Vilnius Town Hall 2022 hosted the project-exhibition Eglė Karpavičiūtė. RE-PAINTED, which was financed by the Lithuanian Council for Culture.
About the Project: The exhibition was presented at Vilnius Town Hall, the Klaipėda Culture Communications Centre Exhibition Hall, the Panevėžys City Art Gallery, and the Šiauliai Art Gallery.
About the Artist: Eglė Karpavičiūtė is a consistent researcher of the cultural field. Her works are visual commentaries on painting, history, and art institutions such as museums, galleries, and exhibition spaces. The artist observes and immortalizes cultural time and its changes, discusses contemporary art presentation specifics and consumption habits, the identity of the painter and artist, the role of the viewer as an art consumer, and the belief and doubt in the painting.
The exhibition showcased the latest series of E. Karpavičiūtė’s works, a continuation of the artist’s previously created “Painted Exhibitions” series. The canvases depict the most notable spaces of contemporary art galleries and museums (such as the Guggenheim, Victoria Miro, David Zwirner, Gagosian, etc.), where the artist inserts and “exhibits” her paintings. This creates a fictional documentation of her creative biography, erasing the boundaries between fact and illusion and constantly rechecking the relationship between painting and reality. The painted images become records of unrealized events—exhibitions occur and are localized only on the canvas surface. Thus, the works, imitating a retrospective glance, function as time forgeries and are archived as facts of existence through one of the most archaic art forms—painting.
Artistic Approach: In her painting, E. Karpavičiūtė employs a strategy of retrospection—looking back into the past. The starting point for her is the discussions from the second half of the 20th century about the “death” of painting, questioning the authority and relevance of this long-dominant art form in the context of newly emerging art forms. The artist returns to this historical state of painting and reconsiders its critical development moment, reliving the existential transformations of painting, its stagnation in expressive development, and its revival. By manipulating the usual passage of time, E. Karpavičiūtė rewrites the history of painting, discovering alternative directions for it. Her paintings become a monument to painting—a hall of illusionary images, constantly establishing its past and present.
About the Artist: EGLĖ KARPAVIČIŪTĖ (b. 1984) graduated from the Vilnius Academy of Arts with a degree in painting. She has held solo exhibitions and participated in numerous group exhibitions in Lithuania and abroad. Her works have been displayed in prestigious art institutions (National Gallery of Art and Contemporary Art Centre in Lithuania, KUMU Art Museum in Estonia, PasquArt Contemporary Art Centre in Switzerland, etc.), and her works are held in collections such as the National Gallery of Art, MO Museum, and Lewben Art Foundation. In 2011, E. Karpavičiūtė reached the final of the prestigious “The Sovereign European Art Prize” in Istanbul. In 2013, she was awarded an individual state scholarship by the Lithuanian Ministry of Culture. In 2015, E. Karpavičiūtė won the top prizes in two international competitions, “Premio Combat Prize 2015” and “Donkey Art Prize.” She is a multiple finalist and public prize winner of the “Young Painter Prize” competition.
Funding and Partners: The project was funded by the Lithuanian Council for Culture.
Project Partners: The Rooster Gallery, Klaipėda KKC Exhibition Hall, Panevėžys City Art Gallery, Šiauliai Art Gallery
Photos: Vytas Nomadas
