Maksla XO Gallery at POSITIONS BERLIN Art Fair 2023 –

Artists: Zane Zeivate, Luciana Mariano, Klavs Loris,  Paulis Liepa

Booth - C09

https://positions.de/start.html

Maksla XO Gallery presents at POSITIONS BERLIN 2023 – an exposition of four contemporary artists from Latvia and Brazil – Zane Zeivate, Klavs Loris, Paulis Liepa and Luciana Mariano.

Multidisciplinary artist Zane Zeivate from Latvia and painter Luciana Mariano from Brazil, each bringing their distinct creative visions to the forefront. What binds these two artists together is that they are female, and their art serves as a platform for addressing essential issues related to women’s rights, social equality, and women’s emotions, experiences, and aspirations. Klavs Loris, in his paintings, challenges the understanding of how the relationship between reality and humans is formed - one’s role in society and the society around us, regular self-destruction and constant growth at the same time. Paulis Liepa reflects on a wide range of philosophical questions and current events - starting from recent war collision points to simple commonplace items and topics: street, internet, news, advertising..

Zane Zeivate writes poetry in English and embroiders on spatial objects that she creates, sews, screws and welds with her hands. It is a personal and, at the same time, feminist conversation about social issues, women's rights, the autonomy of the body, emancipation and patriarchal power.
“Working with metal, fabric, and embroidered text, I search for a place in modern urban society where emotions and rationality participate in an endless power game. I explore the boundaries between the human-made environment and human feelings. Through sculptures and text, I reveal my experience as a woman in the larger context of the moment, searching for and questioning the patterns of gendered power structures in democracy. In my practice, I use spatial contexts and turn them into metaphors that speak about social values - women's emancipation, equality and body autonomy. I deliberately choose recognizable, functional metal parts from urban landscapes and try to change and deconstruct them, creating new forms to search for less hierarchical models of gender relations.
My latest sculptures are about what happened in the USA on June 24, 2022, when women’s right to abortion was abolished. The most important keywords are a woman’s body, a woman’s right to her body, and emotions and feelings as we all try to deal with fear. I have chosen rack structures that are usually found next to the buildings. I use it as a metaphor for a political structure that is perhaps more patriarchal than I would like to see it”˗ Zane Zeivate, 2023.
Zane Žeivate (1993) graduated from Sanberg Institute, Department of Social Space Studies of Gerrit Rietveld Academy (MA, 2021, Amsterdam, Netherlands) and Riga Technical University, Faculty of Architecture and Urban Planning (BA, 2017, Riga, Latvia). She has received an Incentive Award, the Latvian Architecture Award (2014). And she has worked as an architect-intern at Hosoya-Schaefer Architects (2018, Zurich, Switzerland) and as a junior architect at Zaiga Gaile Architecture Office (2019, Riga, Latvia). Since 2021, Zane Zeivates an artist has participated in several group exhibitions and projects in Lithuania, the Netherlands, Georgia and China:“Terrible Event” (2022, Amsterdam, Netherlands), “Love for Sale: Alles moet weg?” (2021, Amsterdam, Netherlands), “Turn of the Light When You Leave” (2021, Amsterdam, Netherlands), “Finally, Things are Happening” (2021, Amsterdam, Netherlands), “Women are Fashioning” (2021, Xiamen, China). In addition, she’s been writing articles for “Latvijas Arhitektūra” magazine since 2017. In 2021, Zane Zeivate published her essay book, “Your Wrist Smells Like Orange”.

Luciana Mariano is a Brazilian painter, the third generation of naïve artists in her Italian-Portuguese family. For the last 14 years, she has participated in international museum and gallery exhibitions and projects dedicated to naïve art. Her paintings are characterized colourful narratives.
Although composed with a childish and delicate trait, her art is not free from restlessness provocation. It encompasses the feminine Universe, small secrets in intriguing elements. There is always something to be told, observed, and questioned.
“Being born and raised in South America, I had two choices: comply or rebel. I am definitely a rebel. For too long, I have observed women around the world being abused. Through my art, even as a very subjective, modest contribution, I try to touch subjects like gender, race, social equality, justice, freedom, choice, empathy, and human rights. Artists can’t fix the world… but we can paint it. Everything that happens around me; things I see, hear, feel, become raw material from which my work grows” - Luciana Mariano.
Luciana Mariano (1971) was born and raised in São Paulo, Brazil. Currently she lives and works in Pirkkala, Finland. Since 2008 she has participated in 36 group exhibitions and arranged 12 solo shows worldwide. Luciana Mariano was chosen as the naïve art representative for the 2010 Cow Parade in São Paulo, Brazil; in 2012, she created the “The World is our Home” mural in Wembley, UK, commissioned by Seneca Project. Luciana Mariano’s works are in public collections: MIMAN-Museu Internacional de Miniatures de Arte Naif (Paraty-Rio de Janero, Brazil), MIAN-Museu Internacional de Arte Naif (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), Museu de Arte de Batatais (Batatais-San Paulo, Brazil), Museu do Sol (Penápolis-Sao Paulo, Brazil), Musée d'Art Spontané (Brussels, Belgium), Bulgarian Naif Museum (Sofia, Bulgaria), Castle Lysice Collection (Lysice, Czech Republic).

Klavs Loris’ artistic style can be observed in his large-scale works, where the painter continuously experiments with techniques, combining classical oil painting with more modern mediums and materials. During these experimentations, Klavs Loris has developed his own author-technique, which combines photography, digital print and classical painting. In his latest paintings, he seeks ways to encounter, resist and re-create reality through abstraction. The series of paintings challenge the understanding of how the relationship between reality and humans is formed. The main guideline of the artist is based on a personal reflection of one’s role in society and the society around us. Regular self-destruction and constant growth at the same time.
Klavs Loris (1988) graduated from the Painting Department at the Art Academy of Latvia (2014). Since 2007, he has organized 8 solo shows and participated in more than 20 group exhibitions in Latvia and abroad, most noteworthy of which are (un)determined ˗ 17th International Vilnius Painting Triennial (2021, Applied Arts and Design Museum of the Lithuanian Art Museum, Vilnius, Lithuania),  and Tension. The Young in Latvian Painting (2016, Latvian National Museum of Art, Exhibition Hall Arsenals, Riga, Latvia). In 2015 he received Grand Prix prize at the international biennale of contemporary art Jeune Creation Europeenne ˗ Biennale d'art contemporain (Paris, France).

Paulis Liepa is one of the best known Latvian contemporary printmaking artists with his own bright and recognizable style, using the most basic graphic techniques – collography, cardboard cut, silkscreen. Hereflects on a wide range of philosophical questions and current events - starting from recent war collision points, to simple commonplace items and topics: street, internet, news, advertising. The latest works talk about the movement that slowly, but surely changes the order of things around us, causing us to change along them - both by accepting the natural course of things and impulsively reacting to external irritants.
Paulis Liepa (1978) has graduated from the Graphic Department of the Art Academy of Latvia (1997-2003). Since 1996, he has organized 17 solo shows and participated in more than 50 group shows and international projects in Latvia and abroad. Winner of several national and international awards in printmaking art. Paulis Liepa works are in public collections – Latvian National Museum of Art (Riga, Latvia), Latvian Contemporary Art Museum Collection (Riga, Latvia), Zuzāns Collection, Zuzeum Art Centre (Riga, Latvia), Art Collection Deutsche Telekom (Berlin, Germany), KAI|10 Arthena Foundation (Dusseldorf, Germany), Simmons Contemporary (London, UK), Kaliningrad State Art Gallery (Kaliningrad, Russia).

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