Lotso – the bear with personality Painting

Painting from'Childhood friends' set and part of 'Curriculum Vitae' project. The art center Vauxhall, located in a historic building of the Riga station, presented personal project by Daria Bagrintseva 'Curriculum Vitae'. This is an exhibition about the person and a life's journey from birth through adulthood, to wisdom. The audience had a particular interest with the 'Golden Cage' of seven deadly sins, and the whole show had about 40 new paintings from the 'Childhood Friends', 'Seven' and 'Turn To Gold' series. Everyone as child had their favorite toys, a special world in which there is everything and everything is possible. Children play is free. It is not about benefits or self-interest, not a career, money or politics. And in difficult moments of growing a person is supported by memories of warmth, love, joy and security. At the entrance of the 'Way of Life' exhibition the audience is greeted with the painting from the 'Childhood Friends' series. They portray children's toys. Each with its own character, history and relationship with the other toys. By the artist’s intent toys reflect our early experiences. They seem to absorb the family warmth. We feel calm by looking at them – among good friends with so many games and joy in this life. Everything around is filled with love, openness, trust, filled with the special light of happiness, which happens only in childhood. Then we grow up and our games change. Someone’s change only in size and complexity of the toys. Someone is pulled to the outside world with its own games, rules and goals. Following the author, the audience "matures". It becomes part with the circle installation of 7 paintings made with gold leaf. This is the image-symbols, visualized passions. Seductive and alluring, like golden wrapped candy, they become a "golden cage" of desires, which we are striving to get into. The paintings form a kind of pagan altar with new gods and pseudo-icons. Dizzying smells and enchanting sounds also support an atmosphere of seduction and the eternal feast. Catchy music from the time of Great Depression sounds gently and merrily. This is the joy of life, however with a hint of a breakdown and moral dissonance. This is the last tango, the final accord. But if you stand in the center of the circle, and put on the headphones, the ambient sounds fade and you hear a specially selected audio series which takes the viewer into a completely different dimension, makes you look at the happening from another perspective. There is a salvation out of the "golden cage" – a return to the Light. 'It is very difficult time now, a lot of talks, manipulation of mass consciousness. I wanted to show that there is always a way out. Conscious choice, responsibility for your decisions and actions open a way to the Light. We must return to pure and sincere relationships, remember children's spontaneity and openness, allow ourselves to be happy, become higher than desires of consumer society' – says Daria Bagrintseva. As a symbol of rebirth and hope, she created a large-scale painting, symbolizing a pure light stream flowing from the picture on the viewer.