07.07. - 02.08. 2016

Galerija "Māksla XO"

Elizabetes iela 14, Rīga, LV 1010

Madara Neikena

ENDLESSNESS

Clarity. Endlessness. Vastness. Air. Presence.

“While walking in a forest, along the sea, through paths of swaps and fields, at every step, perceived images transform into paintings and their fragments. I can’t seem to manage painting them as they move so fast, flowing by and changing quicker than I can. That’s why there are lines, ticks, dots - they are touches upon a moment in an endless motion. Sea is the one that associates the most with endlessness, inconceivable and so powerful...
The exhibition series is a particular sequence of works in which I set myself a goal to paint them in a specific time period, so that the link between them would be mutually strong.  The works were created in the plain air, as well as transferred from a smaller format to a bigger one.
They (the paintings) are stories about a specific and at the same time absolutely non-specific place that allows reaching a different reality. Nature transforms in colour-line rhythms on canvas. Colour fields embody life in both, calmness and endless variability. 
When I paint, I can live in the world depicted on canvas. Ticks, lines and coincidences create the stories on their own; I just follow them on canvas or paper with a paintbrush. While painting, ideas flow quickly, so I have to indulge and make a decision, where I’m going to allow my fingertips to touch and where in the blink of an eye I have to abandon everything that is unnecessary.
I’m interested in nature and environment, especially the seaside, which I perceive not exactly in its direct sense of the word. I don’t identify the depicted seaside as a particular place, but as world created by my sensations. The seaside and the presence of the sea subjugate all senses, perceiving sound, taste, touch and sight. The seaside for me is endlessness.

My paintings do not require verbalization. I believe that the image is a text that should be read by oneself, without imposing anything. The image loses an intangible sense of enchantment and freedom for each of us to perceive it differently if it gets dissected and put in a particular frame. I think one should be free to walk along the beach portrayed in my paintings on his or her own,” Madara Neikena.

Madara Neikena belongs to the new generation of Latvian painters. She is one of the few artists who continue painting a la prima in the plain air. In 2015 she graduated from the Art Academy of Latvia, Department of Painting. In 2014 she received the "SEB Scholarship in Painting" (Latvia) and the "Premio Marina di Ravenna 2014" (Italy). Since 2010 Madara Neikena has successfully participated in more than 47 group exhibitions and plein airs in Latvian and abroad.