Master of Ceremony for Independence Day (MC4ID). 1997. Series of four paintings. Oil on canvas. 1/4. 165 x 186 cm.

Master of Ceremony for Independence Day (MC4ID). 1997. Series of four paintings. Oil on canvas, three pills. 2/4. 165 x 186 cm.

Master of Ceremony for Independence Day (MC4ID). 1997. Series of four paintings. Oil on canvas. 3/4. 165 x 186 cm.

Master of Ceremony for Independence Day (MC4ID). 1997. Series of four paintings. Oil on canvas. 4/4. 165 x 186 cm.

Three Pills. 2012. Graphite and charcoal on canvas. 165 x 185 cm. One day the curator Sniedze Kāle invited me to take part in an exhibition entitled ‘The Naughty Ones’. Among other things, I proposed to restore the second part of my MC4ID (Master of Ceremony for Independence Day) cycle from which a masked drug addict had cut out the three Ecstasy pills. The incident had happened at the Arsenāls Exhibition Hall in 1997. The thought of restoring the work had been haunting me for quite some time. I had already found a similar piece of canvas in the barn, streched it on the original frame, primed it – and now I also had a reason. I considered making a moulage of the pills but abandoned the idea: this thing called for the ‘right’ energy.
A week went by in covert search for the pills, then a month: phone calls, promises, frustrated hopes, more phone calls.
Meanwhile, the curator had decided not to include the four-painting cycle in the show due to shortage of space; that did nothing to detract from my determination to restore the picture – I was hoping to sell it profitably, see? After all, two pieces of the cycle were already part of the collection of the Museum of Contemporary Art; another one had been bought by Belēvičs... When, with the help of Katrīna, the younger generation had finally been involved in my quest, the process gained completely new dynamics. Soon it was already the eve of a deal: the guy had already arranged to meet a dealer. You have to buy five, you cannot have three; fine, for fuck’s sake, I am buying five: I will give two to the guy for helping me. At the very last moment I called the deal off.
After all, it is not the 90s anymore; even the Judgement Day that awaits us is going to be completely different now. It is not very likely that you can get admitted to the New Age with three pills attached to a black canvas. And the guy probably would not get admitted either... Miķelis Fišers 5 May 2012