Biography
Lauris Mīlbrets (b. 1979) is a Latvian visual artist with a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Visual Arts from the Latvian Academy of Art. Since 2002, he has exhibited internationally, and his works are held in public and private collections in Latvia, the United States, Canada, Norway, Denmark, and Germany.
In 2025, Lauris received a grant from the Adolf and Esther Gottlieb Foundation (New York, USA), a landmark recognition in his career that established his position in the international contemporary art scene and opened new opportunities for creative exploration. Previously, Lauris also received the Unibanka “Professor Indulis Zariņš” Award (2003), which, at the beginning of his career, was the highest recognition for emerging artists in Latvia.
Lauris’s artistic practice has evolved from realism to a distinctive form of segmented abstraction, in which each section of a canvas or wooden panel is painted individually with different colors, textures, or patterns. Working primarily in acrylics, he creates dynamic compositions, giving his paintings a design-oriented character.
His international experience includes living and working in Canada and the United States, where he painted, drawing inspiration from the industrial heritage of Hamilton and Toronto, as well as New York’s multicultural art scene. Among the most significant moments in his artistic career are his participation in the Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition (2014) and an artist residency at the Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris (2017), both essential for his artistic development.
He continues to actively expand his artistic practice, producing new painting series and engaging in local and international projects.
