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International Visual Arts Competition GRATA AWARD 2026 “Multilayered Identity: Encountering the Other in Urban Space”
About the GRATA BALVA project
GRATA BALVA is an annual international competition project established in 2018 by
MuseumLV Gallery in cooperation with the Grata JJ Cultural Center.
Every year the project team invites professional artists from various countries, including
Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Ukraine, France, China, the United Kingdom, the United States, Switzerland, South Korea, and others, to share their creative experience and new ideas in the exhibition halls of MuseumLV Gallery.
On average, more than 200 artworks form a multifaceted representation of contemporary art in painting, sculpture, graphics, ceramics, textile art, digital art, as well as performance art had been received in previous years.
The exhibition takes place on both floors of the gallery.
The aim of the project is to encourage communication and exchange of experience among artists and to promote their creative work.
The cash prize serves as an additional motivation for artists’ professional development.
All exhibited works are available for purchase.
Participants and audience include professional artists whose work meets the gallery’s quality standards, as well as visitors from various countries.
Previous GRATA BALVA themes
• “Mystery. Ritual Art”
• “Source of Power”
• “#artifact #fifthcivilization”
• “#illusory #reality” (supporting Ukrainian refugees) • “Golden Age”
Among the laureates of the Grata Balva competition are artists such as Juris Ģērmanis, Aleksejs Naumovs, Dita Lūse, Vadims Markevičs, Linda Kozule, Anita Paegle, Ilze Muceniece-Adamaite, Leo Preiss.
Cash prizes in the competition
The GRATA BALVA visual arts competition provides several monetary awards:
• Main Prize – GRATA BALVA (500 €) awarded by the gallery representatives based on cooperation experience and the artist’s contribution to the activities of MuseumLV Gallery.
• Curator’s Prize – 300 € and the opportunity to hold a solo exhibition at MuseumLV Gallery are determined by visitor voting during the exhibition.
• Sponsor prizes
To ensure maximum transparency and objectivity, all works are exhibited anonymously, marked only with a number.
Voting takes place in person throughout the exhibition period.
Award ceremony
Awards are presented in two stages:
• GRATA BALVA – 500 € is awarded during the opening of the exhibition.
• Audience Choice Award – results are counted and announced on the last day of the exhibition, while the award itself is presented at the opening of the next exhibition in September at MuseumLV Gallery.
• Curator’s Prize are presented during the opening ceremony.
Jury
• Deniss Hanovs – exhibition curator, cultural researcher, professor at the Art Academy of Latvia
• Representative of GRATA ECO HOUSE, the general sponsor
• Jūlija Eresko, director of MuseumLV Gallery
• Representatives of sponsors and partner companies
Attached materials
Sandro Chkhaidze “Faņķiki”
Dear gallery MuseumLV and Grata JJ cultural centre friends and colleagues!
From April 18 to May 30, 2026, the exhibition “Faņķiki” by artist Sandro Čhaidze will be on view at MuseumLV Art Gallery, located in the Grata JJ Cultural Center.
“Faņķiki” reveals the artist’s personal reality—a world constructed through lines, rhythms, and pure colors. Within this world, painting becomes a structured experience, where the viewer encounters not merely an image but a system that is both rational and intuitive. It is precisely within this tension between construction and freedom that the energy of the works emerges.
Since the beginning of the so-called “Striped Period,” stripes have occupied a central role in the artist’s practice. They function as a grid, a skeleton, or a backbone that organizes the pictorial space. This structure is not merely a formal device but also a tool for thinking. It allows the painting to develop as a constructed entity in which every color, plane, and rhythm enters the composition through a sequential process: first the line, then the stripes, followed by color, plasticity, and finally the emergence of freedom.
The artist’s background in graphic design is reflected in this disciplined and systematic approach, yet it is translated into the field of painting. As a result, the works function as visual objects that exist somewhere between painting, design, and conceptual construction. The artist himself refers to his works as products—autonomous visual units that possess both material presence and conceptual clarity.
The exhibition title “Faņķiki” introduces another layer to the works’ aesthetic language. The word evokes associations with colorful candy wrappers—bright, graphic, and visually playful surfaces that attract attention through rhythm and color. Beneath this apparent playfulness, however, lies a strict internal order. The artist deliberately distances himself from random or purely spontaneous abstraction; instead, his paintings emerge from a controlled process in which elements of deconstruction appear only in measured doses, maintaining tension within the structure.
At the same time, the exhibition functions as a condensed overview of the artist’s work from the past three years, revealing the consistency and evolution of his visual language. The predominantly medium-sized acrylic paintings create a spatial rhythm within the exhibition space, where repetition, variation, and chromatic relationships generate visual movement.
“Faņķiki” reveals the artist’s personal reality—a world constructed through lines, rhythms, and pure colors. Within this world, painting becomes a structured experience, where the viewer encounters not merely an image but a system that is both rational and intuitive. It is precisely within this tension between construction and freedom that the energy of the works emerges.Sandro Chkhaidze
Author’s CV
In 1987 I entered the Tbilisi State Academy of Arts – the faculty of Graphic Design.
In 1992 I returned to Riga, worked as a graphic designer, organized my personal exhibitions in Riga, Latvia and some other European countries. Now I live and work in Tbilisi (Georgia) since 2006.
I have drawn professionally and participating in exhibitions since 1990. During the last 15 years,
I mostly work in acrylic technique on canvas. Acrylic best matches the modern rhythm. Before that, most works were in oil and graphics with gouache and mixed media, as well as collages. The sizes of my works are mostly medium format, starting from 50x50cm up to 150x150cm. Until 2010 my works were created in different manners, but then the “STRIPE PERIOD” began, which continues nowadays as well.
I have the feeling that I don't just paint my paintings, I build and model them. The task of drawing a Typewriter or whatever is not interesting to me in itself. The result must be something more than just a painting. Something that nowadays could boldly be called a PRODUCT. Yes, exactly!
Stripes are a sort of grid or backbone through which I build my world. First there is the line, then the stripes, then comes the color, then the plasticity and finally there is freedom. Order and no coincidences, pure colors. Accidental art is unacceptable to me. A little deconstruction, but in the right dose, and then my personal reality comes in, which I share without hesitation.
This exhibition is like a retrospective to show you as much as possible what I've been working on over the last three years."
PERSONAL ART EXHIBITIONS:
08/1993 - Riga, “ASŪNA” gallery
12/1993 - Riga, Christmas exhibition “HOTEL DE ROME”
01/1994 - Riga, Christmas exhibition in Orthodox Cathedral
09/1994 - Riga, ARSENĀLS “My black-and-white cinema”
05/1995 - Riga, Gallery “ARS MODERNA”, “Reflection”
09/1995 - Denmark, Copenhagen “GALLERY 68”
05/1996 - Riga, gallery “ARS MODERNA”
11/1996 - France, Dijon Conference hall, Georgian days
03/1998 - Denmark, Copenhagen “GALLERY 68”
02/1999 - Riga –BALTARS’99
03/2011 - Gallery “Tiflis Avenue”, Tbilisi (Exhibition “Striped Period”)
01/2018 - TBC Art Gallery, Tbilisi (Exhibition “BEYOND THE STRIPES”)
07/2025 - GALERIE ORANGE, Tegernsee, Germany (Exhibition “I’m Still Standing”)
Attached materials
Invitation to participate in the competition GRATA BALVA 2026 “Multilayered Identity: Encountering the Other in Urban Space”
Dear fellow artists,
The MuseumLV Gallery invites you to participate in the annual international visual art competition GRATA BALVA 2026.
The exhibition curator is Deniss Hanovs, cultural researcher and professor at the Art Academy of Latvia.
The description of the exhibition theme by the curator is attached.
About the GRATA BALVA project
GRATA BALVA is an annual international competition project established in 2018 by MuseumLV Gallery in cooperation with the Grata JJ Cultural Center.
Every year the project team invites professional artists from various countries, including Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Ukraine, France, China, the United Kingdom, the United States, Switzerland, South Korea, and others, to share their creative experience and new ideas in the exhibition halls of MuseumLV Gallery.
On average, more than 200 artworks form a multifaceted representation of contemporary art in painting, sculpture, graphics, ceramics, textile art, digital art, as well as performance art had been received in previous years.
The exhibition takes place on both floors of the gallery.
The aim of the project is to encourage communication and exchange of experience among artists and to promote their creative work.
The cash prize serves as an additional motivation for artists’ professional development.
All exhibited works are available for purchase.
Participants and audience include professional artists whose work meets the gallery’s quality standards, as well as visitors from various countries.
Previous GRATA BALVA themes
• “Mystery. Ritual Art”
• “Source of Power”
• “#artifact #fifthcivilization”
• “#illusory #reality” (supporting Ukrainian refugees)
• “Golden Age”
Among the laureates of the Grata Balva competition are artists such as Juris Ģērmanis, Aleksejs Naumovs, Dita Lūse, Vadims Markevičs, Linda Kozule, Anita Paegle, Ilze Muceniece-Adamaite, Leo Preiss.
Cash prizes in the competition
The GRATA BALVA visual arts competition provides several monetary awards:
• Main Prize – GRATA BALVA (500 €) awarded by the gallery representatives based on cooperation experience and the artist’s contribution to the activities of MuseumLV Gallery.
• Second Prize – 300 € and the opportunity to hold a solo exhibition at MuseumLV Gallery are determined by visitor voting during the exhibition.
• Curator’s Prize – 300 €
• Sponsor prizes
To ensure maximum transparency and objectivity, all works are exhibited anonymously, marked only with a number.
Voting takes place in person throughout the exhibition period.
Award ceremony
Awards are presented in two stages:
• GRATA BALVA – 500 € is awarded during the opening of the exhibition.
• Audience Choice Award – results are counted and announced on the last day of the exhibition, while the award itself is presented at the opening of the next exhibition in September at MuseumLV Gallery.
• Sponsor awards are presented during the opening ceremony.
Jury
• Deniss Hanovs – exhibition curator, cultural researcher, professor at the Art Academy of Latvia
• Representative of GRATA ECO HOUSE, the general sponsor
• Jūlija Eresko, director of MuseumLV Gallery
• Representatives of sponsors and partner companies
Important information
Submission deadline for artworks:
May 30, 2026 (during gallery working hours)
Works submitted after May 30 will not be accepted.
Application deadline:
May 18, 2026.
Before delivering the artwork to the gallery, please send to the gallery email with :
• updated CV in Latvian
• portrait photo
• photo of the artwork in good quality (recommended size 74–200 KB) for the gallery website and social media
• information about the work: title, size, year, technique, price
This information must be sent at least 2 working days before delivering the artwork to the gallery (until May 18).
Without this information and the gallery’s confirmation email, the artwork will not be accepted.
If the number of submitted works exceeds the gallery’s capacity for a quality exhibition display, the gallery reserves the right to refuse later applications according to the principle “first come – first registered.”
Artwork size
This year artworks of any size will be accepted, including non-standard formats.
However, the gallery reserves the right to decline certain works.
After prior approval, the following works may be accepted:
• paintings
• sculptures
• installations / objects
Each participant may submit one additional or two additional works related to the main competition work in order to deepen the viewer’s understanding of the artist’s creative approach.
However, the gallery reserves the right to decline additional works.
Officially only one artwork from each artist participates in the competition.
If the artist wishes to add a concept description, please send it in advance so that it can be included in the exhibition.
To participate in the competition, please send by May 30, 2026 to:
• confirmation of participation
• portrait photo
• updated CV
• photo of the artwork
• title, size, year, technique, price
After receiving the email, the MuseumLV Gallery team will reply with confirmation and the schedule for artwork delivery.
Artworks are accepted only after official confirmation from the gallery.
Final deadline for artwork delivery:
May 30, 2026
Works not accepted
• works with aggressive content
• works provoking conflicts
• works offending people’s feelings
• works inciting ethnic hatred
• works not corresponding to the competition theme
We support all your initiatives in the field of visual arts and wish you success in the competition and in your creative work.
See you at the gallery!
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Opening hours during Easter
Opening hours during the holidays:
03.04 — the gallery is closed
04.04 — 11:00 AM to 5:00 PM
06.04 — the gallery is closed
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Change of opening hours
Dear friends,
We would like to inform you that Galerija Grata JJ will be open tomorrow, March 20, with shortened hours — until 6:15 PM.
Thank you for your understanding, and we look forward to welcoming you at another time!
Ilze Preisa
Red Dress
2022
125 × 125 cm
Oil on canvas
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Guided tour and discussion with the artists and curator of the exhibition “AS IF WE HAD NOTHING TO BE AFRAID OF”
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"AS IF WE HAD NOTHING TO BE AFRAID OF"
Artists Zoya Golubeva and Denis Evin propose different yet complementary approaches to this “investigation of anxiety.” In Evin’s works, digital technologies, mirrored structures, and organic objects coexist with images of loneliness and vulnerability. Golubeva’s paintings, referencing the Baroque tradition of European art, address themes of inner darkness, despair, and existential anxiety, unfolding through personal and almost intimate narratives.
During the process of creating the exhibition, Nature unexpectedly emerged as a third participant. Organic structures of forest fungi generated imagery that surfaced within the paintings, intertwining with memory, forgotten stories, and the unconscious. Open to the viewers’ interpretations, the exhibition invites audiences not only to encounter the fears of others but also to listen to their own, asking: what becomes visible when anxiety recedes, and is a true encounter — with another and with oneself — possible?
CVZoja Golubeva is an interdisciplinary Latvian artist. She earned her artistic education at the Latvian Academy of Art (BA in Painting) and also studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków, focusing on painting, textiles and public space art.
Deniss Evins is an interdisciplinary Latvian multimedia artist. His works exist at the intersection of performance, interactive installations, text, video, and digital technologies, where he explores reflections of memory, identity, and vulnerability within the digital environment - creating space for contact with the Other and sincerity.
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Tatjana Spāde — “…premonitions…”
Tatjana Spāde
Solo Exhibition
“Premonitions…”
I am not a professional painter. I began painting only nine years ago… and I simply cannot stop.
Premonitions… What should I paint? How should I paint? How should I live? It feels a little unusual, especially now that I am turning 70.
I continue to explore new techniques and new subjects, following my premonitions.
But there is one thing I know for certain:
This world is BEAUTIFUL!
— Tatjana Spāde
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Merry Christmas!
Merry Christmas!
On behalf of the MuseumLV Art Gallery team, we warmly wish you a joyful and peaceful Christmas.
May this special season bring peace, hope, and warmth to your hearts, and may its light inspire new ideas, bold decisions, and creative journeys.
Thank you for being with us—as artists, visitors, supporters, and friends. Your presence, trust, and openness to art give meaning to everything we do.
May the New Year bring clarity, strength, and many new encounters with art and through art.
We look forward to welcoming you to MuseumLV!
Holiday Opening Hours:
24–26 December – Gallery closed
27 December – Private event
30 December – 2 January – Gallery closed
With warm wishes,
The MuseumLV Team
Image: Yuliya Eresko, 2023. Watercolour on paper.
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