Rožlapa Dailis

Painter, set designer

Dailis Rozlapa has worked in theatre, cinema and painting. In his paintings the artist mainly focused on working in the landscape genre – at the beginning in watercolor and oil paint technique, later gouache and tempera, but since 1970’s in mixed technique using thick cardboard or plywood as a base and seeking for expressiveness of the mood and texture.

Dailis Rozlapa has been one of the most active founders of new forms in Latvian set design in the 1960’s. By using photos, posters, drawings, cinematic projections, sliding platforms, mobile stands and other constructive elements, Rozlapa managed to operate with them easily and smoothly, at the same time achieving a dynamic image of the scene, although some of his works were laconically harsh and monumental (the play of J. Rainis “Indulis and Arija”, 1965, The Youth Theatre). Mostly Rozlapa’s set designs were playful and humorous.

Dailis Rozlapa has graduated Janis Rozentals Art School of Riga (1954) and the Department of History and Theory at the Art Academy of Latvia with a diploma work “The Development of set design in Latvian Drama Theatres in Riga until 1940” (1968, supervised by Rasma Lace).

Exhibited since 1958, member of the Artists’ Union since 1970. Worked as a make-up artist in the Riga Motion Pictures Studio (1954–1957), scene painter and staging artist in Liepaja Theatre and the Youth Theatre and staging artist in the Riga Motion Pictures Studio (1971–1989).

Source:
Māksla un arhitektūra biogrāfijās, II. Riga: “Latvijas enciklopēdija”, 1996, p.235