ROOTS

This year, the Song Festival stage in Mežaparks has taken a new breath. It was designed as a place of Latvian power according to the plans of architects Austris Mailītis and Juris Poga. The image of the work forms a visual connection with the folk song about the silver grove – the tribune has acquired the shape of a hill, the peculiar roof structures resemble a birch grove, the support system resembles branches, but leaves can be seen in the reflective crown of the stage. From September 2, 2021, the work of the painter Baiba Ābelīte “Permitted Illusion. Roots”, which continues the theme started by architects. In the ambitious set of nine paintings, the artist symbolically reflects the impact of humanity and urbanization on nature – it is a story about the traces left by humanity in nature, about the impact of urbanization on the environment. In the process, trees, forest and the power of nature have been used as a source of inspiration, the accumulated set of impulses has turned into a painting in which abstract and stylized tree structures can be seen. The nine parts of the work together form a single reflective landscape. The metallic reflective base of the works, as the lighting changes, creates more and more illusions – what is seen in the painting transforms and gives the paintings additional dimensions, in which the unseen is revealed, creating a feeling that the paintings live. The white lines highlighted by the light echo the theme of the silver grove. Roots are the beginning of our lives, they give us strength, help us grow and enrich us with creative energy.