The works of three young artists, recent graduates of Art Academy of Latvia – Madara Neikena (1988), Edgars Soprāns (1988) and Dagne Ventiņa (1986) – have been created during this past year. A deep personal sense of one’s inner world and the environment around them is evident in the exhibited paintings – the real and mundane intertwined with the intangible and volatile forms. The title “Somewhere” is ambiguous – places and things, real and imagined, can create different associations based on the individual experience leading the viewer into a surprising insight.

Everyday themes and rituals whose value and delicacy is highlighted by isolating them from their usual surroundings are observed by Dagne Ventiņa. Her main inspiration comes from contemplating the environment and its truthfulness.

Edgars Soprāns paints visually and substantially complex works consisting of different fragments and references, where colour and technical features are symbolically loaded. “Nature is of secondary importance in Renaissance painting, it exists at hierarchically lower position. It is parergon (from latin. something that is an accessory to a main work or subject; embellishment) regarding religious scenes with saints. A large quantity of Soviet, Baltic German, Russian Empire time, etc. monuments and architecture have remained and preserved in Latvia. Once these objects had an active role in existing ideology of state or its cultural maintenance. Now they have a cultural and historical as well as memorial significance. They are artefacts whose ghostly existence carries cultural history function. Now they have become a parergon. This is the moment which interests me the most – the moment when the transition takes place, and after that the change of status and hierarchy grade”.

Madara Neikena catches the seamingly uncatchable in her paintings – the mood, the smell, the sound of each individual moment. The presence of nature has a significant role in her work, as she has stayed fateful to painting en plein air. The meditative temper and minimalistic approach of her creative work allows the viewer to reflect on their own feelings.