This year’s 13th International Painting Symposium 'Mark Rothko 2017' taking place in Daugavpils, Latvia, was attended by 10 artists from 10 different countries of the world. From 98 artists’ applications, this year’s participants of the symposium were chosen by a competent international jury.
This unique structured residency at the Mark Rothko Art Centre lets artists participate in a transcultural environment to critically engage with ideas central to the Abstract Expressionist visual arts practice. The symposium provides a space to explore and debate the role and purposes of contemporary art. Participants of the exhibition: Edda Jachens (Germany), Graham Fletcher (New Zealand), Anthony White (Australia / France), Katarina Balunova (Slovakia), Evrim Özeskici (Turkey), Bernier Carol (Canada), Teona Chanishvili (Georgia), Erling Stuart Rohde (Norway), Ramūnas Čeponis (Lithuania), Madara Neikena (Latvia).

Anthony White's work considers collision points, shifts and ruptures at the site of geopolitical and cultural boundaries, particularly in relation to global immigration crises; echoing Edward Said's identification of 'the inextricable links' between Modernism, war and immigration. White's works are often characterized by an awareness of surface and a preoccupation with physicality and the found object.
A dominant area of research in his work has been concerned with the phenomenon of Empires: How do empires construct narratives to promote and propagate ideology?

Edda Jachens - Graham Fletcher - Anthony White - Katarina Balunova - Evrim Özeskici - Bernier Carol - Teona Chanishvili - Erling Stuart Rohde - Ramūnas Čeponis - Madara Neikena -