On March 25, the Gallery “Daugava” opens the painting exhibition “Skywards and on the Earth”, which will run through May 1. With this exhibition the Gallery is welcoming spring in nature and art. Eight young painters for whom spring seems to be the best season were invited to take part. Anna Baklāne, Laima Bikše, Gita Šmite, Andrejs Ameļķovičs and Jānis Zinģītis have previously presented solo exhibitions in the Gallery. Andris Eglītis presented a solo exhibition in the Gallery “Daugava” for his Master’s degree from the Art Academy. Jānis Purcens attracted attention with his works in the young artists’ group exhibition “6” in the Gallery “Daugava” as well as in the exhibition “Candy Bomber” in the Arsenal and Inga Meldere was first noticed in the latter exhibition. Young and very young: this was the underlying principle used to select artists for the exhibition. No doubt that the list of the artists could have been much longer, but it was our intention to show enough works by each painter so that the viewers could form a more thorough perception of each artist’s painting. We can nostalgically look back at the time when young artists were able to attract attention by exhibiting their work in regular and large-scale exhibitions which were held in Riga. Today it seems that it is easier for a young artist to attract attention with some scandal, for example, by stealing his own artwork. The Gallery invites all those who are interested in painting and its future to come to this exhibition. We believe that these eight artists with their work have already contributed to the art history of Latvia.