"System" Painting

Baiba Ābelīte B_APP_TREE (b. 1980) is a Latvian contemporary artist whose multidisciplinary practice explores the transformation of urban environments and the changing relationship between people, technology and the spaces they inhabit.

Working across painting, installation and performance, Ābelīte has developed a distinctive visual language through the use of industrial materials, metal and aluminium surfaces, layered textures, geometric structures and light-reflective elements. Her works transform fragments of urban infrastructure — grids, electrical networks, architectural structures and industrial textures — into dynamic compositions that exist between abstraction and the recognisable city.

A central theme of her practice is the city as a living, constantly transforming organism. Her works examine the tension between technological progress and ecological vulnerability, permanence and change, structure and uncertainty, while also reflecting the psychological experience of contemporary urban life.

In 2026, Ābelīte presented her first solo exhibition at Liepāja Museum, “Metropoles mutācija (Metropolis Mutation)”, bringing together large-scale works created on metal and aluminium surfaces and exploring the city as a space of continuous transformation. One of the exhibition’s large-scale works, Transformation, measuring 580 × 240 cm, incorporated augmented reality, extending the painting into an additional digital dimension.

In 2025, Ābelīte received a Special Award in the Art Residency category of the Arte Laguna Prize, further expanding her international artistic profile. Her work has also received recognition through the SEB Painting Grant and the Riga City Council Award associated with the Jāzeps Pīgožnis Award for Latvian Landscape Painting.

Ābelīte graduated with honours from the Painting Department of the Art Academy of Latvia, receiving her Bachelor’s degree in 2019 and Master’s degree in Painting in 2021. During her studies, she participated in Erasmus+ programmes and artistic projects in the United Kingdom, Germany and Norway.

Her work is increasingly presented in international contexts, with recent recognition through the Arte Laguna Prize and exhibitions and projects across Europe, Asia and the United States.