Ivars Poikāns (b. 1952) belongs to those enfants terribles of Latvian art who every now and then emerge in almost every generation of artists. The book includes the essay by art historian Inga Bunkše about “Poikāns’ phenomenon” in Latvian art along with the artist’s narrative about the impulses that give him inspiration for creation, as well as a selection of his works.
“Just like a plot of a novel is driven by conflicts, the development of society cannot happen without complications, disagreement and collisions. With his intuition and extensive knowledge, Poikāns can readily identify weak spots in human behaviour, in society and in the system, which he re-creates in his work. He is one of the rare Latvian artists whose works relate to what is going on in the real space and time, thus deliberately provoking the public. At the same time Poikāns reminds, that life is too serious to be lived without irony. His irony has a therapeutic function, it blows up the surrounding system. The answers to how the popular artist, whose work always provoke contradicting opinions, does it are provided in the book,” says Inga Bunkše.
"I have a tendency to always oppose everything. I call it IRM – the individual resistance movement." (Ivars Poikāns) In Latvian it is IPK which can also be translated as Ivars Poikāns’ movement.