Fine Arts

In brief: Works displayed in the painting exhibition of Milda Gailiūtė “Vienna” at Kaunas Meno Parkas gallery may be divided into two groups: works created in Vienna in 2012 and works created in Lithuania in 2014. The artist was on the art residency in the capital of Austria two years ago after winning the Young Painter Prize in 2011. M. Gailiūtė lived and created for three months there; therefore, the aim of the exhibition is to show the cityscape, to reveal emotions of the artist in a foreign country, to present views and memories that arose after returning to Lithuania.

Works created in Vienna may also be divided into two groups – of a larger and smaller format. Most of attention is allocated to the landscape that surrounded M.Gailiūtė in Vienna in larger works. It is pictured as if viewed at a distance in paintings. The depth and distance is revealed by darker shades on canvases, and the dripping paint creates the impression of a mist and mystery.

Smaller works picture nature with some architectural elements. These buildings of Vienna are easily recognisable, they seem small in the pictured space.

Meanwhile, paintings created in Lithuania are based on memories about Vienna – the fog in which paintings are dipped symbolises the veil of memory. Landscapes in larger canvases have common features with those created in Vienna, and smaller canvases portray figures of the artist or other girls who were also on the residency programme. Still, figures are not characterised or impersonated.

M. Gailiūtė uses the loved typical monochromatic oil painting and dripping paint technique in works displayed in the exhibition. Dripping paint captures emotions, memories and makes them alive. Monochromatic painting encourages to study one colour and its shades. In this way the new painterly, intimate and personal world is created.