“Rotaļlietas”, an exhibition from the gallery's own collection, reveals an unexpected turn in the practice of professional artists. Authors whose hand is usually associated with serious, conceptual or abstract painting have this time turned to the theme of play — a personal and emotionally saturated world.
In small-format oil paintings toys come alive – carriers of memory, silent witnesses to imagination, to a sense of safety and to the first stories we make ourselves. The toy becomes a fragile, at once ironic and deeply human symbol.
Changing their usual scale and subject matter, the artists keep the professionalism and painterly quality that are theirs, but give way to a freer, more playful expression. This departure from the monumental and the abstract lights up another layer of sensitivity — warm-hearted, reflective and at times lightly nostalgic.
“Rotaļlietas” is an exhibition about the ability to keep a child's way of seeing within oneself — about the courage to be tender, ironic and truthful, and a reminder that seriousness and play are not opposites but sources of creativity that exist side by side.