26.04. - 29.04.2018

Deutsche Telekom Hauptstadtrepräsentanz

Jägerstrasse 42-44 / corner oberwallstrasse 10117 Berlin, Germany

Maksla XO Gallery presents
at PAPER POSITIONS Berlin 2018

Stand  B12

www.paperpositions.com/en/berlin/

Participating for the first time at Paper Positions Berlin, Maksla XO gallery is going to present the works of two Latvian contemporary artists – Helena Heinrihsone and Leonards Laganovskis – revealing diverse qualities of watercolour painting and drawing. Part of the watercolours by Helena Heinrihsone that will be displayed at Paper Positions Berlin are nominated for the Purvitis Prize 2019 – the most prestigious and the most substantial art award in Latvia. While conceptual thinker and drawer Leonards Laganovskis at Paper Positions Berlin will be represented bycompletely new works from the series “Star Maps” (2018) and “C’est la vie” (2017), as well as older drawing series, such as “Glasses” (2017), “Ashes to Ashes” (2015) and “Cyborgs” (2003).

Helena Heinrihsone (1948) is one of the most versatile artists in Latvian art, who works not only in painting, but also in watercolour, lithography, photography, porcelain painting and animation. Her works have always stood out among her own generation with their daring nature – they were considered to be too exposed, too daring, too lively in colours, too expressive.

Helena Heinrihsone has always emphasised the essence of content through the purity of colour and form. Her fascination with roses is well-known and their place in her body of work has had a significant role throughout the years. Some critics have even named her “the Rose Painter”, or Helena the Rose. But for her, the rose is not just a symbol of beauty, it expresses her sharp existential feeling. By playing with the scale of objects, paradoxically the painter has come closer to their beauty, where the exaggerated pathos of the symbolic meanings of flowers has vanished, confronting the viewers with the essence of watercolour painting itself.
In the 1990s, Helena Heinrihsone created a large series of paintings dedicated to roses and Meissen porcelain, where she studied its vast world of characters. Now, she has returned to the famous Meissen porcelain, which appears in her latest watercolours that will be displayed at Paper Positions Berlin as well.
Helena Heinrihsone has graduated from the Art Academy of Latvia (1973).  Her works are in public collections - Latvian National Museum of Art (Riga, Latvia), Museum Ludwig (Köln, Germany), State Tretyakov Gallery (Moscow, Russia), Zimmerly Art Museum (New Jersey, USA), Rutgers University (New Brunswick, NY, USA).

Leonards Laganovskis (1955) is one of the most visible conceptual artists in Latvia. His works are riddles for the mind that are based on science, literature, memories and associations. Leonards Laganovskis works in different fields of art, like graphic art, painting, drawing, photography, objects.
In the early 1990s, Laganovskis increasingly turned his attention to the destruction of specific archetypes, often employing both irony and humour. Today, his work tends to concern social policy, consumer society and culture. The artist believes in the principle that the WORD was the first, hence the text has more essential role in his works than, for example, colour.

Leonards Laganovskis. Ashes to Ashes. 2015

                                                                      
Laganovskis’ art is ruthlessly topical, where irony and imagery coexists, and their tandem creates several layers of perception. All of his works are creations of intellectual observations. To perceive such art, similar tools of how it was created are required – an intellectual interest to look in the eyes of self-evident assumptions, see the processes more widely. In this moment of revelation, emotions are eminently present, making seemingly intellectually and cold conceptualism into perceptible, interesting and even emotional art.
Leonards Laganovskis has graduated from the Department of Set Design (1979) at the Art Academy of Latvia. The artist has wide international experience and reputation. From 1988 to 1994, he was a resident in Berlin, participating in the local art life, organizing solo exhibitions, as well as taking part in the group exhibitions. He has received various grants and scholarships in Germany, such as Kunstlerhaus Bethanien (1991, Berlin), Culture Senate Berlin (1995) and others. During this time, his works were acquired by such recognisable German art collections as Neue Berliner Kunstverein (Berlin), Kupferstich Kabinett (Bremen), Kunsthalle Bremen (Bremen), Reha-Klinik Lubben (Brandenburg).

Support: