Sabīne Vernere

Sabīne Vernere is known for her expressive Indian ink paintings depicting anthropomorphic, gender-fluid beings. Opting for a limited, often monochromatic palette of colours, she diffuses her images on an abstracted plane where they float in a constant state of flux. There is a strong presence of beauty, sensuality and emotion in the artist’s works, but also disturbance and violence, a juxtaposition that correlates with the complexities of the dynamics between humans and nature. The most recognisable and most frequently encountered form in Vernere’s work is the vulva, which represents the interplay between feminine power and nature and serves as an allegory for her emotions and experiences. Although she focuses her investigative lens on bodily and sexual experiences, they never become the key topics but serve, instead, as an extension of her working language. Vernere’s works have a very defined plastic quality, which she has recently been exercising off the plane of her previous work by using various new materials and creating installations in space.

Sabīne Vernere (b. 1990, Kuldīga, Latvia) is a Latvian artist living in Riga. She is studying for a professional doctorate at the Art Academy of Latvia and runs the Academy’s experimental art space Pilot. Her formal education includes a Master’s from the Painting Department of the Faculty of Visual Arts at the Art Academy of Latvia and additional studies at the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb and the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp. She has been in the SKETE painting residency at Savvaļa/Savage, Latvia (2022) and JCE residence in Paris, FR (2022).

Recent solo exhibitions include ANGLES MORTS at the Artists’ Union of Latvia Gallery, Riga, Latvia (2023); Sirens, Medusa and the Isle of Lotus-Eaters at Kuldīga Artists’ Residence, Kuldīga, Latvia (2022); O! at the artist-run space TUR_telpa, Riga, Latvia (2021); and (The) New Works at Kim? Contemporary Art Centre, Riga, Latvia (2021). Recent group exhibitions include In the Name of Desire at the Latvian National Museum of Art, Riga, Latvia (2024); Don’t Cry! Feminist Perspectives in Latvian Art: 1965–2023 at the Latvian National Museum of Art, Riga, Latvia (2023); Triquetra at Kogo Gallery, Tartu, Estonia (2023); and Growing Out, Growing Up? Contemporary Art Collecting in The Baltics at Zuzeum, Riga, Latvia (2022).

Her works are a part of the collections of the Latvian National Museum of Art, VV Foundation and the Zuzāns Collection.