Kristina Mažeikaitė "GATES TO THE GARDEN" (painting)

Kristina Mažeikaitė GATES TO THE GARDEN (painting)

February 1-25

Opening – January 31, 6 p. m.

Hey, world, I'm here! - I thought when I painted my first landscapes in 2015 I was painting the power of growth and the creative force of the artist. I believed that everything can be created. And in this way, I competed with the Grand Creator.

Over the time, my landscapes have become more and more reductive, until only the balance between the ground and sky was left. I would describe this period of my oeuvre as an attempt to paint empty distance, a desire to capture the traces of the passing time and the basic rules of existence. I have been trying to catch that "glance into the distance", not expecting to discover anything, not expecting something to be different. The landscapes varied according to the areas ruled by the earth or the sky. The earth glowed and burned, the sky shined and oppressed with its heaviness.

Today I am continuing the study of the landscape. I often discover colour links with the paintings of the Old Masters, especially from the Renaissance. I am continuing the landscape study as if I wanted to uncover the earth's surface and the layers underneath it, and also giving new meanings to the everyday image of the earth.

The land/landscape motif has become a powerful tool for me to talk about relevant topics. And while the first works based on the landscape motif had more optimism, energy and vitality of the artist, today's landscapes are more contemplative and destructive. The mantra "the land was burning, but nobody noticed", "the burning land", "no-man's land", is more and more often in my mind during painting process. Or simply "saudade" - a silent glance into the emptiness of the distance.

The title of this exhibition is “Gates to the Garden”. The choice is based on an intentional paradox - to merge the images of the earth as a pleasant place, an imaginary Paradise, and a powerful earth that belongs to no one and destroys human endeavours. The painted horizon of the landscape can accumulate radically different situations or experiences: faith, hope for a better world or the approaching front. Through the colour codes and tools of painterly expression, the tranquil landscape image can hold a painful memory.

And the process of painting by itself preserves that moment / concept of creation, as if to replicate the work of Demiurge. The desire for non-representation, the use of transformation, the avoidance of narrative and the study of the painting tradition become a study of the earth's structure. So, before your eyes, are the images of landscape that are emerging, evolving or already completed.

About the artist:

Kristina Mažeikaitė graduated from Vilnius Academy of Arts in 2015 with a Master's degree in Painting (in the studio of Henrikas Čerapas); received Ary Stillman Scholarship in 2014. Her works have been exhibited in solo exhibitions: No Man's Land (Arka Gallery, 2021), Saudade (A. Mončys House-Museum, 2021), The House of the Burning Sun (Pamėnkalnis Gallery, 2018), Apples of Paradise (St. John's Street Gallery, 2018), The Painter's Landscape (Museum of Energy and Technique, 2016), and others. Since 2010 she has been participating in the group exhibitions (over 20 group exhibitions). Since 2017, member of the Lithuanian Artists' Union.