Gallery Late – Ernests Kļaviņš Solo Exhibition “Paintings”

The exhibition features oil paintings executed in a impasto style, depicting seemingly random scenes from everyday life—a hair salon, a pizza delivery, a train arriving at the station, a young man with a computer in a café. The artist is interested in everyday reality in its simplicity and familiarity—moments that we often overlook in daily life, yet which shape our shared sense of the urban environment and the times.

Ernests Kļaviņš is widely known for his drawings and cartoons in the Latvian press—formerly in the newspaper “Diena,” and currently in the weekly magazine “Ir.” His creative work also encompasses painting, animation, computer graphics, sculpture, and experiments with original techniques. The artist was nominated for the Purvītis Prize for his exhibition “Nirējs” at the “Alma” gallery. In his children’s book illustrations, Kļaviņš vividly and playfully combines color, line, humor, and surprise.

In 2021, together with his brother Andrejs Kļaviņš, he founded the game studio “Color Gray Games,” where the internationally acclaimed video games “The Case of the Golden Idol” and “The Rise of the Golden Idol” were created. In 2022, the publishing house “Liels un mazs” released his illustrated collection of Julian Tuvim’s poetry, “Pans Trallalnieks,” translated by Māris Salējs.

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About gallery

Kalnciema Quarter Gallery is an art and culture space located in the courtyard of the restored 19th-century wooden houses of Kalnciema Quarter, a culturally and historically significant neighbourhood in Riga. It is a place where contemporary art, tradition, and current movements meet, creating an environment for both local and international artists to exhibit their work and engage in dialogue with a wider public. The gallery’s exhibition programme covers a broad range of themes, from painting, sculpture, and graphic art to contemporary installation art and conceptual projects. The gallery not only showcases artworks, but also promotes the accessibility of art to a broader audience by regularly organising creative workshops, plein airs, masterclasses, and events that involve the local community.  A distinctive tradition has emerged within the gallery’s activities — the annual Contemporary Ceramics Pop-Up, which every December brings together more than 20 Latvian ceramic artists in one place.