15.05. - 28.06.2025

Galerija "Māksla XO"

Elizabetes iela 14, Rīga, LV 1010

LIENE MACKUS

Warm Meadow 

Liene Mackus’ latest solo exhibition, “Warm Meadow”, is a continuation of her previous plant-related projects. The exhibition takes visitors on a journey through the meadow, as imagined by the artist during sleepless nights or moments of deep thought. Liene Mackus’ field of study in this project is a real meadow in the countryside, where she observes the plants, imagining them as objects and trying to sense their scent. By picking plants for herbal teas and herbariums, she seeks to embody the images of these plants in her dreams. She also explores plant pollen and the processes of pollination, reproduction, division, and wilting. This observation recurs year after year, like a dream, in which the artist expands her idea of plants as objects.
Liene Mackus metamorphoses plants into abstract objects by enlarging them and isolating their details from their context. The artist equates and compares their forms to her own body, organs, and textures. By altering their proportions, she creates a new perspective. This shift in perspective could be compared to the horizon line as seen by an ant or a spider. Liene Mackus pays special attention to vulnerary plants, which have helped humanity for centuries. By highlighting their importance, she symbolically creates sculptures as monuments to these plants.
The exhibition “Warm Meadow” also reflects Liene Mackus’ personal experience with gardening, which has become a form of meditation and an expression of care. It is a devotion to nature – an altar and a prayer for harmony between the earth and humanity.

Liene Mackus is a visual artist, sculptor, and illustrator specializing in animation and book illustration, as a scenographer and costume designer has collaborated with the Latvian Puppet Theatre.
Liene Mackus is known for her ability to blend various artistic disciplines, creating unique objects and installations that address social and environmental themes, encouraging reflection on the individual’s relationship with the surrounding environment, society and addressing issues of women’s collective identity. She identifies as an eco-feminist and describes herself as a poetic documentarian. Her works are characterized by a deep connection with nature and natural processes.
Liene Mackus (1984) graduated with the master’s degree from the Sculpture Department at the Art Academy of Latvia (2012). She has been awarded with the Latvia Architecture Award for her environmental object “Labyrinth”(2018)  and the Latvian Theatre Award for Performance “The Ugly Duckling” (2015) for Children or Teenagers.
She has organised 6 solo exhibitions and participated in more that 30 group exhibition. Recent main exhibitions: solo show “Beginning” (2024, Riga Porcelain Museum, Riga, Latvia), “Don’t Cry! Feminist Perspectives in Latvian Art: 1965–2023” (2023, Latvian National Museum of Art, Riga, Latvia), “The Woman without Qualities” (2020, Rainis and Aspazija Summer House, Jurmala, Latvia). Her sculptural works are displayed in public spaces and are included in the collection of the Latvian National Museum of Art in Riga, Latvia.

More: 

https://www.artsy.net/show/maksla-xo-warm-meadow?sort=partner_show_position