The Mask

From the "ART DETECTIVES" series

Can the works of art become alive? What about the possibility to step into a painting and experience the depicted story? What are the secrets that the artists have hidden in their paintings?

The "Art Detectives" books invite you behind the scenes of the art world, full of adventures and mysteries. The series features the young detectives Theo and Button and their sausage-dog Comma, who investigate the hidden secrets of works by some of the best-known Latvian artists.

This indeed is an unusually hot summer for the art detectives who have stuck in the city! While others spend their holidays at the countryside, Theo, Poga and Comma digs up a treasure trove in the very centre of Riga – on the embankment of the Daugava, containing an unusually shiny yellow mask. When Theo tries it on, the uncontrollable Bronze Man emerges before them, playing hotheaded jokes to the children.

In order to find out the secret behind the revival of the mask the detectives enter the world of art and find themselves at the time of their parents’ childhood – the times that used to be called Soviet. With the help of the mask Theo immediately becomes a local celebrity, and the trio lives through the legend of the Bronze Man.

Seven titles have been published in the "Art Detectives" series - "Missing Monkey", "Invisible Man", "Arrival of a Stranger", "The Mask", "Last King", "Untitled" and "Secret Password". In all books, readers dive into the greatest chase in the history of the art world, meeting famous Latvian artists (Janis Rozentāls, Niklāvs Strunke, etc) or artists that have roots in Latvian territory (Mark Rothko).

Publisher: Neputns; Illustrator: Elina Braslina.