Māris Upenieks

Māris Upenieks was born on 14 August 1982 in Madona.

He can draw inspiration from the most ordinary things – objects we pass by every day, so familiar they barely register. And yet, he chooses precisely such things, elevating them through contrast, clever placement, unexpected textures or hues, and sometimes – though not always – a fragment of text. With cleverness, wit, a playful touch of irony, or at times with utter seriousness, something unexpected is struck from the ordinary, sharpening attention and leaving a lasting effect. STOP! Even a passer-by can't help but pause – for what meets the eye is no longer just what it seems, but perhaps something entirely different, elusive, not fully revealed at first glance. A shifted perspective? An unexpected angle? Another dimension? A different meaning? Whatever it is, the everyday object or place is no longer what it was – it becomes a visual metaphor, rich in significance. Authentic, yet expanded in meaning, its message shifts and deepens, especially when the viewer brings their own imagination into play. In fact, without that, it cannot fully unfold – for now there is subtext, a hidden depth, sometimes more than one, waiting to be discovered. "Advertising is a trick, a made-up world," he admits. But he's quick to add the weight of responsibility to both image and text. "You have to feel it all, with every sense."

Māris Upenieks is a multi-talented, perceptive, and endlessly inventive artist. Every new task is a challenge he embraces. He researches, reflects, compares, and then infuses his findings with vivid imagination before diving in. Like most, his artistic journey began with weekly drawing classes at school. He graduated from Jānis Eglītis Preiļi State Gymnasium in 2001. A first-place win in a school competition for corporate advertising set him on his path. He continued his studies at the Riga Secondary School of Crafts, where he completed a programme in advertising design in 2004. To craft visual imagery for brands, ads, posters, and now even coins and whatever else the future may bring, Māris Upenieks has mastered much through self-teaching. Yet, he never lets himself drift into the worn grooves of established styles, techniques, assumptions, or conventions. What he doesn't yet know, he actively seeks, often arriving at startlingly original solutions no one else could conjure. These are original solutions, singular images, each one imbued with a kind of spellbound depth and a fresh, vibrant force of expression.

"An independent creative director who collaborates with some of Latvia's leading advertising and communications agencies, assembling a tailored team of professionals for each new project," he writes of himself. Over the years, Māris Upenieks has gathered a wide array of customers: the Road Traffic Safety Directorate (CSDD), the State Chancellery, the Latvian Radio, IR magazine, Latvijas Valsts Meži, the Stockholm School of Economics in Riga, Latvenergo, airBaltic, Statoil, Virši, and major retailers such as Rimi, Domina, K-Rauta, Sky&More, and others. These are typically competition-based paid commissions. But there are also projects born of social conscience. During the pandemic, his witty and sharply observant posters Kitchen Knight, this is your time! Stay home. The virus isn't real until it is. Get the vaccine! captured attention and imagination alike. Lightning-fast in its rise to popularity, Māris Upenieks' donation-streaming platform Stopify (created in 2022 with Mārcis Miķelsons-Germs and Miks Miķelsons) gathers funds, acquires and delivers what Ukraine's army urgently needs – cars, motorcycles, boats, drones, technical gear for soldiers, and more. Every donor (subscriber) receives monthly updates on what their contribution has helped deliver. A subtle, yet powerful, nudge to continue giving. A summary published in IR magazine chronicling Stopify's accomplishments over three years of war is nothing short of astonishing.

In the making of the Stopify platform, something already familiar, trusted, and well-used in the digital realm was cleverly reimagined – twisted, turned, and enriched into something strikingly new. The tasks are different, and the meaning – entirely transformed. For this, Stopify was honoured with the silver medal at Latvia's creative excellence festival ADwards (2023) and earned the National Design Award of Latvia in the new category of Digital Solutions (2024).

Amid all his pursuits, Māris Upenieks still carves out time to journey to distant, unfamiliar lands – often alone, without guides, and with only the barest research, so the spirit of adventure can lead the way. He captures his experiences and insights with precision and punch, stripped of ornament, free of fluff, in his digital journal (blog) Kā tur ir? ("What's It Like There?").

In short, whether designing or wandering the world, Māris Upenieks continues to grow into a vibrant, multifaceted, and creative force.

In his own words: "The further you go on life's journey, the clearer you must be about what you want to say."

The biography was prepared by Rūta Muižniece,
Master of Arts