Jana Brike
Jana Brike was born in Riga, Latvia, Northern Europe, in 1980.
She has been working professionally for over 10 years. Her talent was noticed at a very young age and as a 10 year old she began attending a J. Rozental Riga Art secondary school through age 17, with more than 6 hours of painting every single day. This was followed by an undergraduate degree in painting at the Art Academy of Latvia, where she studied under many masters, and finally a masters’ degree in monumental figurative painting from the Art Academy of Latvia. Through all of Jana's studies she painted throughout the day and still could not wait to continue painting when she arrived home.
In recent years Jana experimented much with new ways and means and incorporated computer as a new tool together with oil and other paints, creating mixed media paintings on different surfaces, as well as made mixed media sculptures, installations, also standing to traditional drawing and oil painting, to find her own way of expression.
Jana has been shown in over 50 exclusive galleries, art fairs and museums around the world including exhibitions in many cities of UK, Latvia, Italy, Belgium, Switzerland, Germany, Finland, Belorussia, Russia, US (New York and San Diego). Her work is represented in many private collections in the previously mentioned countries as well as in Spain, Norway, Australia and others.
Jana works in her studio located in Riga, Latvia.
Riga, the capital of Latvia,
was officially founded in 1201. Riga is divided into six administrative districts: Centra, Kurzeme, Ziemeļu, Latgale, Vidzeme and Zemgale districts.
Riga is located along the Baltic Sea at the southern coast of the Gulf of Riga, on the Rigava coastal plain. The historical core of Riga is situated on the right bank of the Daugava River, about 10 kilometers from where the Daugava flows into the Gulf of Riga. The natural terrain of this area is a flat and sandy plain, about 1 to 10 meters above the sea level.
Here is some info about my process
At first I create digital images, which are far from the actual picture – just colors, composition and a couple of details – for these 3 the surroundings-flowers, to give kind of a synthetic, beautiful settings for the lively soul, and some little bits of human parts too, for the twins painting. Afterwards, when the image is printed out, I draw the faces and paint in the given settings, using different media – color pencils, spray paints, tempera, then use a fixative and finish with oils - paint/varnish/paint/varnish and so forth, on top of them, paint out details, add details, etc. dependent on particular piece. All the process takes from month to several months, taking into account that they have to dry between layers.
