Author: Luciana Mariano

Painter.

Dreams, Secrets and Treasures at Māksla XO Gallery

Māksla XO Gallery will be delighted to welcome you to the opening of two new exhibitions – 

LUCIANA MARIANO     

DREAMS, SECRETS AND TREASURES


Luciana Marianos
Maze of Life. 2024, acrylic on canvas, 150×100 cm 

We always have what we need to survive and we lose what no longer serves us. We adapt, we keep secrets, we play. The truth is in front of us and we keep chasing hope, butterflies, dreams and bubbles. We are captives to our stories, conditionings, time, and yet, absolutely free to dare,” – Luciana Mariano, 2026.

Luciana Mariano is an outsider of contemporary painting with a vibrant, colourful, humour-filled and provocative feminine narrative. Her work possesses both a childlike lightness and directness, an analytically sharp observation, and at the same time a warm, accessible manner of expression. Luciana Mariano is a storyteller both on her canvases and in the texts and poetry that accompany her paintings. She is not a quiet, standoffish observer – rather, she is a rebel and an outspoken documentarian of reality. In her latest solo exhibition the artist explores the hidden emotions of the human experience, the symbolism of memory and objects, through dreamlike compositions – the quiet poetry of everyday life. Combining contemporary naïve art with the visual language of surrealism, she invites the viewer to enter worlds where tenderness, mystery and humour coexist.(Ilze Zeivate)

Luciana Mariano (1971) was born and raised in São Paulo, Brazil. Currently she lives and works in Pirkkala, Finland. Since 2008 she has participated in more than 40 group exhibitions and arranged 20 solo shows worldwide.

Works in public collections: MIMAN – Museu Internacional de Miniatures de Arte Naif (Paraty-Rio de Janero, Brazil), MIAN – Museu Internacional de Arte Naif (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), Museu de Arte de Batatais (Batatais-San Paulo, Brazil), Museu do Sol (Penápolis-Sao Paulo, Brazil), Musée d’Art Spontané (Brussels, Belgium), Bulgarian Naif Museum (Sofia, Bulgaria), Castle Lysice Collection (Lysice, Czech Republic), Kondase Keskus Museum (Viljandi, Estonia).

At Maksla XO, this is already Luciana Mariano’s third solo exhibition in Latvia, captivating both contemporary art professionals and international art enthusiasts.

https://lucianamariano.com

Support:

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ANDRIS KALININS

PRUSSIAN BLUE


Andris Kalinins
Prussian Blue No. 12. 2026, oil on canvas, 32x24x3 c

““Prussian Blue” is a new series of monochrome paintings in which I continue my long-developed creative position – “Paint as The Protagonist”. The colour is not used merely as a means of artistic expression to create an image, but itself becomes the subject of the work. I look at colour as a material with a specific name, whose physical properties, history of use, and context most often carry references to history, power, politics, and aesthetics”- Andris Kalinins, 2026.

Andris Kaļiņins (1994) is a painter and set designer who graduated from the Scenography Department (2021) and the Painting Department (2026) of the Art Academy of Latvia. His painting practice is grounded in the study of the physical properties of colour and an intuitive process, resulting in conceptual and minimalist yet visually saturated and expressive imagery. The artist regards painting as a process of thinking, inviting the viewer to perceive the essence of colour rather than its illusion.

Andris Kalinins is the laureate of the SEB Scholarship in Painting 2025. He has organised 4 solo exhibitions and participated in 5 significant group exhibitions, including “Figure in the Field” – Morgan Lehman Gallery (2024, New York, USA); “In the Name of Desire” – National Museum of Art of Latvia (2024, Riga, Latvia); and “How I’ve Been Feeling Lately” – Pauls Stradiņš Museum of the History of Medicine (2023, Riga, Latvia).

Andris Kaļiņins’ solo exhibition “Prussian Blue”, on view at Māksla XO gallery, is part of a more extensive series of works, which can also be seen simultaneously at the 2026 Graduate Exhibition of the Art Academy of Latvia.

https://kalinins.lv


Māksla XO Gallery will be delighted to welcome you to the opening reception of:
LUCIANA MARIANO’s solo exhibition “DREAMS, SECRETS AND TREASURES” and 
ANDRIS KALININS’ solo exhibition “PRUSSIAN BLUE”
on Thursday, 4 June 2026, from 17.00 – 20.00 
Both exhibitions will be on view from 4 June to 11 July 2026

https://www.makslaxogalerija.lv/eng/gallery

https://www.artsy.net/partner/maksla-xo

What dreams are [really] made of

Dreams are windows
Wormholes
Portals
Where we are free to be
To see
Do, feel, dare.

Where time can be bent
and wishes can be granted
Truth can be met
and the impossible
can be achieved
Peacefully
Gracefully
Or perhaps
not at all.

Dreams are the territory
of lost souls
and found treasures.
Playground of freedom
Prison cell for the fearful.

Nothing there
needs to make sense
and yet
everything has a reason
or an explanation
to exist.

Symbols are clues
hidden thoughts
and everything else
is utterly
Absolutely
and undoubtedly
yourself.

You naked
Unmasked
Exposed
unjudged
and unhedged.

A place to allow
recognise
and know
thyself

Dreams are the magic within
an the untouched universe
of possibilities.

Ephemeral
dew drops
melting drapes
and tea parties
Stars, moon
lake, lawn
and infinite paths
to nowhere
for noone.

Your secret spot
to discover
what dreams
are [really]
made of.

Luciana Mariano ©

Fragments

We are in pieces.

Fragments.
Shards.
Tiny particles that don’t fit together
Mismatched codes,
Ironically similar
In our flaws and lacks

We walk, but we don’t question the journey.
We don’t understand the path,
It seems deprived of destination and purpose.
We just carry on,
with or without legs
With or without eyes.
We just follow silent orders
Anonymously in the crowds
We dare not to stand out of norm, of compliance
We can’t stop
Catch our breath.
Disrupt traffic,
Rest.
We succumb to the steep climb.
Hopping that the unbridled descent
will shorten the path, spare us, somehow.

We walk, breathe,
we eat and sleep
when possible.
We obey
inevitably.
We are all besieged.
Inside and outside
all the walls in this world.
We are patient and we go mad
We wait, and we hope
that something will change
Someone will save us
Anything will happen
Besides the pain
Despite the fate
Beyond the insanity
Above the oppression
Under the sun
We are scattered all over the place
Living lawful lies
Defying absurdities
Coping with what is.
But what is
Is way less than we deserve

We dream of surviving chaos and catastrophe
Hoping our fate would heal and redeem us.
We surrender to time
Holding to the pieces that are long gone
Whipping the dust off our remains
wipping dry tears off our eyes
We continue,
filled with shivering hope
and whatever is left of
our sacred innocence.

Luciana Mariano (c)

Waiting – acrylics on fine Belgian linen – 180×215 cm

Painting done during the Serlachius Residency in Mänttä, Finland, between March and June 2025.

The other side of the ocean
The other sidenof the ocean 2023 Acrylics on linen 60x90

11/12 – On the other side of the ocean. © – 2023 – acrylics on linen – 60×90

Original artwork available at @maksla_xo_gallery (Riga, Latvia)

I have been thinking a lot about parental relationships lately. Maybe because I lost my mother only 6 months ago, and even though we always had a difficult relationship, she was also the symbol of steadfastness and a safe harbor in my life, a safe shelter in case I needed to lay my head down and rest for a while. Maybe because since adolescence me and my son have been emotionally distant from each other and I recently remember the advice of an old friend saying that I had to be distant from him on order to him to grow up, take interest in the world, in other women. I was very afraid to damage my son in the way I felt my parents had damaged me and I took her advice very literally, breaking my own instincts and heart to give him space… Unrequested space that later proved to damage the close relationship we had. I was a betrayed woman and not wanting to harm my son I betrayed him, by making myself absent, distant. Note to self: advices can be given in good intention, but can be very harmful too. Humans have different experiences and therefore the advices can have very adverse outcomes. 20 years later I still feel my son distant and untrusting, repeating patterns that were mine when I decided to give him space. Our romantic relationships are a reflection of the aspects we need to evolve in the relationship with ourselves. Abusive relationships are a sign of unhealthy and self imposed emotional mysery. That kind of relationship where you give the best of you to someone that is mostly there to take and only gives the bare minimum to keep you trying, giving, surviving. People should resolve their emotional issues before they set out to rescue others. We need to count on our safe harbors to learn how to swim before we sail out on our life quests. I was so afraid to suffocate him that I left taking away his life buoy. Even though we are in the same continent, he keeps an ocean between us and instead of finding safe ground he has been pedalling adrift in a leacky boat, that sooner or later will make him a castaway. From my hatch I can only see so far and the sailing continues with no guarantees for safe manoovers, easy journeys, calm seas. life taught methat a broken heart can be healed, but seeing the lost and sad face of someone you love more than anything, feels a little bit like I am drowning.
Dreaming a little to try to make peace with my failures and your choices. Dreaming of pink sunsets, relaxing chairs on a calm deck, on a lazy afternoon of long awaited peaceful laughter, love and safety.

Luciana Mariano ©

Finding Unity

10/12

The 10th painting of 12 series Finding Home is called Finding Unity.

They are now in the same room, but they still don’t share the same table. Timing is still different, understandings are still diverse, but they are now facing each other; communication is established, it starts to be comfortable, less awkward, they explore the common ground to find unity. A new culture takes time to sink in and become familiar, it mixes with one’s own repertoire and experiences, it doesn’t invade, it invites; it doesn’t impose, it approaches by friendly exchange and acceptance. Finding home takes effort, curiosity, open mind, intention, will. Finding home requires purpose and love.

Luciana Mariano©

The “Finding Home” serie can be seen at Maksla XO Gallery in Riga, Latvia.

https://www.instagram.com/maksla_xo_gallery

Follow me on Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/lucianamarianoart

Goodbye Mamãe 💔
You can’t buy time - 2024

I lost my mother a week ago.

It’s been such a busy year, with so many work commitments that, for a moment, you believe that everything can roll on automatic gear; that things are under such control that you can even decide about time, what happens and what to do. The illusion of control doesn’t apply to real life. Real life is unpredictable, unforeseen, unexpected. One day you are happy, rich, loved, young, the next day all is changed. Real life doesn’t stay still.

Mothers, I found out, are like time: you always have it; but it is not up to you to decide for how long you will have it. She was my safe harbour, my distant but steady ground, one I thought would always be there, no matter what. And now she is gone forever. It is the broken chain of existance, when your origin desappears. It is the natural course of things, and yet, a rupture that defies your own existance. It changes your perspectives. It shatters your heart in so many small pieces that you wonder how it can still function, continue.

She painted until her very last day. It was one of the things she never gave up on. She taught me so much and this must have been her ultimate message for me: go on, continue painting as long as you are breathing, as long as you still have a heartbeat. She did. She left me three paintings, fully finished but unsigned. Tiny ones, beautiful dead natures. She was still teaching me by the example. Finish your mission even if it doesn’t carry your name, your vanity, your ego; just live, do what you can at each moment you have. One day you will be gone, but your love will live on.

That’s what she did.


Perdi minha mãe há uma semana.

Foi um ano tão agitado, com tantos compromissos de trabalho que, por um momento, você até acredita que tudo pode funcionar no automático; que as coisas estão sob tal controle que você pode até decidir o tempo, o que acontece e o que fazer. A ilusão de controle não se aplica à vida real. A vida real é imprevisível, imprevista, inesperada. Um dia você é feliz, rico, amado, jovem, no dia seguinte tudo muda. A vida real não fica parada.

As mães, descobri, são como o tempo: você sempre o tem; mas não cabe a você decidir por quanto tempo o terá. Ela era meu porto seguro, meu terreno distante, mas firme, que pensei que sempre estaria lá, não importa o que acontecesse. E agora ela se foi para sempre. É a cadeia quebrada da existência, quando a sua origem desaparece. É o curso natural das coisas e, ainda assim, uma ruptura que desafia a sua própria existência. Isso muda suas perspectivas. Isso quebra seu coração em tantos pedacinhos minúsculos que você se pergunta como ele ainda pode funcionar, continuar.

Ela pintou até o último dia. Foi uma das coisas das quais ela nunca desistiu. Ela me ensinou muito e esta deve ter sido sua mensagem definitiva para mim: continue, continue pintando enquanto respirar, enquanto seu coração ainda bater. Ela o fez. Ela me deixou três quadros, totalmente acabados, mas sem assinatura. Pequeninos, lindas naturezas mortas. Ela ainda estava me ensinando pelo seu exemplo. Termine sua missão mesmo que ela não carregue seu nome, sua vaidade, seu ego; apenas viva, faça o que puder em cada momento que tiver. Um dia você irá embora, mas seu amor continuará vivo.

Foi isso que ela fez.

💔

🌺Balô (Maria Aparecida (Dotoli) Mariano Figueiredo)

⭐07.06.1940

🤍18.09.2024

Working Women / Naisia Työssä
"She buy clothes to work and she works to buy clothes" - 25x30 - 2024 - Luciana Mariano©

“She buy clothes to work and she works to buy clothes” – 25×30 – 2024 – Luciana Mariano©

During the month of September people in Tampere will be able to visit my solo exhibition “Working Women / Naisia Työssä” at the Werstas Työväenmuseo, Finnish Labour Museum Werstas located inside Finlayson, Tampere. The exhibition presents 20 new pieces made specially for the Labour Museum and approaches the female universe and its relationships with work, duty, motherhood, sorority, care, equality, capitalism and work market. It is open from Turdays to Sundays, from 11 til 18:00 and it ends on September 29. The address is Väinö Linnan aukio 8, 33210 Tampere.

If you visit it, publish and tag me, please!

I hope you enjoy it! Luciana Mariano ©

Fernanda Montenegro fará leitura de Simone de Beauvoir no Ibirapuera

https://gnoticia.com.br/fernanda-montenegro-fara-leitura-de-simone-de-beauvoir-no-ibirapuera/

  • 4 setembro 2024

A atriz Fernanda Montenegro fará uma leitura extra do texto “Cerimônia do Adeus”, da filósofa francesa Simone de Beauvoir, expoente do feminismo, no dia 18 de agosto (18/7) no Parque Ibirapuera, na zona Sul de São Paulo (SP).

O espetáculo lembra a pintura “Frida e Angela tomando chá (ou café) na casa de Simone”, de Luciana Mariano. Pelo título, somos levados a uma jornada por três mitos que discutem a condição feminina. A escritora Simone de Beauvoir (1908 – 1986), ao que sabemos dona da casa da cena, tem uma influência significativa no pensamento feminista, principalmente pelo livro “O Segundo Sexo” (1949), que trata da opressão contra as mulheres.

Do lado esquerdo da mesa, está a pintora mexicana Frida Kahlo (1907 – 1954), célebre não só pelos seus retratos e autorretratos e obras inspiradas na natureza e na cultura local, mas pelas manifestações, na vida e na arte, de valorização da própria identidade e da liberdade de gênero na conservadora sociedade local.

Do lado direito, encontra-se a professora norte-americana Angela Davis (1944), filósofa socialista que alcançou notoriedade mundial na década de 1970 como integrante do Partido Comunista dos EUA e dos Panteras Negras, importante movimento de militância pelos direitos das mulheres e contra a discriminação social e racial em seu país.

A pintura inclui uma solitária vela na mesa, que dialoga com o foco de luz na calçada do lado de fora da casa; Frida com um gato, escritos em inglês no chão, relógio na parede, livros de cunho libertário na estante, um retrato de Sartre, que viveu uma relação afetiva com Simone, fumando cachimbo na parede, e o piso ligado ao mobiliário por jogos visuais em marrom.

A imagem junta dois ícones do movimento feminista conversando em uma mesa muito bem posta em que curiosamente há bule, mas não xícaras de chá. Esse jogo de presenças/ausências se dissemina pela obra, tendo como ápice a falta da dona da casa anunciada no título. É desses mistérios e da silenciosa conversa entre as protagonistas que a obra se alimenta.

Oscar D’Ambrosio       @oscardambrosioinsta
Pós-Doutor e Doutor em Educação, Arte e História da Cultura, Mestre em Artes Visuais, jornalista, graduado em Letras,crítico de arte e curador.

Article by Professor Dr. Oscar D´Ambrosio on Brazilian news channel.

The Maze

Life is a maze, an amazing trip. A sure destination without a timetable, just a limited, unpredictable time to go across. Dead ends, swirls and turns. Sweet meetings and sad farewells. You can walk bare feet or fly, but you can’t escape. You may as well enjoy the ride and pay attention to the signs along the way. Beauty and poetry is not always given, but can always be found there. Serendipity, chances, possibilities on every corner, though it depends on your deliberate intention to find those. There is no right or wrong ways, every walk will bring you forward, even if you feel stuck, even when you walk in circles or if you don’t walk at all. Time drives the way and takes you to what you need to see, learn, live. Happiness it is definitely a choice, an intent and decision to be perceived and found throughout the way.

A vida é um labirinto, uma viagem incrível. Um destino seguro sem horário, apenas com um tempo limitado e imprevisível para atravessar. Becos sem saída, redemoinhos e reviravoltas. Doces encontros e tristes despedidas. Você pode andar descalço ou voar, mas não pode escapar. Você também pode aproveitar o passeio e prestar atenção às placas ao longo do caminho. A beleza e a poesia nem sempre são dadas, mas sempre podem ser encontradas ali. O acaso, as chances, as possibilidades estão em cada esquina, embora dependa da sua intenção deliberada de encontrá-las. Não existem caminhos certos ou errados, cada caminhada o levará adiante, mesmo que você se sinta preso, mesmo quando ande em círculos ou nem ande. O tempo conduz o caminho e te leva ao que você precisa ver, aprender, viver. A felicidade é definitivamente uma escolha, uma intenção e uma decisão a ser percebida e encontrada ao longo do caminho.


The Maze of Life is in exhibition at Malva Museum, Lehti, Finland. In the collective exhibition “Destinations”, curated by Veikko Halmetoja, until November 2024.

Empathy makes us humans

I have never done a thing like this. I have done fundraisers for myself, many times, when I needed to travel for an exhibition or to buy material to paint. I have also donated paintings to charity and paid myself for an endless number of events, fundraisers and charities for other people for many different reasons. Helping other people feels good. I have always given whatever possible from my always so unforeseen and unstable personal economy. I have been helped so many times and I never thought twice to help others too. It is good to help and be helped, it makes us feel loved, cared for, protected, gives that sense of belonging that is so important to feel, once in a while.

But for people facing genocide, this is the first time.

I have helped people at risk, hungry people, people who lost their possessions, victims of natural disasters. But for people trapped in a piece of land with their families, children, elderly, while their homes were being intentionally destroyed, facing severe famine, dying of thirst, easily treated illnesses and atrocious bombings, shellings, shootings… this is the first time.

I became friend with some people that otherwise we would never get to know each other. An engineer and mother with 3 small babies, a 6 month pregnant dentist and mom-to-be and a teacher with 4 teenagers. All amazing women. All mothers in different periods is their motherhood. All beautiful Palestinian gentle souls that taught me so much about my ignorance, prejudice, limitations, weaknesses… and also my value, my potential for humanity.

They are the ones facing the most horrific time in their lives and in desperate need for help and yet, they are the ones teaching me. That without empathy, sorority and solidarity with are much less than humans… we are useless. The utility of life is our sensibility to see the other and treat them as we would like to be treated. The meaning of existence is to leave this planet a little bit more humanly evolved and wise than we entered it. They are helping me to understand that even when you can’t do anything, you can still do something. And spread some live, some sympathy, some generosity and some art.

I ask you to do what you can in the face of injustice. Whatever you can. Even if you can do nothing, do something. Ask someone else for help, pass it on, share truth and information, listen, donate if you can. Everything counts. In the millions we are, even a tear can serve as a sea to navigate, to help, to arrive or to flee to safer grounds. Do it for others, exercise your humanity to be worthy of being human.

I offer you my humble art, the very least I can do but also the best of me. It comes with my deep gratitude and a shared opportunity to make a difference in our existence. Because it might also change the fate of a few, and that should be enough for each and every one of us to try. Try. Please, try.

Luciana Mariano

Access the charity sale here: https://lucianamariano.wordpress.com/special-charity-sale/