“INTERNAL SORES” OR CREATION AS RITUAL 0

www.kamane.lt, 2011-05-19

Dovilė Stirbytė

In brief: Vaida Tamoševičiūtė is an artist of the youngest generation creating in the fields of painting, earth art, object and performance. The artist is a graduate of Vilnius Academy of Arts, Kaunas Art Faculty, studies of painting. Creation to V. Tamoševičiūtė is like a ritual, certain meditation in which the body of the artist participates directly or indirectly. Using her body as a medium, V. Tamoševičiūtė expresses her internal experience and pain. One of the rituals of V. Tamoševičiūtė will take place at the gallery Meno Parkas in Kaunas on the 20th of May, where the artist will show the performance “When Dreams End”. Dovilė Stirbytė converses with V. Tamoševičiūtė about emotions, art, creation and various experiences in the article.

V. Tamoševičiūtė reveals that she became interested in art rather late, she was rather attracted to untraditional people and lifestyle. Her decision to study painting was mainly determined by the meeting with the late Arūnas Vaitkūnas. Other lecturers who made an impact on the artist were Agnė Jonkutė, Česlovas Lukenskas and Aleksas Andriuškevičius. A. Jonkutė and Č. Lukenskas taught the artist to look at a topic from different sides and not to fear various disincentives. Č. Lukenskas expanded her eyesight with his disregard to any art borders. Meanwhile, the artist enjoyed the very human relation with A. Andriuškevičius and his encouragement to start creating earth art.

Video installation "February will not Last Forever", 2008.

When asked about the video documentary of the performance “February will not Last Forever” presented in one of the artist's solo exhibitions in 101 gallery of VMU in spring of 2008, V. Tamoševičiūtė tells that she decided to picture the cutting of red hair on white snow as transition to a new status, as a change. The artist experienced a divorce at that time and wanted to get over it and move ahead. Red hair left on white snow was like purification.

Performance "Free Wall", Kaunas, 2010.

Remembering the performance “Free Wall” presented in the international festival of performances “Silence, Please!” in Vilnius and Kaunas on the 9th of September, 2010, the artist tells that her performance was in a way related with the title of the exhibition. It was also related with earlier works of the artist, in which writing and painting on the body was used. Her idea was to look at herself as a thing rather than a woman, as a white sheet of paper or canvas. V. Tamoševičiūtė tells that she experienced during the performance that a naked body still shocked Lithuanian people, although it is nothing new in art for a long time.

Performance “Together”, 2010.

Speaking about the performance “Together” presented along with Šarūnas Juknys in the exhibition of earth and environmental art in Vilnius Botanical Garden in Kairėnai in 2010, the artist reveals that their performance was about the survival of relation between two people, about being together, bitterness of this being and staying together despite this bitterness.

"Leaving Easily", 2008.

Meanwhile, the work “Leaving Easily” was created after the first year of Master studies, during the practice of earth art in Nida. The artist had an idea to cover wooden steps with sand as if it were a dune. Earth art appeared in her field of interest exceptionally due to A. Andriuškevičius.

Installation "My Death-masks", Estonia, 2009. 

 

“With Face from the Earth”, 2009.

During the practice in Nida the artist discovered collective creation and cooperation. She started creating with Šarūnas Juknys later and participated in earth and environmental art exhibitions in Vilnius Botanical Garden for several years in sequence. This is where heads from earth were created in a room of a forlorn factory – they became the continuation of the artist's Master graduation work “My Death-masks” made of gypsum. The work “With Face from the Earth” was created along with Šarūnas in the festival Mėnuo Juodaragis.

Telling about the performance that will be presented at Meno Parkas gallery on the 20th of May, V. Tamoševičiūtė states that it will be about parting again. The performance will be a kind of ritual of farewell and reconciliation with the loss and oneself.

“I will use one symbol of parting that has become a cultural stereotype (in literature, films, songs): the tearing of letters and photographs of a person who was once close. Still, no letters and photographs will be torn. I will use a simple psychological trick, the transfer of internal pain into a physical action. The performance will be accompanied by the prayer of forgiveness to oneself which I wrote using the Prayer of Forgiveness to Oneself created by an American priest R. de Grandi. He uses it for curing of soul and reminds that forgiveness is not a feeling but a wilful decision. After taking one part, I created my own prayer made of many pieces, sins and reproaches known to many people. It is my very personal and impersonal story. The story that many people experience every day,” the artist tells about the coming performance.


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