The Rothko Museum in Daugavpils, Latvia, opens its summer exhibition season on June 5, featuring five distinct shows that span photography, painting, and ceramics. Highlights include a retrospective of South African photographer Roger Ballen, known for his psychologically intense and boundary-blurring work; Chinese painter Liu Guofu’s meditative abstractions exploring entropy; Lithuanian artist Romualdas Balinskas’s shift toward abstract expression; Latvian artist Madara Tropa’s botanical paintings; and a ceramic series by Pēteris Martinsons marking his 95th anniversary. The season brings together artists from Latvia, Lithuania, China, and South Africa, curated by Aivars Baranovskis, Calvin Hui, and Tatjana Černova.
This season matters because it positions the Rothko Museum as a cross-cultural hub that bridges Eastern European, Asian, and African contemporary art practices. By juxtaposing Ballen’s confrontational psychological imagery with Liu’s quiet meditations on entropy and Balinskas’s existential abstraction, the museum highlights diverse approaches to inner and outer worlds. The inclusion of Latvian ceramic heritage through Martinsons’s cosmic-themed works also underscores the region’s rich artistic traditions, reinforcing the museum’s role in fostering international dialogue while honoring local history.