Aleksandra Chudnovska’s exhibition dedicated to the theme of the Venetian Carnival has been on view at the Riga Art Nouveau Centre since 13 January 2026 until March, 8, 2026. The exhibition brings together the artist’s original works — graphics and photographs — alongside objects from a private collection. It presents Venice as a theatre of light and shadow, where reality and fantasy come together in an ongoing dialogue.
Aleksandra Chudnovska’s graphic works and photographs featuring Venetian carnival costumes enter into a dialogue with classical commedia dell’arte graphic characters, reinterpreted through the artist’s individual visual language. The works draw on academic graphic traditions and the stylistic language of 19th-century drawing, with pronounced architectural detailing and a sensitivity to line and light characteristic of the period.
The city is presented as a place where time and history are reflected through architecture, water, and light. These reflections appear not only in the waters of Venice, but also in its architecture, which preserves the traces of centuries, in people and their faces hidden behind masks, and in the light that illuminates the historic city.
The exhibition includes original Venetian masks, postcards, decorative ornaments and fans, as well as Italian decorative Pierrot figures, reflecting the visual world of Venetian carnival and theatrical traditions.
The exhibition presents fine art photographs from the series Venetian Windows and Images of Venice, as well as works dedicated to the theme of Venetian carnival costumes. Together, these form a unique cycle of photographic and graphic works with no direct analogues either in contemporary art practice or in Venice itself. The works engage in a dialogue with classical commedia dell’arte graphic characters, reinterpreting them through the artist’s individual visual language.
The series Venetian Windows is based on classical Venetian architecture and traditional compositional principles — pointed arches, rhythmic façades, the play of reflections, and the depth of spatial perspective. Here, architectural form becomes not merely a frame, but an independent artistic image — a boundary between reality and the imagined space of the city. The project reveals Venice as a system of visual portals through which the viewer enters into a dialogue with the city’s history, memory, and silence.
The works are created in the stylistic language of 19th-century drawing, rooted in academic graphic traditions, architectural detailing, and a period-specific sensitivity to line and light. The exhibition includes original Venetian masks, postcards, decorative ornaments and fans, as well as Italian decorative Pierrot figures, reflecting the visual world of Venetian carnival and theatrical traditions.
