Valdis Villerušs

Valdis Villerušs is a graphic artist, teacher and book artist, as well as a historian of Latvian book art and graphics.  Since 1990, he has also been creating assemblages based on ready made objects, which are arranged in aesthetic, witty mise en scenes in which the refined and the humorous, the serious and the light-hearted coexist.

As the artist himself acknowledges, the assemblage is an absurd amalgamation of various objects. In this case, these are things which he encounters every day and which have come into his possession in one way or another. These are frequently old or very old items, including old-fashioned saws, writing quills, nails, and worn-out tools and their parts. And since Villerušs has always been fascinated by books, these also appear in his assemblages in various forms and relationships.

For Villerušs, composition, counterpoints, rhythmic contrasts, and arrangements of geometric fields are more important than content. He does not create his assemblages for the sake of originality. Usually, the artist’s imagination is stimulated by some detail, object or suddenly spotted peculiar relationship, which prompts him to explore further and deeper. Therefore, each arrangement of things has a certain meaning for him.

Assemblage “In memoriam 2”. 2013.

Assemblage “Kaligrāfisks vingrinājums”. 2014–2017.