Uldis Zemzaris

Born 1928.

Uldis Zemzaris was born in Melluzi, Latvia, a summer holiday hotspot and popular fishing village, which undoubtedly left a definite mark on the artist’s work. Zemzaris’ paintings demonstrate a preoccupation with the subject of fishermen-- their life, work and love for the sea. In 1955, Zemzaris graduated from the Latvian State Academy of Art in Riga. During the early years of his career as a painter, he studied the Belgian art collection in the Museum of Fine Arts in Riga, as well as the French Impressionists and Post Impressionists at the Pushkin Museum in Moscow. In his long career, Uldis has illustrated books, painted murals for public buildings and worked as a stage designer in Riga’s Dallies Theatre for two consecutive years; all of this while drawing people and painting landscapes. In the 1970s, inspired by the patriarch of the 1960’s Moscow underground community Ullo Sooster, Uldis produced an exceptional series of surrealist paintings. In the recent years, he has been focusing on landscape painting, which has become his true pride and accomplishment. Uldis has participated in international shows that have included his 1982 solo exhibition at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Sydney.