Agris Liepiņš

Attended the Zenta Ozola Riga 5th Secondary School, and finished from the J. Rozentāls Riga Secondary School of Art and the Graphic Art Department of the Latvian Academy of Art under the tuition of Pēteris Upītis. A. Liepiņš is a caricaturist and researcher of the ancient history of Latvia. Many of his works have appeared in the press from 1982 onwards. He has created caricatures for the magazine Dadzis and illustrations for magazines such as Liesma, Zīlīte and Skola un Ģimene. He has been art editor for the newspaper Lauku Avīze and the magazine Dadzis. Liepiņš has created a large number of comics, which have also been published in book form. In the 1990s he turned to political caricature, and has provided apt visual comments on current events for the newspaper Dienas bizness.

He has created many book covers and illustrations. He has illustrated ten books in the Lata romāns series published by Latvijas Avīze, the latest of which is the ladies” detective “The Chinchilla” by M. Grietēna (Šinšilla. R.: Lauku Avīze, 2010). Agris Liepiņš has built the castle of Uldevens, ruler of Lielvārde – an ancient Latvian castle such as existed on almost every large hill-fort in Latvia 800 years ago. He has created a book entitled “Ancient Latvia” (Senā Latvija. R.: Zvaigzne ABC, 2009), in which he uses drawings, photographs and texts to tell about life in the 9th–12th century: settlements, dress, traditions of adorning horses, and occupations such as trade, smithing and pottery-making. He has illustrated the book “The Couronian Vikings” (Kuršu vikingi. V. Rūmnieks, A. Migla. R.: Zvaigzne ABC, 2009). The book has been nominated for the 2010 Jānis Baltvilks Prize.

Wishing to retain his original concept and the role of his illustrations as precisely as possible within the content of a book, Liepiņš has himself written and also illustrated a historical novel, based on a legend about the Estonian beauty Elmīna and Rameķis, the son of Tālivaldis, ruler of Beverīna (Elmīna. R.: Lauku Avīze, 2010).

It’s an opportunity to lower your eye-level to a height of less than a metre, revealing that from this vantage point the world is strangely wonderful. (Agris Liepiņš)