Daiga Grantina

Daiga Grantiņa (b. 1985, Riga) is one of the most internationally recognised artists of Latvian origin. She is based primarily in Paris. Grantiņa studied at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna and the Academy of Fine Arts Hamburg.

In her work, Grantiņa employs both synthetic and organic, everyday materials, revealing their physical and immaterial qualities while often overturning and exceeding the boundaries of their conventional use. Through the creation of sensuous abstract forms, the artist places emphasis on the artistic process itself, where improvisation with colour, texture, rhythm, space, and light becomes an ongoing play with chance, leading to unpredictable outcomes and emotional intensities. Grantiņa approaches materiality expansively, incorporating light as an equal sculptural material within her objects and spatial installations — a medium that both defines the limits of form and can become form in its own right. In the work Untitled, the formal properties of materials and their junctions play a central role. The irrational symbiosis and layering of matter transforms into a gesture — an act of free creation or a language that allows fabric, wood, or plastic to forget their utilitarian predestination and rise to the level of intangible music.

Recent solo exhibitions include presentations at Emalin, London (United Kingdom); MASSIMODECARLO Pièce Unique, Paris (France); Kunstmuseum Appenzell (Switzerland); Z33, Hasselt (Belgium); Foksal Gallery Foundation, Warsaw (Poland); Art Museum Riga Bourse, Riga (Latvia); Palace Enterprise, Copenhagen (Denmark); Liebaert Projects, Kortrijk (Belgium); GAMeC, Bergamo (Italy); and New Museum, New York (USA).

Her work has also been included in group exhibitions at the Latvian National Museum of Art, Riga; the 11th Edition of the Sequences Biennial, Reykjavík (Iceland); Sainsbury Centre, Norwich (United Kingdom); Kunstverein Göttingen, Göttingen (Germany); Frac Grand Large, Dunkirk (France); X Museum, Beijing (China); the National Gallery, Prague (Czech Republic); Galerie Les Filles du Calvaire, Paris (France); Loggia, Vienna (Austria); Kunstmuseum Bern, Bern (Switzerland); the Busan Biennale (South Korea); Infected Landscapes, Brandenburg (Germany); David Zwirner Online, Paris (France); and La Casa Encendida, Madrid (Spain). Daiga Grantiņa has represented Latvia at the Venice Biennale.

Reviews and publications on her work have appeared in Les Inrockuptibles, Kaleidoscope, Artforum, Artagenda.com, Frieze International, among others.