Dear friends of art!
We are pleased to welcome you to the exhibition of inspiring and exuberant paintings by Liena Baklāne and Paulis Postažs in the Exhibition House of Valmiera Museum from 12 February to 26 March 2022.
Paulis Postažs and Liena Baklāne, a couple of painters, are a peer tandem (both born in 1976), they were classmates at Janis Rozentāls Art School, afterwards they both studied painting at the Art Academy of Latvia, they are a two-daughter family sharing passion for painting, where each of them has its own share and contribution in both daily life and art.
They like holding exhibitions together, although it is not often, complementing each other and looking good together.
Painting is a hobby of both artists, their daily necessity, a tool for learning about the essence of their craft, art and life.
“My paintings today are based on what I painted yesterday, and the next day will draw from what I paint today,”wrote PaulisPostažs in one of the catalogues of his paintings.The artist is consistently loyal to oil painting, scrupulously following the gradual and time-consuming technological process, improving his artistic language, a vision of the world and human relations.
Although the artist does not deny the presence of photography, it is only a starting point on the way to a composition that takes the form during the painting process in the quest of beauty and spiritual clarity, discarding unnecessary things, approaching the ideal, geometrically pure and correct form by the support of Renaissance masters… The gradual painting process extending over the time promotes immersion in absolutely everything – the language of colours, light, shapes, proportions, space and plane, echoes of the impulses sent by the surrounding world, clarifying the true values, gaining for himself and giving others a sense of stability and almost sacred harmony.
Liena Baklāne, on the other hand, is a supporter of acrylic painting techniques. The quick action required by the fast-drying material is more suitable for her temperament. Like Paul, Liena doesn’t have to look far for ideas. They are in the surrounding nature, her children, art values collected in the world. The world sparkles in Liena’s paintings. All living things respond to light. Flowers, children, a woman. Each flower has its own face, each branch has its own curve and they find their place into the overall rhythm. And what a brilliance of colours! The surface of the painting also adds its voice to the glorious anthem of life. Art for her is the way to understand herself.
Art historian
Baiba Magdalena Eglīte
