Biography

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.

Selected Works

Exhibitions

Pop-Up

October 27 - November 8 - 2020

Art Toronto Pop-Up @ SBG

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.

More
Krisjanis Kaktins-Gorsline

October 28 - November 7 - 2020

Krisjanis Kaktins-Gorsline – Art Toronto Pop-Up @ SBG

Over the summer Krisjanis painted a suite of gritty plein-air landscape-based paintings deep in the Manitoba woods.

More

Curriculum Vitae

BORN

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

 

 

Videos

Krisjanis Kaktins-Gorsline

Krisjanis Kaktins-Gorsline moved to deep in the Manitoba woods this summer and planned on painting a suite of plein-air landscape paintings. What he encountered were bugs, rain and a psychological challenge that he did not anticipate. The paintings that we have for Art Toronto are gritty, yet beautiful.