Rolands Kaņeps (1925, Riga – 2011, New York) is not only an outstanding painter, but also a sophisticated connoisseur and collector of antiquities. Kaņeps' artistic career is extraordinary. Although he began his education in the tradition of the Art Academy of Latvia, he did not receive a higher education in art and developed his individual handwriting by learning from the old masters.
The Second World War radically changed Rolands Kaņeps' life, and in 1949 he ended up in New York. Living in this epicentre of art, Kaņeps nevertheless remains rather indifferent to the artistic movements of the second half of the 20th century. His paintings also did not really fit into the Latvian art scene in exile and did not correspond to the notions of Latvian identity cultivated there.
Rolands Kaņeps was fascinated by the Renaissance art, especially its symbolic complexity, and the elegance of Mannerist style. One of the questions raised in Kaņeps' art is the senseless suffering that man inflicts on man.