Exhibition extended till April 16!

Southern Gardens, an exhibition featuring Maija Nora Tabaka’s latest paintings opens on February 10 at the gallery Daugava ,1 Ausekļa Str., Riga. Here the artist seems to be trying to dispel the myth that Northerners limit their imagination and expression and tend to retreat into a shell by trying to appear neither ostentatious nor obtrusive to the outside world. These paintings make it explicit that this is a myth and show a receptiveness to everything that is beautiful, colourful, joyful and fantastic. Her paintings are decorative, brilliant in their joy of colours and astonishing with their flow of imagination. In an interview the painter once said: “I don’t remove anything in my paintings, nor paint anew; the painting is accomplished or simply doesn’t exist.” The confidence in expressing imagination and one’s emotions and the daringness to paint the colour compositions of this exhibition without hypocrisy and self-deception are magical. The painter was born in Jelgava on November 5, 1939. After the World War II her family moved to Riga. Encouraged by her father she started attending drawing classes given by Auseklis Baušķenieks at the Riga Pioneer Palace. In 1957 Maija entered the Art Academy’s Printmaking Department and continued studying at the Painting Department. She graduated in 1969 with the final painting, The group Portrait of Young Artists under the supervision of Eduards Kalnins. She has been participating in professional arts exhibitions since 1970.