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Leonards Laganovskis is one of the most distinguished representatives of Latvian conceptual art. Humour and irony often add expressiveness to his figurative work. Laganovskis's works treat power, politics and society critically, by alluding to the countless manipulations that surround us daily, reports Gallery Bastejs.

The series Gretel und Hansel, Before and After puts the viewer in an uncomfortable position, by probing the limits of ethics and morals. The children book illustrations, with barely discernible pornographic scenes glowing through them, are a reminder of childhood situations where one would secretly snicker at pornographic pictures while one's parents were away. The tremendous amount of online porn that is available now has created a ridiculous reversal of that situation – today children have easier and more anonymous access to pornography than they do to the match zone in a newspaper kiosk.

Laganovskis's over-the-top approach contrasts with Roland Barthes's outdated definition of erotica, which is comprised of omissions: "...skin flashing between two articles of clothing.., between two edges...; it is this flash itself which seduces, or rather: the staging of an appearance-as-disappearance." (The Pleasure of the Text, 1975, p. 10) Barthes points to erotic moments as lucky accidents and the exposure of a secret; and that how it worked in a society where the understanding of body/flesh was regulated by the category of its coverage and the concept of shame. In Laganovskis's series, the "aesthetic" of not showing has become today's "aesthetic" of showing – the "aesthetic" of kitsch. The artist alludes to today's moral illiteracy – the already outdated and worn-out approach of "sex sells" is still an integral part of mainstream imagery.