AMY. KATE. GAGA.

AMY. KATE. GAGA.

In his year 2011 exhibition that took place in Riga Gallery, Ritums Ivanovs continued to study individual qualities of showbiz stars and media-created characters, by selecting such different personalities as Amy Winehouse, Kate Moss and Lady Gaga.

The phenomenon of "stars" has recently been offering a wider interest. Nicole Graef's 2011 documentary "Kate! Creating an Icon" (first view in March 2011 in French TV channel Arte) shows some of the most intense and important artists of the world interviewed on the topic: artists that have painted and photographed Kate Moss, hence uplifting the image of Moss as an Icon – Chuck Close, Lucian Freud, Banksy, Wolfgang Tillmans, Peter Lindbergh. The film also features portraits of Moss painted by Ivanovs. The German film director Nicola Graef hand-picked Ritums Ivanovs portrait of Kate Moss in artist's solo exhibition at Eva Poll Gallery, Berlin.

In the 2010 power shortlist, TIME magazine chose to have Lady Gaga next to Bill Clinton. Politicians, actors, athletes are the subjects of never ending curiosity, fetish and they also do make for a most hated subject. In this series, Ritums Ivanovs exposes the characters and moods of these public icons.