Talis Kikauka (1929-2000)
Talis Kikauka was born in Riga, Latvia, in 1929. He immigrated to Canada in 1948 with his parents and siblings and settled in Hamilton, Ontario. Talis earned a B.A. from McMaster University. Upon graduating he established himself as a painter & writer. He was a prolific painter, producing many works in various themes and media. In his later years, he painted almost exclusively in watercolour.
He was editor of Jauna Gaita beginning in 1962, and was an art critic for the Hamilton Spectator & Laiks. Upon moving to Markdale, Ontario in 1979, he wrote a regular column for the Markdale Express called “A View from Here”. He was the recipient of the Latvian Press Society award in 1969. Throughout his career had numerous one man shows, group shows, works in permanent collections. He also had several novels and books of poems published.
He had solo exhibitions at the Latvian House, Hamilton, the Niagara Falls Art Gallery and Museum, The Art Gallery of Hamilton, and the Latvian Center in San Francisco. He participated in group shows at the Art Gallery of Hamilton, the Canadian Society of Painters in Watercolour, Toronto, and the Latvis Society of Artists, Toronto.
Artist Statement
“After years of studying the Impressionists with their loose colour patches, the spatial colour topology of Cézanne, the plein air excursions of the Group of Seven, I have tried to distill my own view of the landscape. Peninsulas, islands, coves, bays with stretches of open water, all have a feeling of horizontality, a mood of repose, when seen from a distance. Over millions of years, rock forms have evolved as a result of wind, wave and rain erosion. These fluid forms are immersed in water: their unending flow has engraved lines in my perception. These are the forms that I use in my paintings.” (from the imprint Talis Kikauka: Horizons, Art Gallery of Hamilton, 1980)
funnyfarm@fuzzylove.de