Liene Mackus

Liene Mackus creates sculptures, installations, illustrations and animation. She is one of the most talented Latvian sculptors, whose works feature scrupulous detailing and storytelling, poetic expression. Mackus works do not seek to conquer city squares; instead, they exist in their own world of ideas and free associations. The artist is interested in the local peculiarities of Latvian society, everyday imagery and events, which she makes part of her subjective mythology and with whose mediation she speaks about broader issues and the order of the world. Mackus’ concern for what is happening around her often places the “little person” in the centre of her works, who may be loveable or tragicomic, while each work is effused with the artist’s love for the characters she has created. While Mackus’ miniatures can make one feel superfluous, this may be deceptive since in viewing small things, people imagine themselves as part of them, thus comparing themselves to that scale.

The kinetic sculpture “A Little Universe” grew out of the work “Lauks” (Field), which was inspired by the works of Auseklis Baukšķenieks. While the initial plan was to create something similar to the surface of the moon on which Baušķenieks himself had landed, the work gradually expanded to include new sculptural elements and gained greater poetic ambiguity. The artist has tried to conjure the feeling of a Little Universe. One may try to embrace this little universe as a whole, walk around it, or remain in place while the little universe turns, demonstrating the texture of the lunar surface, meteorites, strange levitating objects and two figures wearing beekeeper masks. 

A Little Universe. 2014–2018.