On May 27, the Gallery “Daugava” presents the solo-exhibition of Laima Bikše’s work “To Open”. It is the artist’s ninth solo-exhibition in the Gallery. The Gallery is proud of Laima Bikše’s painting and has always included her works in the expositions to represent contemporary art outside Latvia: in Oslo, Madrid, Seville, Geneva and Vienna. Laima’s paintings make one fall in love with colour, even if someone has been indifferent to it, because colour is the vehicle that manifests Laima’s partly unreal world best, creating a space filled with golden light of love, where shades of orange trigger a slight tinge of melancholy. But the refreshing, joyful spring-time greens make one search for youth, daring and hope. The space created by her is inhabited by characters we all know and recognize, even though the scale is unusual, one used by kids with no life experience to rely upon, which would tell that the flower-pot is not bigger than the couch or the movie ticket is not the size of a chocolate box. The artists are privileged to carry childhood with them all the life. Yet, who can prevent us from doing the same? Only listen, it is here, here next to us! Laima Bikše’s painting resists analysis; you feel like taking a living body apart. I assume, that when painting she follows her own feelings and intuition. What she has studied and learnt matters less, though, undeniably, Laima’s discoveries in painting, quite formal things speak out loud, as well. Laima has written a few lines about her new exhibition, which I take the liberty to quote: “The more complicated words I want to use, the more it dawns on me that this exhibition is about grandma’s jar of jam in the pantry, about everything that comes to mind, taking off the lid and spreading some jam out on a piece of bread, about childhood’s summers full of sunshine, about the thought that I ought to visit my parents more often, that maybe there is still time to become a better person and do something really important in my life.” The exhibition “To Open” is open to visitors till June 17.