Head of Department of Russian and Eastern European Art at "Sotheby's" Joanna Vickery first became acquainted with works of Līga Purmale and Ritums Ivanovs at the 11th International Art Fair "Art Moscow" in Russia last year. She was astonished by the high artistic quality of their paintings. Delegated by Joanna Vickery, in December last year, art doctor Alla Rosenfeld, Vice President and Senior Specialist of Russian Paintings Department at "Sotheby's" and a well known Russian and Baltic non-conformist and conceptual art expert, arrived in Latvia to visit the "Riga Gallery", she was accompanied by several other representatives of the art auction house in London. Rosenfeld's conclusion was the same as that expressed by Vickery - artwork created by the two Latvian authors merits the highest appreciation.

"Sotheby's" auctions are in the center of attention of art collectors, entrepreneurs and researchers world-wide. These events have global media coverage and the price that is paid for art pieces at "Sotheby's" auctions is considered to be their actual value.

Due to the financial crisis, "Sotheby's" has decided to postpone organizing a Latvian art exhibition and auction and, for now, to start with auctioning two Latvian artists' paintings - "Saturday Night Movie" by Līga Purmale and "Frame 05" by Ritums Ivanovs. The start price for these artworks is set from GBP 8,000 to GBP 12,000 (LVL 6,240 to LVL 9,360).

The paintings will be on display at an exhibition at 34-35 Bond Street, London W1A 2AA, UK, from June 5 to June 9, the auction will start at 11 a.m. on June 9.