maksla XO Riga

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

Living with differences

9/12

The 9th painting of this series is called “Living with differences”. Although this series was made during my residency at the Serlachius Museum Residency, and my reflection was done around the challenges of my own immigration to Finland, the paintings seem to me now reaching much wider comprehension about the matter. By the time I was producing them, I knew that the same concept could be shared in different situations of disruptive, such as a divorce, a change of jobs, house, city or even death. The current world situation brought my ponderations into a wider spectrum, where the political and cultural factors play also an important point of consideration. Living with differences means adapting. Also means allowing diversities to thrive together. It plays both in the individual, personal allowance to existence but also in the collective force, since we are all bound and connected in the same planet and we are the same species with a pleiad of diverse cultures, religions, contexts, stories. We cannot push others out of existence in order to exist without any discomfort nor disagreement. We cannot cease to be because others a claim the right to settle in. A war, in the 21st century, sounds to me that we are refusing to evolve as a society and as human beings. A genocide and a colonial mindset makes it all even more unreasonable, primitive, despicable. The painting shows the beauty and the ugliness in the possibility of allowing those differences to co-exist. But above that, it reinforces the idea of necessary and possible peaceful and comfortable co-existance. We can still thrive and be sheltered. Adapt and find balance. Allow and be granted with acceptance.
Extreme individuality and separation builds walls and not homes. Exposes greed and not kindness nor intelligence. Zionism must end. Humanity must prevail over insanity, selfishnesses and violence.

Luciana Mariano, April, 2024.

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Português:

A 9ª pintura desta série chama-se “Convivendo com as diferenças”. Embora esta série tenha sido realizada durante a minha residência na Residência do Museu Serlachius, e a minha reflexão tenha sido feita em torno dos desafios da minha própria imigração para a Finlândia, as pinturas parecem-me agora alcançar uma compreensão muito mais ampla sobre o assunto. Na época em que os produzia, sabia que o mesmo conceito poderia ser compartilhado em diferentes situações disruptivas, como divórcio, mudança de emprego, de casa, de cidade ou até morte. A actual situação mundial trouxe as minhas ponderações para um espectro mais amplo, onde os factores políticos e culturais desempenham também um importante ponto de consideração. Conviver com as diferenças significa adaptar-se. Também significa permitir que as diversidades prosperem juntas. Ela atua tanto na concessão individual e pessoal à existência, mas também na força coletiva, uma vez que estamos todos ligados e conectados no mesmo planeta e somos a mesma espécie com uma plêiade de diversas culturas, religiões, contextos, histórias. Não podemos expulsar os outros da existência para existir sem qualquer desacordo. Não podemos deixar de existir porque outros reivindicam o direito de se instalarem. Uma guerra, no século XXI, parece-me que nos recusamos a evoluir como sociedade e como seres humanos. Um genocídio e uma mentalidade colonial tornam tudo ainda mais irracional, primitivo e desprezível. A pintura mostra a beleza e a feiúra na possibilidade de permitir que essas diferenças coexistam. Mas, acima disso, reforça a ideia de uma coexistência pacífica e confortável necessária e possível. Ainda podemos prosperar e ser protegidos. Adaptar-nos e encontrar equilíbrio. Permitir e ser concedido com aceitação.
A extrema individualidade e separação constroem muros e não casas. Expõem a ganância e não a gentileza, nem a inteligência. O sionismo deve acabar. A humanidade deve prevalecer sobre a insanidade, os egoísmos e a violência.

Luciana Mariano, Abril de 2024.

Under the waters of emotion

2/12

The second piece of this series is about emotions. It is a flood of feelings that seems like drowning, both in thoughts and in material things. What is lost, how will I survive this, what goes and what stays, are some of the questions that invade heart and occupy mind of someone that is about to move, change, relocate, flee, immigrate. The sensation of oddity, the heaviness and lightness of the things that you know so well but are not, or no longer are, a part of you; things and that you want, that you feel you can´t live without, but you can´t carry.
The water is the element that composes most of our human body, water is a part of us, brings us to life, we depend on it and it also can kill us. Under the waters of emotion is that overwhelming feeling of confusion, when what is you and what looks like a part of you are separating. It can be an opportunity of catching new breath but it can also mark a transition that feels like birth or like the death of somethings. If you are under water you need to escape in a hurry to survive, If water is slowly flooding your known space you need to evacuate and leave most things behind, if water is your playground you can plunge into it and then later enjoy the memories it granted you. There are uncountable possibilities of how and what the waters can mean for each story of immigration. Between the lines we all experience some common emotions and milestones on this ocean of possibilities. We are islands surrounded by sea. And each tempest writes a different story on this brief adventure of life.

Under the waters of emotion
60×90 cm – 2023 – Acrylics on canvas
Available for viewing and sales at MakslaXO Gallery, Riga, Latvia.

Luciana Mariano

…and they loved music.

1 / 12

First painting:

“ …and they loved music.”

60×90 – acrylics on linen – 2023

The rupture. It can be a war, a divorce, a deception or any reason to relocate. A new job, a new love, a new life. They loved music and they had a story prior the rupture but it no longer works, no longer serves its purpose; it is time leave the wreckage behind and embark on a journey of reconstruction. Heart and objects may be broken. It is never easy to leave what once was your safe ground but it is necessary to take chances towards a new beginning, towards any possibility of being whole again.

*This work and collection are available for acquisition at Maksla XO Gallery, in Riga, Latvia.

https://makslaxogalerija.lv

¹This collection consists in 12 pieces, made during a 2 months residency at Serlachius Museum Residency in February-March 2023. All pieces are connected and they are a result of a research and deeper thought about what it means to leave, depart, immigrate, flee, relocate, move, change, restart. If you are leaving your known home and world behind, for any reason, you may experience some of this feelings. Maybe you are relocating for a new job or for love; perhaps you are moving because of a new opportunity, a loss of job, a divorce; or if your country is at war, if you need to escape for better life conditions, or any reason at all…some of this feelings meet everyone. Leaving, for any given reason, deploys a chain of feelings that are common for most situations. It is a kind of mourning, first the overwhelmed feeling of loss, then the various steps that makes you cope with the change, then acceptance and understanding, then adaptation and peace. Not necessarily all those feelings but surely some of them. And it is a very particular experience with common perceptions and feelings. I hope you can identify some of them, but specially I hope you can, after a harsh storm, find yourself again and feel that you found home.

Berlin

It is interesting how different times leaves different impressions, even for the same places. Eleven years ago, during a difficult time of my life, I was in Berlin for a few days and I remember it as a grey, cold and intimidating place. This time, in much happier circumstances, I felt it like a completely different city, vibrant, peaceful, interesting, colorful and welcoming place.

I found it quite amusing to see how we reflect our inner feelings into what we find outside of us. The place is the same but the perception has changed 180° around, depending on the conditions you bring yourself into the that experience. Our inner state is like a mirror, or perhaps a magnifier, reflecting and amplifying whatever is already predominant in us, into the environments we find ourselves in. Places have no power to be anything else than what we make them to be.

When we are in a better place inside, all places outside will seem more welcoming and pleasant.

This time I feel that brought my very best to Berlin and in return, Berlin showed me its true colors. For 5 days I was surrounded by beautiful, lovely, creative, brilliant, kind people, art, places, situations. Every walk brought me peace and happiness. Every encounter gave me more hope and kindness. Every day had a new surprise to wonder upon. I made new friends, met true ones, had good laughs, felt welcome, comfortable, safe.

Thank you Berlin for wonderful days at Berlin Art Week and Positions Art Fair Berlin. My heart felt gratitude to all the collectors that supported our dreams and arts, the lovely visitors that gave me feedback on my work and all the amazing people involved in making this event as wonderful as it indeed is.

Gallery MakslaXO, Ilze Žeivate, Biruta Aurina, fellow artists Zane Žeivate (and David), Klavs Loris and Paulis Liepa, you were the light of my days there and your company made my experience the best it could ever be.

Paldies, Kiitos, Tak, Obrigada, Thank you all!!!

Danke schön Berlin!