Art Riga Fair Paper 2026

From 9 to 15 February, the Railway Museum hosted the international art exhibition ART RIGA FAIR PAPER. Taking part alongside Latvia's leading masters of graphic art were participants from France, Canada, Lithuania, Estonia and other countries.

Printmaking is one of the most accessible ways to begin building an art collection. It lets you acquire original works of art and get to know artists' signatures, techniques and ideas at the very start of the collecting journey.

By collecting graphic art, you can develop an understanding of contemporary art gradually: learning to look, to compare and to choose. It is a chance to build a close, personal relationship with an artwork and to become part of a living, creative process.

The exhibition ART RIGA FAIR PAPER is dedicated to graphic art as one of the most multi-layered and conceptually rich areas of contemporary art. It brings together artists who, in their creative practice, work with a variety of printmaking techniques, approaches and visual languages, revealing the broad expressive possibilities of graphic art in the context of contemporary art.

The exhibition featured artists representing both classical printmaking techniques and experimental, contemporary approaches. Visitors could explore works created in engraving, etching, aquatint, drypoint, linocut, woodcut, lithography and screenprinting, as well as mixed and hybrid techniques.

An essential part of the exhibition is also original graphic art and drawing, where works are made as unique art objects using pencil, India ink, ink, pastel and other traditional forms of graphic expression. Alongside these, the exhibition included works in which printmaking technologies are combined with digital solutions, expanding the boundaries of graphic art and its possibilities for interpretation.

ART RIGA FAIR PAPER highlights the importance of paper as a material: not just as a carrier, but as an active component of the artwork. Here, paper becomes a space for experiment, tactile experience and a conceptual dialogue between technique, idea and form.

The exhibition offers a diverse view of graphic art, affirming its relevance, its contemporaneity and its ability to preserve tradition while remaining open to innovation. It is a platform for professional dialogue between different generations, aesthetics and creative practices, marking the significant place of graphic art in the contemporary art process.

In the context of ART RIGA FAIR PAPER, paper is not a passive support for the image but a full participant in the artistic process. It is a material with memory, resistance and character: a surface that accumulates touch, pressure, time and thought. Every impression, every line and texture reveals not only the image but also the very act of creation.

Paper can be fragile and strong at once. It absorbs colour and ink, yet at the same time keeps its structure, its breath and its presence. In graphic art, paper becomes a space where technical precision meets unpredictability, and tradition meets experiment. Its fibre, density, tone and surface treatment shape a work's mood, rhythm and perception, making each work unrepeatable.

In the exhibition, paper also reveals itself as a tactile experience: a material that addresses the viewer not only visually but also through the senses. It invites close looking, slows perception and fosters a quiet, concentrated dialogue between the artwork and the viewer. The presence of paper underlines the intimacy and precision of graphic art, while affirming its capacity to be conceptually powerful and contemporary.

In ART RIGA FAIR PAPER, paper becomes a space for thinking: a place where an idea materialises, where experiment leaves its traces, and where graphic art reveals its multidimensional nature. It is a material that connects hand, mind and image, giving graphic art its unique, untransferable presence.

Exhibition participants: Anne Rudanovski (Estonia), the "Tifāna" gallery: Ilze Kuišele, Tatjana Semane; Elvita Šeputaite (Lithuania), Isono Satoshi (Japan), Dags Vidulejs, Nikolajs Krivošeins, Nele Zirnite, "Oforta Ģilde", Anna Šenke, Vladimirs Kolosovs (Canada), VOYZX Fine Art Project (Canada), Ilona Gonsovska, Viktors Krotovs, Alīna Platoņenko-Oganjana, Aleksejs Vagners, Larisa Shellar, Nina Ryabova, Olga Jakubovska, Svetlana Grigorjeva (Lithuania), Juliya Pesenka-Hramatneva (Lithuania), Vladimir Shapovalov (Lithuania), Roman Sustov (Lithuania), Laly Antonov, the "Lidojoša ota" studio: Jekaterina Bai, Inga Veldre, Arvils Linde, Augusts Zariņš, Maruta Gredzena, Elīna Alka Rikmane, Dainis Gudovskis, Viktorija Kosenko, Ingemāra Treija, Laura Marija Salkauskiene (Lithuania), Dima Delone, Dasha Delone (Montenegro), Iveta Trence (Germany), Bas Kalle (Netherlands), Ingrīda Rutka, Katarzyna Tuzylak-Kopytek (Poland) and others.