIAM (Musée International des Arts Modestes), Sète, France
2010 Thick as Theives, RAW Gallery, Winnipeg, Canada
2010 Here We Aren’t, So Quickly, Thierry Goldberg Projects, New York, USA
2009 The Open, Deitch Studios, New York, USA
2009 The Phoenix Art: The Renewed Life of Contemporary Paniting, Galerie Simon Blais, Montreal, Canada
2009 Unbelievable and Marvelous, Baie-Saint-Paul, Quebec
2009 Bordercrossings Study Centre, Gallery One One One, Winnipeg, Canada
2008 The New Akademiks, Galarie Schuster, Berlin, Germany
2008 New York School, Rohrer Fine Arts, Laguna Beach, California, USA
2008 Subconscious City, Winnipeg Art Gallery, Winnipeg, Manitoba
2006 Art vs Real Life, Morgan Lehman Gallery, New York, NY, USA
2005 Another Other, Cooper Gallery, University of Dundee, Scotland
2005 Youth Group, Fifth Parallel Gallery, Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada
2005 The Retirement Show, Outworks Gallery, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
2005 Just Filling Space, Outworks Gallery, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2016 L’hommelette, Winnipeg New Music Festival/ Plug In ICA, Winnipeg, MB
2015 I Followed You Home, Lincoln Towers, Winnipeg, MB
2014 Fruit on Black, Actual, Winnipeg, MB
2013 Mangle & Plexus, Katharine Mulherin Contemporary Art Projects, Toronto
2012 Nervous Lattice, Battat Contemporary, Montreal, Quebec
2011 Krisjanis Kaktins-Gorsline: Recent Paintings and Drawings, Mulherin Pollard, New York
2009 Watkins Corporeal, Katharine Mulherin Contemporary Art Projects, Toronto, Ontario
2009 Krisjanis Kaktins-Gorsline, Heather James Fine Art, Palm Springs, California
2008 Brandon Oh!, Art Gallery of Southwestern Manitoba, Brandon, Manitoba
2007 A Warmer Lot, Katharine Mulherin Contemporary Art Projects, Toronto, Ontario
2006 Myoclonic Jerks, Katharine Mulherin Contemporary Art Projects, Toronto, Ontario
AWARDS
2011: Canada Council For the Arts, Research/Creation grant
Manitoba Arts Council, Creation Production A grant
Winnipeg Arts Council, Creation A grant
Semi-Finalist, RBC Canadian painting competition
RESIDENCIES
Creative Growth: Collage Party 4, Creative Growth, Oakland, CA, 2019
Baie-Saint-Paul International Symposium of Contemporary Art: Unbelievable and Marvelous, Baie-Saint-Paul, Quebec, 2009
WRITING
The Whittard Heineken, Krisjanis Kaktins-Gorsline, Monotext, vol.1, no. 1, 2018
Kai Althoff, Krisjanis Kaktins-Gorsline & Janique Preget Vigier, Border Crossings, vol.36, no.2, 2017
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Animal Shelter, 5, Los Angeles: Semiotext(e), 2018
Stocki, E, Interview, Uncompromising Tang, Oct 2014, http://artoftang.com/elaine-stocki-on-krisjanis-kaktins-gorsline/
Thacker, S, “Winnipeg artist chosen as semi-finalist in national RBC art competition”, CBC Manitoba Scene, http://www.cbc.ca/manitoba/scene/other/2011/08/21/winnipeg-artist-chosen-as-finalist-in-national-rbc-art-competition/
Light, W, “Krisjanis Kaktins-Gorsline Speaks!”, View on Canadian Art, March 4th, 2011, http://viewoncanadianart.com/2011/03/04/krisjanis-kaktins-gorsline-speaks/
Addleman, K, “Art Studies”, Elle Canada, issue 120, June 2011
Enright, R., “Making Connections, Taking Connections Apart”, Border Crossings, issue 111, 2009
Gorin, A, “Deitch Projects Showcases Emerging Artists in Long Island City”, The Huffington Post, September 13, 2009, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/andrew-gorin/deitch-projects-showcases_b_285142.html
Carte Blanche, V.2: Painting, Magenta Foundation, 2008
Subconscious City, (catalogue), Winnipeg Art Gallery, 2008
Laliberte, M., Carousel Magazine, B-2006
Enright, R., “Border Views” and “Artist Pages”, Border Crossings, issue 98
RELATED PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
Copy Editor, Sylvere Lotringer, Semiotext(e), 2017
Sessional Instructor, University of Manitoba, 2012-2016
Board Member, Platform Center for photographic and digital arts, 2012-2013
Visiting Instructor, University of Manitoba, Fall/Winter Session, 2009/2010
Teaching Assistant, Columbia University, Introduction to Painting, Instructor: Paula Wilson, New York, 2008
Teaching Assistant, Columbia University, Introduction to Drawing, Instructor: Danny Bagley, New York, 2007
Gallery Assistant, LeRoy Neiman Gallery, Columbia University, 2006/2007
Founding Member, The UpperTradingPost.com, 2005
Gallery Assistant, Cream Gallery, Winnipeg, Manitoba. 2005
Gallery Coordinator, GOSA Gallery, University of Manitoba. 2005/2006