X YPP Book

Young 

Painter 

Prize

Editor: Julija Dailidėnaitė 

Translation / Proofreading : Tomas Čiučelis 

Design: Toma Brundzaitė / www.brunto.lt 

Portrait photography: Augustinas Žukovas, Povilas Ramanauskas, Karen Stentaford 

Printer: UAB BALTO print 

Edition: 200 vnt. 

2009 2018 

YPP organizer: VšĮ Šiuolaikiniai meno projektai 

www.ypp.lt 

© Julija Dailidėnaitė 

© Toma Brundzaitė 

© Young Painter Prize 2018

YPP 

PATRONS

YPP PATRONS 

Nicolas Ortiz Family 

Mindaugas Raila 

Lewben Art Foundation 

Dali van Rooij Rakutyte 

The Bajorunas/Sarnoff Foundation

10 


At the time when the Young Painter Prize was launched, the situation was not 

very favourable for young artists and painting as such. At that time, painting 

was regarded as an outdated medium. However, my wife Ina and I were already 

involved in the world of art and were actively interested in contemporary art. 

What we noticed during our extensive visits to various museums and galleries 

throughout the world, was that contemporary artists paid considerable attention 

to painting. Thus our decision to support this project came from our desire to 

contribute to the popularity of painting among the young generation in our 

country. 

Another important aspect was our friendship with Vilmantas, whom we have 

known for a long time and whom we hold in high regard. As soon as he shared his 

idea about the Young Painter Prize with us, we realised that it deserved serious 

consideration. 

The support for this type of project was clearly in line with my personal 

understanding of sponsorship. I believe that a young person can benefit even 

from a small impulse that would motivate him/her to do what he/she loves to 

do. The idea that the YPP project would aim at helping someone who is already 

on their path and makes efforts to improve their skills but is not yet established 

in the world of art, was especially appealing to me. The YPP a springboard that 

helps young artists to take off and enter the wider waters — namely, go abroad 

and start an international career, become recognizable and valued, discover 

buyers of their works in their own country, and even become established players 

in the global art world. 

The main idea behind the Young Painter Prize project is helping artists to break 

through by giving them an impulse, rather than by simply giving, which was 

exactly what encouraged I become a part of this project. 

Mindaugas Raila 

Patron of the Project

12 


We began sponsoring the Young Painter Prize as soon as the Lewben Art 

Foundation was established six years ago. Back then, we already realised that the 

YPP will not only act as an important stepping stone for young and freshly 

graduated artists who find themselves at the beginning of their careers, but will 

also facilitate their integration into the art market. 

Getting noticed by art collectors, gallerists and curators — these are only a few 

ways that the YPP benefits young artists. Quite a few of the awardees are already 

among the most successful painters in the country. 

The YPP has been very beneficial to the Lewben Art Foundation as well — 

we discovered brilliant painters such as Andrius Zakarauskas, Adomas 

Danusevičius, Linas Jusionis, Jonas Jurcikas, Kristina Ališauskaitė, Auksė 

Miliukaitė and Vita Opolskytė. The Foundation is now proud to have included 

their works in its collection. 

The Foundation congratulates the YPP organisers with this impressive 

anniversary and wishes further successes in their tireless nourishment of 

young art. 

Vilius Kavaliauskas 

Chair of the Board of Directors 

Lewben Art Foundation

Regarding 

the 

Limits 

14 

When I was a student, I wished to go beyond the limits. Beyond the traditional 

painting, beyond the stereotypical thinking, beyond the country borders. I always 

wanted to know and explore the world — both cultural and social — that was 

somewhere out there, unreachable to us during the Soviet era, and difficult to 

access even during the first years of Independence. 

My current self is the result of my hard work that came as a response to my 

desire to break outside the boundaries of Lithuania while I was still in my 

formative years. I was driven by the need to compare my works with the works 

of foreign artists, I wanted to develop, gain experience, make new contacts, and 

‘cling to something.’ During my years of study and right after the graduation, 

I was actively applying for residencies, exhibitions, competitions, and cultural 

programs supervised by the then Nordic Council of Ministers Office in Lithuania. 

Places like the United States of America, Japan, Scandinavia, Europe, the UAE, 

and South Africa seemed hard to reach back then. But when I got to my first 

residences, I realized that the world was near and that we were part of it. 

My professional development has been influenced greatly by my first artist 

residency in the Nordic Artist’s Center Dale, Norway (1998). Artist residencies 

provide a great experience that allows you to position yourself as a creator, 

interact with artists from other countries, and encounter the cultural differences. 

In other words, artist residencies not only expand your horizons, but they are the 

places to expand your contact list through discovering new friends and meeting 

like-minded people. For example, the ARTOMI residency (New York, USA, 2004) 

was rich with both creative challenges and inspired learning. I had a chance to 

work with Mithu Sen, one of the most prominent Indian contemporary artists 

with whom we still maintain a relationship. 

In my early works I was reflecting on the influences of the traditional Lithuanian 

painting. At that time, my painting was stood out slightly from the Lithuanian 

painting school; however, there were signs of continuity as well. In my early 

works I was rngonsthe traditional . I cannot speak highly enough of the 

importance that the support of colleagues, friends and people of competence 

has to an up-and-coming artist. For instance, I remember so vividly how Kostas 

Dereškevičius described my painting as “almost the New Wild.” ;a I also 

remember how the curator of ArtGENDA (1996), a Danish young artist biennale, 

motivated me by saying that he could see Bazelitz in my works! 

I especially inspired by the positive reactions of my peers and seniors. To me, my 

tutor Adomas Jacovskis’ comment — “How much impudence one must have to 

paint like that” — that he made in 1995 still remains one of the highest 

appraisals of my work. Having positive imprudence and disregarding the 

principles of ‘moral art’ is a good trait for an artist of any age. 

I felt compelled to help the future generations of artists because of the 

experiences I had myself. This is my acknowledgement to all those who stood by 

me throughout my whole life, those who advised, encouraged and supported me. 

By creating the Young Painter Prize platform we were aiming to help young 

artists to enter the world of art and introduce them to the important and 

necessary people who would stimulate, motivate and inspire them to reach for 

their artistic heights. 

Vilmantas Marcinkevičius 

Painter 

Initiator of the Young Painter Prize

YPP ORGANIZERS 

JULIJA DAILIDĖNAITĖ 

VILMANTAS MARCINKEVIČIUS

Painting 

Today: 

More 

Visible 

than 

Ever 

18 

‘Is painting dead?’ We have been hearing this question for so long now that any 

attempts to bring it up might already come across as a bit tedious. The medium 

of painting has been declared obsolete at least twice: the first assault came in 

the mid-19th century with the emergence of the medium of photography, and 

the second one came at the turn of the 20th century with the rise of 

contemporary and conceptual art.betweena However, such a standoff between 

the media is absolutely meaningless. Painting was and still is one of the main 

and leading forms of art. The world’s largest museums are constantly enriching 

their collections with the impressive paintings of both famous up-and-coming 

artists, and painting exhibitions keep generating a lot of extremely positive 

feedback in the professional press that gives a lot of attention to the return of 

painting and its longevity. 

Today painting is more visible than ever. Without trying to diminish the role of 

of other forms of art, I believe that, compared to painting, conceptual art seems 

elitist, incomprehensible and invisible. In any case, both traditional painting and 

conceptual art are levelling up. As a result, we are increasingly seeing paintings 

in the exhibitions of contemporary conceptual art, and the artists who are using 

the traditional painting techniques are now adopting the ideas of conceptual art 

and interpreting the medium of painting more freely. Paradoxically, a tendency 

to return to this so-called traditional technique is becoming increasingly 

pronounced among the artists who have built their careers in the field of 

contemporary art. 

In any case, the Young Painter Prize is not aiming to convince the younger 

generation of the superiority of painting. Our goal is to create an opportunity for 

all young artists engaged in painting to get noticed, encouraged and appreciated 

disregarding of their artistic areaget. After having been actively observing the 

field for more than a decade, I can now clearly see the difference. Many things 

have saw a lot of changes, starting with the changing attitudes of institutions, 

buyers and collectors of art, and also the attitudes of the older generations of 

artists, and ending with to the most important things — the courage and 

confidence of the young, curious and creative people themselves. 

Thanks to our project, young artists get the opportunity to represent their art to 

the most influential people in the world of art. The YPP offers various forms of 

support: a monetary prize, an artist residence and an opportunity to organize a 

personal exhibition. In fact, it is a package of opportunities that any artist 

concerned with their career development can be entitled to comes down to. 

I am glad that the majority of the nominees who did not win the main prizes in 

the YPP project have also made great use of our platform: they received 

attention from professional art galleries, they were invited to take part in 

important group exhibitions, and their works have been added to the museums 

and private collections. The YPP benefits young creatives by providing them 

with a moral incentive to continue their work, creating a great record in their 

biographies, and shaping their careers. 

Julija Dailidėnaitė 

Art Critic 

Young Painter Prize Organizer

A 

decade 

of 

young 

art 

20 

by Justė Augustytė 

Art Critic 

Apart from the discoveries and inventions, there are also challenges and risks 

that the up-and-coming artists have to face. Artists find themselves 

particularly vulnerable right after their graduation: no longer protected by their 

student status, with their work still largely unknown, without any ties with 

galleries and institutions, they have to struggle to get noticed and find their 

place in the art world. This circularity of their situation can be well illustrated by 

the statement “There is no exposure without prominence, but there is no 

prominence without exposure” — an observation made by the organisers of 

‘Zugzwang’, an international show of the Baltic art held in 2010. Thus young 

artists are an extremely precarious and vulnerable category — they are often in 

need of a ‘proper’ help with boosting and shaping their careers. Here it is 

important to note that institutional and non-institutional initiatives play the 

most important roles in supporting young artists and facilitating their integration 

into the art market. 

The relationship between artists and institutions is often complicated. It was 

only recently, when the very use of the expressions ‘young artists’ and 

‘institutions’ in the same sentence was still causing tensions. Institutions used to 

be associated with the established — and, consequently, older — authors, which 

was why being a ‘young artist’ implied an alternative opposition to the 

institutions. Institutional mentality and the creative freedoms of the young 

generation seemed utterly incompatible. Contrary to the institutionalised 

authors, the young thus remained largely invisible to both professional art critics 

and wider audiences. In order to compensate for the lack of their institutional 

representation, young artists were prone to gather into various groups, thus 

sharing their burdens of organising group exhibitions.

There are various governmental strategies aimed at supporting young artists, 

which is among the top priorities of the national cultural policy, and the Program 

for the Support of Young Artists approved by the Government of the Republic 

of Lithuania in 2003 envisions several forms of that support. The governmental 

initiative is thus a significant step towards providing young artists with the 

necessary support, however a full assessment of the Program would require a 

separate analysis. It is worth mentioning that, for a number of years now, 

individual and educational stipends as well as nationally funded residencies 

have been significant factors in helping the young artists in their daily lives, 

increasing their mobility and productivity, and thus proving to be a significant 

way of fostering the creative output of the young. The young creatives — 

particularly those who manage to rise into prominence in the early stages of 

their careers and demonstrate their contribution to the national culture — are 

awarded by the Culture Ministry of the Republic of Lithuania with The Debut 

of the Year Award and the Young Creatives Award. Involvement of the private 

capital is often regarded as a more significant and more efficient way to directly 

contribute to the young art scene. Acknowledgement by the big national 

institutions might be more significant, but due to their limited funds they are less 

able to substantially contribute to the careers of the young. Therefore the fact 

that the governmental institutions of the art field are joined by private sponsors 

and buyers can only result in wider professional networks, increased 

collaborative possibilities, as well as a more dynamic and competitive art market. 

The traditions of art collecting and sponsorship began only a few years ago. 

Because of their unstable careers, young artists used to be seen by art collectors 

as a risky investment. Thus it is no surprise that both private and institutional 

capital are in need of encouragement. Lithuanian art community is relatively 

small, and even private art market often requires support from the State funds, 

which is understandable — any cases of cultural support, even on the level of 

private initiatives, should be considered as part of the national cultural policy. As 

far as young art is concerned, concerted efforts and multiple sources of 

investment can only lead to the best results. 

22 

THE YOUNG PAINTER PRIZE: CHANGES 

The Young Painter Prize was conceived precisely as an initiative that consolidates 

various participants of the art field, and it proved to be one of the most 

successful non-institutional projects of that kind. Notably, its birth coincided 

with the financial crisis of 2009 that affected all aspects of the country’s life, 

obviously including its culture sector as well. In order to bring their project to 

life, the organisers — painter Vilmantas Marcinkevičius art theorist Julija 

Dailidėnaitė — had to face difficult conditions. While institutions were busy 

adopting the austerity measures, the organisers had to look for the alternative 

ways to reinvigorate the art market. The nation-wide financial slowdown has 

also led to the formation of trans-institutional cooperation and non-institutional 

initiatives. When the art market started stagnating, a relatively cheap work of the 

young artists proved to be a good source of interest for both art collectors and 

the general public, thus showing a potential for reinvigorating the art market. 

The organisers had ambitious goals: to showcase the most promising and 

outstanding young (younger than 30) painters; introduce the young artists to a 

wide public; and help art collectors, managers and curators discover new talents. 

After making a modest start in 2009 with the applications from 28 Lithuanian 

artists, in 2011 the YPP Award turned international after it opened its doors to 

the young painters of Latvia and Estonia. Over a period of a decade, the YPP 

Award grew into a one of the biggest annual events in the Lithuanian art scene. 

The YPP Award remains one of the most successful examples of both 

institutional and non-institutional collaboration between the governmental 

and private sectors. By taking part in the Award Committee and making efforts 

to promote and ensure the continuity of YPP, the institutional partners are also 

contributing to the buildup of its so-called ‘symbolic capital,’ while sponsors and 

patrons are taking care of YPP’s material basis. The Award winners are motivated 

both financially (in the form of cash prizes, residency invitations, and solo shows) 

and symbolically (through prominence and exposure). While young artists 

often tend to take their accomplishments with a pinch of salt, they also admit 

that acknowledgement is always pleasant and inspiring. Therefore art 

competitions are regarded not only as sources of financial incentives but also as 

a way to build an identity and become acknowledged by the art world 

professionals, the press, and the general public. For an up-and-coming artist, 

publicity and promotion are among the most important career catalysts. Thanks 

to today’s technological advancements, artists are able to publicise and share 

their work via online galleries and social networks thus reaching out to their 

audiences independently. However most of the up-and-coming artists are lacking 

in the capacity to present their work professionally. Meanwhile the YPP Award 

receives a wide press coverage and dominates both public and private discourses 

among the art professionals, and it certainly contributes to the popularisation 

and promotion of young art. The participants get noticed by the art critics,

24 

curators, and gallerists, while their work is promoted and contextualised by 

the professional press. Apparently, the Award had also brought the question of 

young art back into discourses of art theory as well. Every year the YPP-inspired 

polemics leads us to rethink the status of a young artist, identify the trends in 

painting, and examine the individual aspirations. 

The YPP Award had also contributed to the rehabilitation of painting as such. In 

the context of contemporary art, painting has been regarded as somewhat 

secondary: too old-fashioned, too traditional, not conceptual enough. The 

popularisation of young painters eventually led to the contemporary painting 

itself becoming popular again. The Award had demonstrated that contemporary 

painting can be just as important a participant in the contemporary art scene as 

any other discipline, and it can be innovative and relevant without loosing touch 

with the tradition. Art theorists, artists, and viewers find the geography of the 

Award particularly advantageous as it allows them to discover the specificities 

that are not only national, but also regional. This way the capital city gets to 

know more about the lesser known artists from other towns, while Lithuanians 

get more acquainted with Latvians and Estonians, and vice versa. The artists 

themselves thus have an opportunity to meet each other and develop creative 

partnerships that often end up in group shows and successful collaborations. 

Apart from making the young artists visible to the art professionals and cultural 

press, the YPP Award also performs an educational mission. In their 

determination to bring the art of painting to a wide audience through the use of 

understandable language and attractive format, the Award organisers are 

staying true to a general tendency towards the democratisation of culture that 

aims to oppose the image of the art world as a hermetic, elitist, and 

self-referential sphere. While the forms of this democratisation remain a matter 

of an ongoing debate, one thing is sure: it is already having an undoubtedly 

positive effect on the visibility of the young artists. Every year the Award 

becomes eagerly awaited for by both artists and gallery-goers — in fact, it has 

now turned into one of the most popular and most visited annual events of the 

Lithuanian art world. One would like to believe that the project will justify its 

international status and will find its audiences in other countries as well. 

The last decade saw a variety of participants. Some of them have made it to the 

YPP finalist shows only to fade into an oblivion afterward. However the majority 

of the finalists managed to remain on track, and their names keep reappearing in 

the finalist lists year after year. Quite a few of them have not only outgrown their 

‘young artist’s’ clothes, but brought their art to a new level and joined the ranks 

of the most influential Lithuanian painters. Their artworks are now noticeable in 

all the major events of contemporary art across the whole Baltic region, and their 

names appear even in a global context of contemporary art fairs and 

competitions. And, of course, in addition to the ‘basis’ of the established names, 

each year brings some new discoveries and surprises. The history of the YPP 

Award can thus be seen as a concise history of contemporary Lithuanian painting.

26 

THE NEXT DECADE: POSSIBILITIES 

The YPP Award was conceived during the transitional time in Lithuanian culture. 

The opportunities that the young artists are offered today are rather different 

from those they had only a decade ago. YPP’s bold start and its successful 

integration into the Lithuanian art world inspired the emergence of other similar 

projects aimed at the promotion of young art. In 2010 Lithuanian Photographers 

Association successfully revived the ‘Debut’ Award, an annual competition that 

used to be held during the period of 1970s–80s. The year 2011 saw the 

successful launch of the Young Designer Prize, a now widely acknowledged 

annual award that has a similar format as YPP. The JCDecaux Award, an annual 

competition for the young contemporary Lithuanian artists has been launched in 

2016 and is now gaining its momentum as well. Starting with 2016, young 

contemporary artists from around the Baltic region are free to take part in the 

Baltic Young Artist Award, an initiative that has recently grown into the Nordic & 

Baltic Young Artist Award. 

The last decade saw a notable intensification of the activities of the Lithuanian 

galleries. Even though many galleries are openly declaring their support for and 

interest in young art, only a few of them are actually working with young artists. 

Established in 2008, The Rooster Gallery was one of the first galleries that 

started working exclusively with the young art graduates. Notably, at the time 

the gallery was considering itself as a non-institutional alternative to the 

traditional and rigid institutions. It was also one of the first mobile galleries 

without a permanent exhibition space. Due to the absence of the tradition of 

working with the young artists the gallery had to develop its own practices 

through experimental heuristics. The Rooster Gallery was growing along with the 

artists it represented, and over the last decade it became one of the most active 

participants in the Lithuanian art scene, while other newly established galleries 

started following its lead. 

The older and more established galleries are growing more interested in the 

young artists as well. In 2011 the “Meno parkas” Gallery launched the project 

“The Young: Raw Minds,” while the “Vartai” Gallery has been holding its 

“Thursday Previews” for a few years. Here we should also mention the 

galleries “Meno niša” and “AV17” as active popularisers of young art, not to 

mention the Vilnius Academy of Arts Gallery that regularly showcases the art 

of its students and graduates. The question of young art is attended to in other 

cities as well: Kaunas is hosting young art in the galleries such as “Meno parkas,” 

“101,” “POST,” and Vytautas Magnus University Art Gallery, while both Klaipėda 

Culture Communication Centre and Šiauliai Art Gallery are known for their 

projects aiming at the local young artists and curators. 

Gradually the spectrum of the young-art-related activities is becoming wider 

and the art field is constantly joined by the new participants open to use the 

non-traditional approaches and eager to employ new forms of curatorial work 

through artist residencies, education, etc. The year 2011 saw the opening of Nida 

Art Colony, followed by the launch of the Rupert Centre for Art and Education in 

2012. Opened in 2016, “Editorial” Project Space is focused on curating various 

non-traditional art practices. The same year the art lab “SHCH/ŠČ” and its 

partners launched the “Tapybos maršrutizatoriai” project, an initiative that 

showcases the work of young painters on the city trolleybuses. Lithuanian art 

world is also ripe with various private and communal initiatives such as 

“Malonioji 6” (opened in 2012) which later expanded into its more 

institutionalised version “Sodų 4.” 

The young art scene is actively shaped by cultural press. Since its launch in 

2011, an online magazine Echo Gone Wrong has been showcasing the work of 

contemporary artists and critics from around the whole Baltic region; for a 

number of years now artnews.lt remains one of the central online hubs for 

contemporary Lithuanian art news; “7 meno dienos” is a Lithuanian culture 

weekly that has been active for over two decades, and in 2015 it introduced 

“m-pages”, an editorial section dedicated to the up-and-coming artists. 

Contemporary art market is positively impacted by the growth of the large 

private collections largely comprised of the works of contemporary young artists. 

Apart from artwork collection curation and administration, organisations such as 

MO Museum (formerly known as Modern Art Centre) and Lewben Art Foundation 

are also fostering the gallery life and sponsoring various art publishing 

initiatives. Young artists are given a lot of attention at the Art Vilnius, a 

contemporary art fair that has been giving the Best Young Artist Award to its 

participants since 2009. 

The partnership between art and business is strengthened through various 

collaborations between governmental and private art institutions. This makes a 

positive impact not only on the visibility and prominence of young artists, but on 

the vitality of the art world as such. Young artists are now being showcased in all 

the key art institutions both national and private, and their artworks are included 

in private art collections. They no longer have to wait until they are of a 

‘respectable age’ in order for their artworks to finally be acquired by the national 

art institutions. The system is far from perfect (do such things even exist?) but it 

is gaining the momentum and it certainly justifies our hopes for the better. 

Finally, the expression ‘a successful young artist’ is no longer considered an 

oxymoron.

Changes 

in 

the 

Everyday 

practices 

in 

the 

Estonian 

Art 

Scene 

By Merilin Talumaa 

28 

OVERVIEW OF THE INSTITUTIONAL PATTERNS 

An overview of the young generation of Estonian artists would be impossible 

without a reflection on how the local art scene benefited from the general changes 

at the institutional level. There have been significant changes during the past 

six years (although their origins go back further in time)—a period during which 

a new generation of artists, curators, critics, directors and project managers have 

emerged. In contrast to the previous times, their roles are often intertwined and 

their everyday work is directed outwards, toward achieving international cooperation 

and acknowledgement. 

The Estonian Contemporary Art Development Center (ECADC), a noteworthy newcomer 

in the local art scene, started its work in 2012 under the direction of Karin 

Laansoo. Although at first the aims of ECADC seemed similar to those of the Center 

for Contemporary Arts Estonia (CCAE, since 2013 directed by Maria Arusoo, 

the commissioner of the Estonian Pavilion at the Venice Biennale since 1999, and 

a co-commissioner of the Baltic Triennial since 2016), ECADC proved itself to be 

active on an even bigger scale. The ECADC has initiated a significant part of large 

scale international projects, including Outset Estonia, Estonian Pavillion Without 

Walls at the Performa Biennial 2017, the Curatorial Program for Research, and 

Gallerist Master Course. This activity has played a big part in the careers of many 

Estonian artists mainly still in their late 20s, 30s and early 40s, as they were introduced 

to the international audiences.

30 

Apart from ECADC and CCAE, which both have played an important role in the 

professionalisation and internationalisation of the Estonian art scene, there are 

number of exhibition spaces that deserve mentioning. 1 Tartu Art Museum 

(Tartmus) managed to cause quite a stir with their provocative and socially 

engaging exhibitions program during the period of 2013–2017 when the curator 

and critic Rael Artel was director of the museum. The transformative aim towards 

producing, exhibiting, collecting and popularising local and international 

contemporary art has been important for both Tallinn Art Hall and Contemporary 

Art Museum of Estonia (EKKM). Since 2015, Tallinn Art Hall is directed by Taaniel 

Raudsepp who is also a member of an artist group Visible Solutions LLC. Marten 

Esko and Johannes Säre are directors of EKKM since 2016, with Säre also being 

active as an artist himself. Artists taking over the leading roles in the large scale 

projects has been a growing trend for a while already. Other examples include 

Tallinn Photomonth Contemporary Art Biennial (under the management of Laura 

Toots, an artistic director since 2017) — a current leading international biennial 

in Estonia — and the Estonian Photographic Art Fair, the only art fair in the local 

scene (under the direction of Helen Melesk since 2010). 

1 

A thorough article about the professionalisation and internationalisation of the Estonian art scene is 

available in weekly cultural journal Sirp. – Airi Triisberg. Uus põlvkond, vanad probleemid. Sirp, 29.04.2016. 

2 

http://www.kul.ee/en/artists-and-writers-wage-writer-or-artist-their-creative-peak. 

Since 2015 five artists received the wage monthly. Since 2017 the wage is paid out monthly 

to eight artists. 

A pilot project started by the Estonian Artists’ Union together with the Ministry of 

Culture is another important development that causes polemic reactions in the 

media. This project aims to provide artists, writers, curators and art critics with a 

monthly wage that enables them to dedicate themselves to creative work for a 

longer period of time (the wage is paid out for the period of three years)a 

significant attempt to contribute to the development of Estonian culture. 2 The 

Artists’ Wage Project is definitely one of the most significant steps towards 

ecuring a more autonomous and socially stable life for freelance artists, curators 

and writers in Estonia.

32 

THE YOUNG SCENE 

As noted above, today it is not uncommon to be managing and marketing 

different projects while also being active as a practicing artist. Precarious 

working conditions and project-based lifestyle while producing site-specific 

works and organising exhibitions usually don’t have anything glamorous about 

them. New works are often produced in different places around the world and, 

due to their fragile nature, often break during shipping. A lot of artworks are still 

being produced under poor conditions: underpaid or free labour, lack of 

institutional help during stages of preparation and promotion of exhibitions, not 

to mention the need to produce a lot of new works within a short timeframe with 

a low budget and without any long-term vision. These traits have become 

apparent in the practices of most of the Estonian artists born in the 1980s and 

early 1990s — the so-called ‘millennial generation.’ 

The first thing that comes to mind when trying to describe the trends among the 

younger generation of Estonian artists is their constant migration between 

different exhibitions and residencies which is explained by the prevailing desire 

to be part of the international art world. All of the aforementioned institutions 

have been playing a big role in this phenomenon by maximising the international 

cooperation and promoting the Estonian artists. Over time, this resulted not only 

in the fragmentation of art production, but also in the fusion between different 

cultural references, techniques and materials. This is especially evident in the 

work of Kris Lemsalu, one of the most influential young Estonian artists who is 

also currently gaining a worldwide prominence. 3 Her nomadic lifestyle bearing a 

wide range array of cultural influences is clearly expressed in her works as well 

as her personal appearance. 

3 

https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-20-female-artists-pushing-sculpture-forward 

Eventually the nomadic and precarious working conditions have become part 

of the everyday practices of the whole Estonian millennial generation and have 

started to reflect on their creative work. This does not necessarily mean that 

their art has become homogenous but rather that its production became more 

complex. Young artists tend to prefer to work in bigger teams and in various 

locations, produce complex large-scale installations, test different knowledge 

bases and material skills, thus also increasing their geographical visibility. This is 

also made possible by residencies around the world that provide access to well 

equipped studios and professional networks. All this in turn has greatly 

influenced artistic media such as painting, sculpture, photography, ceramics and 

textile design — e.g., the installations are now becoming increasingly 

site-specific.

34 

Generally the Estonian millennial art practice seems to be showing the signs of 

the DJ mixing culture where different mediums and techniques are intertwined 

in order to create mesmerising new works. When describing the young 

generation of Estonian painters like Kristi Kongi, Merike Estna, Mihkel Ilus, one 

notices a mixture of painting, textile and sculptural works dissolving into a 

painting in an ‘expanded field.’ Estna and Ilus are well known for their 

performance practices using painting as a set-up for social stage — a form of a 

collaborative act intended to bring the audience closer to their works. In Estna’s 

performances, painting might not only take a form of a dressing gown, but also 

that of a drink, a cake or a carpet, thus creating new ways of perceiving the 

layered nature of a painting. Kongi’s large-scale room installations provide a 

sensitive ground to new ways of perceiving painting as something fragile and 

ephemeral — documentation is often the only thing that remains after the 

performances. The process of the disappearance of an artwork is thus turned into 

a playful and captivating experience. 

There are a yet another couple of aspects that distinguish the visual language of 

the young Estonian artists from that of their foreign colleagues — namely, a 

certain nostalgia and the raw post-soviet aesthetics. Most of these Estonian 

artists spent their childhood and teenage years in the 1990s — a controversial 

historical period of remarkable social and political changes. It is notable that 

these changes are also prevalent in the art of the millennials as well. Mihkel 

Maripuu, whose paintings have been linked to the post-internet culture and 

underground music scene, was one of the first artists to start mixing the 

cosmopolitan anonymity with the trashy East European aesthetics. In Alexei 

Gordin’s paintings, videos and performances, the robust abandoned ruins and 

Soviet architectural forms are imbued with a post-soviet nostalgia. 

In conclusion, the contemporary Estonian art scene is currently experiencing a 

number of changes. Art institutions are run by the new generation of curators, 

directors and managers whose roles are often intertwined. The goal of their 

work is to make Estonian art scene visible internationally and to help artists 

with different aspects of art and exhibition production. On the other hand, their 

everyday life and work have also become more layered, and the production of 

artworks has become more fragmented due to constant travelling and working in 

big teams. Altogether, the young generation of Estonian artists is lead to create 

layered and often ephemeral artworks and exhibitions. In the near future, one of 

the most important challenges for the growth and viability of the artist 

community will be sustainability in terms of labour and the availability of social 

and financial resources.

Where 

do 

you 

go 

to, 

my 

lovely? 

by Līna Birzaka-Priekule 

Art historian and Curator 

36 

Where 

Are 

You 

Heading 

to 

Now, 

My 

Dear 

Ones? 

The notion of ‘young painter’ contains an inexplicable complication that 

becomes apparent when we think about the young painters in Latvia, or 

whenever we try to ponder about the meaning of this notion. ,We — the art l 

overs — ,are expected to know what is assumed when a painter is called ‘young.’ 

However this seemingly specific adjectives can be understood rather differently. 

When talking to a group of friends — mostly consisting of ‘young artists’ — I was 

advised to replace ‘young’ with ‘promising,’ ‘talented’ or ‘emerging’ (which are 

also direct translations from English to Latvian). When asked what the notion of 

‘young painter’ refers to, my respondents replied that it could be a person under 

30, or, perhaps even 35 (in that case, how could the 41 year old Estonian artist 

Juhan Soomets have been awarded the Baltic Young Artist Award?) So perhaps a 

‘young painter’ should refer to a fresh graduate? Or maybe it all comes down to a 

number of exhibitions she participated in, or the kinds of curators she have been 

noticed (or, rather, unnoticed) by? How about someone who, after having been 

creating video pieces for decades, had suddenly decided to take on painting 

(which was exactly the case of Kaspars Groševs, an artist and the head of the 427 

Gallery)? The adjective ‘young’ refers to a relatively young of age and we expect 

to see someone showing certain characteristics of youth (whatever those would 

be); or someone whose professional activity had just begun; or someone who 

came into prominence only recently and still has little experience; or someone 

who replaced her predecessor. In the light of this maze of interpretations, 

we should also have in mind that it is usually somebody else — a critic, curator, 

lecturer or viewer — who labels a painter “young” and thus decides on the status 

of ‘the emerging.’ 

Latvian institutional art scene has been trying to showcase the ‘emerging’ 

painters for quite a while now. The Latvian National Museum of Art has made 

three significant contributions by organising the shows that feature young art.

The first show ‘Candy Bomber’ („Našķu bumba“) took place in 2007, and it was 

followed by ‘City Children’ „Pilsētas bērni“) in 2010, and ‘Tension’ („Spriedze“) in 

2016 1 . In the ‘Candy Bomber’ exhibition catalogue Diāna Barčevska an art 

scholar and the author of the show concept, explains that such an initiative arose 

in response to the necessity to recognize and reflect on the awareness of the 

young artists who have chosen painting as a form of their professional development. 

Admittedly, Art Academy of Latvia has a very large proportion of painters 

in comparison with the number of students in other departments ( the 

Department of Visual Communication is the only competitor). More than ten 

young painters graduate from their Bachelor and Master’s studies every year, 

which theoretically amount to one ‘young painters’ exhibition per year. 

The AAL is not the only institution that supports young painters. In their 

statements, the annual SEB Bank Scholarship in Painting claim to be fostering 

new and contemporary aspectss in painting, and encouraging the Art Academy 

of Latvia students to take up painting and attempt to resolve intellectually and 

artistically challenging issues such as the role of painting, as well as its place in 

society, and its future development. This clearly shows that the role of painting 

is an important issue. 

Up until the late 19th century, painting and art were almost synonymous, and 

only in the 20th century, with the disappearance of the hierarchy of art media, 

painting became merely one art form among many others . In his essay ‘On 

Painting’ (1994), art critic Adrian Searle suggests not to focus on the “death” and 

“crisis” of painting, as if painting were a patient in need of a therapist. This 

raises a question how painting should be defined in the modern world. On the 

one hand, according to the art historian and critic Terry Smith, since the mid-20th 

century contemporary art has become homogeneous because of its focus on a 

widespread art infrastructure including markets, museums, critics, publicists all 

across the largest European and American art centers. On the other hand, 

contemporary art is now diverse in regard to the unlimited range of materials, 

vast possibilities, horizons and unpredictability that artists can offer to their 

viewers. This also demonstrates a wide range of interests that contemporary 

art encompasses. Artists can now work anywhere in the world, and their art is 

circulating everywhere, even in cyberspace. Possibly for the first time in history, 

contemporary art has actually become the ‘art of the world’ in terms of its 

geography and the diversity of expressions. And it is precisely this stylistic 

diversity that allows painting to reach a wider expressive area as well, even to a 

point of occasionally raising a question about its own limits. In her talk 

‘Tendencies of Latvian Contemporary Art’ („Tendences Latvijas laikmetīgajā 

mākslā“), the art scholar Ieva Astahovska argues that it is hard to find any specific 

characteristics or reliable indications of contemporaneity itself. Any attempts a 

to define contemporary art will show how uncertain, vague and dynamic this 

38 

territory actually is. Thus it is often more useful to characterise it through 

paradoxes and contradictions. However the search for more universal criteria is 

still ongoing. 

Given the absence of consensus on the specific features of contemporary art 

and for painting in particular, I will use three young artists — Amanda Ziemele, 

Elza Sīle and Elīna Vītola 2 — as my reference points to describe the tendencies 

in Latvian painting. 3They all use the medium of painting not only as an object 

of study, but also as way of thinking. All three of them share a ceaseless urge to 

study not only the objects of their paintings themselves, but also the very 

relationship between painting and life. In the context of the Tate Modern, their 

works would best fit in the ‘Expanded Painting’ display along with Pinot Gallizio, 

Niki de Saint Phalle, Richard Smith and others—this is the new interpretation of 

painting thatthat has been used for some time now, (see Mark Titmarsh’s book 

Expanded Painting: Ontological Aesthetics and the Essence of Colour (2017)). But 

I would like to regard it as a logical development of painting since the mid-20th 

century. 

What is really important about those three young Latvian painters is that they 

are all very sophisticated and well read. For example, in her work, Amanda 

Ziemele speaks about forgetting and claims that our minds are like sponges. 

Furthermore, our earliest ancestors were probably sponge-like themselves. At 

least once a week we experience this sensation of having something ‘at the tip 

of our tongues’: “Suppose we try to recall a forgotten name. The state of our 

consciousness is peculiar. There is a gap therein; but no mere gap. It is a gap that 

is intensely active. A sort of wraith of the name is in it, beckoning us in a given 

direction, making us at moments tingle with the sense of our closeness and then 

letting us sink back without the longed-for term. If wrong names are proposed 

to us, this singularly definite gap acts immediately so as to negate them. They do 

not fit into its mould. And the gap of one word does not feel like the gap of 

another, all empty of content as both might seem necessarily to be when 

described as gaps.” (William James, The Principles of Psychology (1893), p. 251) 

In life there are no gaps, everything is part of a continuously flowing 

conversation. 

1 

There is a three year gap between the ‘Candy Bomber’ and ‘City Children’, however the selected artists are 

mostly the same. The ‘City Children’ and ‘Tension’ are separated by 6 years. There are two constantly 

recurring names among the many new ones that keep appearing every year. This might indicate that an 

exhibition format shift from ‘young painters’ to ‘young artists’ is needed. 

2 All three artists have a bachelor’s degree in Painting and Elīna Vītola has a master’s degree from Art 

Academy of Latvia. Amanda Ziemele, as a DAAD post-graduate scholarship holder, has studied 

Interdisciplinary and experimental painting under professor Christian Sery at the Dresden Academy of 

Fine Arts. Elza Sīle studies at the Zurich University of the Arts since 2016.

The young painter Ziemele depicts this very familiar feeling of having suddenly 

forgotten such a generally known thing as, for example, the author of ‘The Last 

Supper.’ In her exhibition at the Stockholm gallery ‘Candyland,’ large format 

abstract paintings depict strange, unordered maps of thought-waves (I supposed 

to say this about an abstract painting?). Ceramic tongues Scattered on the floor 

are a yet another reminder that ‘this thing is not on the tip of your tongue.’ The 

ideas that Ziemele developed in her in-depth research are presented with an 

unobtrusive and subtle humor. 

The ability to laugh — mostly at one’s own expense — is also present in the work 

of the painter Elīna Vītola. For the last 28 years she’s been hoping to become an 

artist. She used various strategies in order to achieve that. Her latest attempt 

was an exhibition at the Kogo Gallery in Tartu titled ‘Common Issues in Painting 

and Everyday Life – Crapstraction’ 3 . In it Vītola examined the ways of becoming 

a renowned ‘crapstractionist.’ It is important to admit that her success depends 

only on us — curators, gallerists, collectors, wall decorators and critics — 

because the artist herself has barely any leverage in this hierarchy. And it’s 

unlikely that Vītola is going to pick her laurels any time soon. The thing is that 

Elīna was born in Eastern Europe, and, although the UN has recognised all three 

Baltic states as part of Northern Europe, this fact will probably not help the artist 

in her career. 

40 

The only survivors in the complicated art market hierarchy are those who are 

discovered or remembered by curators. A mere glance at Vītola’s paintings might 

be enough to understand what we are dealing with. In order to see the image, 

we have to use our ‘magic eye.’ 4 in order to5 If we are lucky, a deer, a fairy, or the 

Lion King will appear in front of us. It might also be an upholstery pattern from a 

grandmother’s armchair. Or maybe you will get extremely lucky and see the artist 

herself, who will then tell you that, for the first time in her life, she has 

created a new pattern that incorporates all the previous patterns she did not 

invent herself. You might as well come to a conclusion that trying to find 

recognisable images in an abstraction is a common everyday task. Vītola has 

published her manifesto which I am not going to reveal to you here, as it 

available on her Instagram profile. It is significant that the artist reproduced her 

manifesto on two of her works: a painted sofa, and on an incredibly long canvas 

roll of which only a very tiny part is visible. 

In Elza Sīle’s exhibition æA Decent Little Hike on Roads Rural and Dangerous, 

Plus Ugly’ at the Alma Gallery one can find many things except for paintings in 

a classical (conservative?) sense. “I used classic painting materials: graphite, oil, 

and acrylic. My works — or rather my compositions — are something between a 

painting, a board game, and a miniature stage; they look like landscapes created 

with traditional painting materials and in keeping with the classical 

conventions,” the artist said in an interview. Despite the use of conventional 

materials, her approach is definitely unconventional. She utilises the painting 

materials as construction elements to build houses and towns, playgrounds and 

parks, toilets and what not. The exhibition showcased adhesive prints depicting 

tattoos with the reproductions of the paintings displayed in the same room, only 

depicted on a human body; plates with maps of imaginary places; and artist’s 

poetry. She places some of her works in parallel to the ground (no one said that 

paintings must always be placed vertically against the wall). Here are some of 

her poignant insights on the conventional understandings about painting (what 

does it even mean—creating ‘pure’ or ‘impure’ hues; or constructing a painting 

that is ‘too big’ or ‘too small’?): 

3 

Crapstraction – an art term related to “Zombie Formalism” coined by art critic Walter Robinson, is basically 

a mechanism for collectors to make loads of money. The scheme is simple: find an emerging 

artist-abstractionist, buy his/her work ass-cheaply, groom the artist’s name, put the work on auction and 

get a big buck. And now many of them, unrecognizable from each other, smoothed out and fused together, 

groomed and smudged, decorate the walls of the wealthy. Oh, how lovely are those decorations that do 

not disturb my tranquil life! 

4 Remember the children’s game in which, as described in spoki.tvnet.lv, one has to choose a point in a 

picture (it is best to start somewhere in the middle) and allow yourself to see images through keeping your 

focus fixed on one spot it? No need to strain your eyes and stare, simply look ‘through’ the image. It is ok 

to lose focus at first. Don’t give up, keep looking. After you’ve seen your first image, others will arrive with 

less effort.

“‘construction of an image’” 

“‘to construct a meaning’” 

“‘to build a painting’” 

what what 

Brushstrokes literary hold the 

image 

if. then 

scale and conventions 

how 

standardize building materials 

on 

semantic plan 

or 

grid of the drawing 

trough and to 

exaggerated givens 

I happened to have been chosen to curate the next exhibition by the young 

painters. I respect the interconnectedness of media in contemporary art, and, 

keeping in mind the similarity between the topics in group exhibitions (be it 

animals, folklore or future prediction), I chose to use the expression ‘young artist’ 

in the exhibition title, thus refusing to restrict them to the artificial disciplinary 

frameworks. As for the three aforementioned artists, I wish them luck (even 

knowing that sometimes luck can turn out to be ill luck). In any case, they will 

participate in the aforementioned exhibition of young artists not merely because 

they are painters.

1st Amanda Ziemele - ’’Being like a sponge’’. 2018

2nd Elīna Vītola - ”Common issues in painting and everyday life: crapstraction” 

Photographer: Diāna Tamane. 2018

3rd one is from Elza Sīle - ”A decent little hike on roads rural and dangerous, plus ugly” 

Photographer: Aksels Bruks. 2018

I II III IV V VI VII VIII IX X 

2009

Young 

Painter 

Prize 

2009 

YPP’09 

Andrius 

Zakarauskas 

PRIZE WINNER

Interview 

54 

• Why painting? (How did you discover this medium and why have you chosen it?) 

I first became attracted to painting in the art school, while still in my 

adolescence. I felt strongly about choosing the artist’s career and had no doubts 

about doing something else. I was ten when my mother brought me to the 

Marinaitis Art School, and I remained faithful to it ever since. My teachers were 

the painters I trusted and admired. They also encouraged me to take up painting. 

• What inspires you? (Individuals, contexts, etc.) 

My inspiration does not depend on particular individuals that much. I always 

follow and analyse the events both in the sphere of painting, and in the art world 

in general. I am trying to approach classical themes in a contemporary light. For 

example, currently I am very interested in religious art, and I am trying to 

personalise popular Biblical scenes and even turn them into something prosaic. 

My objects of admiration vary with each stage of life. As a schoolboy, I admired 

my art teachers (L. Drazdauskaitė, A Vilpišauskas), while during my high school 

years my favourites were A. Šaltenis and J. Gasiūnas. 

• What can you tell us about your creative process? Where does your artwork start 

and where does it end? 

My creative process starts in my mind with a daily practice of playing around 

with the mental images. After settling on the mental imagery, I start looking for 

the matching visual forms by sketching, taking pictures, drawing. I always have 

this preparatory and very personal dance around the canvas before committing 

to the painting process itself. Apart from witnessing the emergence of an image, I 

am always searching for the new creative possibilities that arise during the 

process of painting. Sometimes I’m annoyed when my mind forms images 

quicker than they are shaped by my brush. The real images sometimes fall short 

of their mental originals. Sometimes the result might be very far from what I was 

expecting. I finish painting only when I feel satisfied with the result. When the 

work is done, I invite a photographer to take a picture of the painting — to me, 

this signifies the completion of the process. 

• Have you ever seriously doubted your choice to become an artist? (If so, what 

stopped/reassured you?) 

I never had any doubts regarding the path I chose. Even during the hard times I 

knew that painting was my way of thinking and living. 

• Creative motifs. (What drives your creative practice? What are the topics you are 

working on?) 

My main topic is the creation of a painting as such, starting with the main 

element — a brush stroke — and all the way to the complex figurative 

compositions. I was always interested in the viewer’s role in painting — 

the viewer is an ever-present witness of both the artwork and a painter herself. 

My whole creative path is marked by the presence of this trinity. 

By the time I received a Young Painter Prize award in 2009, I was still searching 

for my own unique style. My brushstrokes were wider and thinner, stretching 

across an around the perimeter of a canvas. 

Today I am bringing painting along with me as I go down the path of Christ’s 

Church. I am now interested in the classical Biblical motives. I am trying to see 

them through the contexts of everydayness, thus expressing them as almost 

mundane. My aim is to create a unique spatial experience by assembling 

characters that come from various spaces and are lit differently. 

• Do you find the Baltic art scene interesting? (What is your opinion about 

Lithuanian, Latvian and Estonian art? How would you describe their differences?) 

I am interested in everything that is happening in the Baltic region. I am 

keeping in touch with both Latvian and Estonian artists, however I personally 

prefer Estonian art better. I admire artists such as Kaido Ole, Marko Maetam, and 

Merike Estna. However I avoid making judgements about art based on the 

criterion of regionality, I rather use my personal aesthetic preferences. 

• How did the Young Painter Award influence your artist’s career? 

I was awarded in 2009, when I was still a student in the Vilnius Academy of Arts. 

To me it felt like a tremendously important recognition of what I do. It served 

as a great impetus to keep up with the work of painting. I think these kinds of 

acknowledgements are very important to artists, especially at the beginning of 

their careers. I am sure young painters are appreciating the growing importance 

of this Award. I think it has greatly contributed to my self-confidence as an artist.

Horizontalūs potepiai. 190x180cm, oil on canvas, 2009

60 

JURY: 

2009 

Dr. Lolita Jablonskienė 

/ Head of the National Gallery of Art 

Evaldas Stankevičius 

/ CAC Deputy Director / Curator 

Virginijus Kinčinaitis 

/ Art Critic 

Prof. Arvydas Šaltenis 

/ Vilnius Academy of Art / Vice-Rector for Science and Art / Painter 


/ Lithuanian Artists’ Association’ Chairman of Painting Section / Painter 

Gintaras Makarevičius 

/ Painter / Video Artist / Scenographer 

Dalia Kasčiūnaitė 

/ Painter / National Award Winner 

Doc. Bronius Gražys 

/ Painter 

Doc. Jonas Gasiūnas 

/ Painter 

Milda Žvirblytė 

/ ArtCritic / Curator 

PATRONS: 

Mindaugas Raila, Nicolas Ortiz family 

PRIZES: 

The Main Prize: 7000 LTL + Solo exhibition 

Second Prize: 4000 LTL 

The Thirds prize: 2000 LTL 

Additional Prize: Pieštukai. Popieriukai 

SPONSORS: 

15min, artnews, Lithuanian artists association 

SPACE: 

Pamėnkalnio Gallery


2010

Young 

Painter 

Prize 

64 

2010 


Jolanta 

Kyzikaitė 

PRIZE WINNER

Interview 

66 


It all started when I was eight or nine. I was in the primary school at the time. 

I had a pet wavy parrot that had a nice salad green plumage. I loved that bird. 

I was feeding it, changing the paper flooring, cleaning the cage, and gathering 

the scattered mash. It was a messy eater and it kept changing its plumage. It was 

interesting to see how those white spikes gradually turned into brand new 

feathers while their shells dissipated into dust. I had to keep cleaning this daily 

mess, otherwise my mum would give me hard time. No one in the family loved 

that bird — my mum did not like it because of its messiness, while my dad and 

my brother hated the noise. But I liked it — I used to scratch its head, I liked it 

landing on my shoulder, I even tolerated the droppings. I actually loved this 

creature. 

I cried when I found it glassy-eyed and motionless lying at the bottom of the 

cage. I think that was also the moment when I started my path as an artist. 

My dad wrapped the parrot in a plastic bag and put it in a freezer together with 

the frozen food: meat, berries, dumplings, etc. I never thought about death 

before that, and this gesture seemed natural. Perhaps I was hoping that it will 

come back to life once I take it out and thaw it. Come to think of it now, my weird 

logic was probably influenced by some fantastic story about the resurrection of 

primates or dinosaurs. 

But the miracle did happen and the parrot did come back to life! My parents took 

it to a taxidermist and it gave the stuffed animal to me as a present. I held in my 

hands a bird with wide-spread wings, and it seemed it will come alive and take 

off from the branch it was sitting on. But it didn’t. Instead of cheering me up, 

it made me sad and even angry. I kept noticing the discrepancies between the 

stuffed animal and the parrot I remembered when it was alive. Its eyeballs were 

a pair of plastic pills, and I could see the wire sticking out of its wings and legs. 

Eventually I got tired of just looking at this dead body and decided to 

immortalise my departed friend by drawing it instead — the parrot was now a 

perfectly frozen model. 

I took dad’s pastels without permission. He used to carefully guard them because 

in those days quality art supplies were hard to get, so I was banned from using 

his pastels and watercolours. “This stuff is not for kids,” my dad used to say. But I 

was drawn to these nicely wrapped bars of watercolours. Someone told me they 

were made of honey, so I was also anxious to taste them all — I was expecting 

different colours to have distinct flavours. Just like the sweets brought back from 

the other side of Atlantic: strawberry-flavoured reds, cherry-flavoured burgundy, 

and apple-flavoured greens. In order to hide the fact of unwrapping the 

watercolours, I took two wooden boxes with pastels instead. The tubes were 

nicely arranged. I worked in secret for two days, trying to capture every feather, 

every layering of their colours. I was very surprised by the result myself. The 

image turned out to be more real than the stuffed thing on my table. 

The question is: did I have to draw this parrot? I felt like I had to because it was 

the only way to surpass the taxidermic copy. My parents would have gotten upset 

had I simply thrown it out or hid it. I understood that they had put a lot of effort 

in finding a taxidermist and arranging this gift for me. 

So I placed the drawing on my desk and took the stuffed parrot to the living room 

and placed it in one of my parent’s cupboards behind the glass, together with all 

the other little nothings, arguing that the parrot now belongs here, among other 

significant objects of the family. This way I took it out of my sight and stopped 

being annoyed by it. Upon witnessing my drawing, my parents felt that the 

taxidermic process was worth it after all because it inspired my creative act. I was 

not punished for using my dad’s pastels. When he found them nice and tidy back 

in their boxes, my dad gave me the permission to use his art equipment. This was 

how I stopped being just a “kid” with playing around with “stuff.” 

My drawing was shown in the school exhibition and received some kind of an 

award. I then realised the power of image. Everybody were fascinated by the 

drawing because it was so realistic, and the parrot seemed so alive. However, I 

also regarded it as a certain tombstone, and its creation — a goodbye gesture. I 

thus created a paradox: while everyone were fascinated by the drawing, to me it 

emanated sadness. I think it was my first real work of art that wasn’t just ‘child’s 

play.’ I mutated and transposed myself into another level and realised that I now 

wanted to be an artist and think about the world around me. 

Perhaps, this story had too much detail, so my answers to other questions will be 

shorter. 


It is difficult to say, but I am mostly inspired by the surrounding environments. 

Sometimes the creative process can be triggered by a single word or a certain 

configuration of circumstances. I am constantly on a lookout for these sources 

when I am sleeping, driving, or relaxing — it is now an occupational disease. 

There are plenty of themes for art, and one could only regret that there is not 

enough time for all of them. So I tend to choose those that merit a deeper 

analysis.

68 



I only start painting when I know what I am trying to find out. I am not 

interested in painting just for the sake of it. A certain situation always comes first 

— for example, that of a taxidermic bird, or a that of a playful accident — which I 

then extrapolate through painting. Not all attempts are successful, but the 

excitement that comes with the research is the biggest payoff. I would even claim 

that I prioritise the subject — in this case, a play — over painting itself. 



Yes I had. After finishing my BA, I no longer had my studio (I now realise how 

important having a studio is) and gradually started working. It is not easy for 

painters to survive, having to rent both a flat and a studio can be really 

challenging for most of the artists. Then I also had to raise my own kids. I was 

hoping that working from home will allow me to find time for art, but it never 

happened. The wakeup call came when I was offered an office job. I suddenly 

realised that I will never be able to create if I start working from nine to five, so 

I refused this ‘promising’ job offer. 

Then things started changing rather quickly. Without a day job and with my kids 

in the kindergarten, I suddenly had more time. As soon as sporadic painting 

commissions started bringing me some income, I immediately rented a studio in 

Naujoji Vilnia. It was the autumn of 2009. It took me two months to set up a 

studio and get to work. Then my work was delayed further by the winter colds 

and my kids getting sick. It was only in 2010 when I started to paint seriously. In 

fact, I was awarded a second place in the YPP awards the very same year. So the 

skills can return in no time, all you need is an idea what you want to do. 



I did not know much about Latvian painting, I acquired an album only recently. I 

have stronger connection with Estonian artists because, during my studies, 

Vilnius Academy of Art had strong ties with the Tallinn Academy of Art. 

I had a chance to meet their art teachers and students, and we even organised a 

group exhibition ‘Notes on Painting’ in Vaal Gallery, Tallinn. During my MA 

studies I did an artist residency in Estonia. It was interesting to work there 

because Estonian painting was different from Lithuanian—it was clear, rational, 

even pedantic. I was fascinated by it because it was so different from VAA which 

worked more in the tradition of the Ars Group. Today we even have Lithuanian 

painters influenced by the ‘Estonian style’—for example, Jonas Jurcikas. 


It made a big difference. It happened right after I returned on the path of being 

a painter, and this Award was a great incentive to keep going and stay on track. 

I was noticed by the MO Museum, and they bought some of my works. I must 

admit that the monetary prize was important as well because it took care of my 

studio rent for the next four years. The residency in Vienna allowed me to see 

myself in a wider context, and I also had a chance to see a lot of contemporary 

and classical art.

Autoportretas ESSL muziejuje. 154x207cm, oil on canvas, 2010

74 

JURY: 

2010 



Evaldas Stankevičius 

/ CAC Deputy Director / Curator 

Prof. Dr. Raminta Jurėnaitė 

/ Art Critic / Curator 

Laima Kreivytė 



/ Lithuanian Artists’ Association’ Chairman of Painting Section / Painter 

Vygantas Paukštė 

/ Painter 

Viktoras Butkus 

/ Art Collector 

Algirdas Griškevičius 

/ Painter 

Rūta Katiliūtė 

/ Painter 

Aistė Paulina Virbickaitė 

/ Art Critic 

PATRONS: 

Mindaugas Raila, Nicolas Ortiz family, Dali van Roiij Rakutyte 

PRIZES: 

The Main Prize: 7000 LTL + three months’ residence in Laudon, Austria 

Second Prize: 4000 LTL 

The Thirds prize: 2000 LTL 

Public Prize: Delfi Prize 

SPONSORS: 

Lietuvos Respublikos Kultūros ministerija, Kultūros rėmimo fondas, Žydrūnas 

Raščius, BMUKK, Delfi, Artnews, Ado.lt Design 

SPACE: 

Contemporary art center, Lithuanian Artists’ Association’ Gallery


2011

Young 

Painter 

Prize 

78 

2011 


Jonas 

Jurčikas 

PRIZE WINNER

Interview 80 


I was always interested in this universal language. I started painting in the art 

school, and then carried on with my Painting studies at the Vilnius Academy of 

Arts. At first I did not feel that painting was for me. I realised this only later, and 

this understanding came to me gradually as I was learning about the real 

burden of art making, including all the responsibilities toward the craft, 

creativity, art, and culture. However, being a practicing painter, I don’t shy away 

from other forms of art. 


Actually, I can’t pinpoint a specific source of inspiration because it might be 

anything: an overheard word, an artwork, a movie, nature, or world events. In 

other words, creativity is full of coincidences. 


working on?) 

I’m mostly interested in the realness of the everyday and the limits of human 

cognition. 

I am using my personal approach while asking ontological questions such as: 

Why reality/everyday appears to be so strange, and what is it in itself? Why 

common sense is not coextensive with the objective reality? Why empirical 

generalisations are not a sufficient basis to believe in both collective and 

personal memories? 

The painting motifs usually arrive from both primary and secondary sources of 

realist imagery, but there can be other sources as well. Hyperbolised and turned 

into phantasmic images, memories and the elements of the everyday often 

intertwine with the seemingly unrelated historical and political events. 

I sometimes use them to address the question of painter’s vocation. 



It is difficult to talk about the creative process because it is always somewhat 

unpredictable and it never stops. Sometimes it all starts with the mental imagery, 

and sometimes it can be an insight or an idea. I then try to write them down or 

express them through sketching, and only then I commit to painting, for which 

I usually use canvas. Sometimes, after long deliberations, I am forced to reject 

those ideas. 

The work is finished when all the compositional elements take up the clearly 

defined canvas space, but it is only a formal completion of a physical work. An 

artwork really ‘ends’ only when the imagery and the thoughts it inspired 

disappears from the mind of its last viewer. 



I was overcome with doubts multiple times because being an artist is not easy. 

The question of the necessary conditions of art practice is much bigger and much 

more important than it might seem. The lack of these conditions can greatly 

restrict creativity. However these doubts are usually neutralised by the feedback 

I get from the curious viewers. Indeed, without a viewer present, an artwork is 

nothing but an ordinary object. Both the result and the creative process are 

intrinsic parts of my being. 



I prefer not to differentiate art according to the regions it is coming from. I am 

interested in art as such rather than in its origins. However I am interested in the 

art field of the Baltic region because it is marked by a specific historical context. 

From our current perspective, I am excited about the Latvian, Estonian and 

Lithuanian art becoming more known in the international arena. 

• How did the Young Painter Prize influence your artist’s career? 

Of course, being awarded the Young Painter Prize brought some changes to my 

career. My artwork became more known and it attracted more people. Awards 

like this are a great incentive for young artists to keep going and stay creative, 

which is exactly what I am trying to do. I think that the Lithuanian art market is 

only in its formative stages because of certain political decisions or, perhaps, 

because of the absence of political interest in artists. I think that Lithuanian 

painting and art in general would only benefit from the events like YPP. They 

benefit artistic creativity, provide artists with the necessary support, and enliven 

the cultural life.

Beginning of the meeting. 290x400cm, acrylic on canvas, 2011

86 

JURY: 

2011 



Kęsturis Kuizinas 

/ CAC Director / Curator 

Diana Barcevska 

/ Art Critic / Latvian National Museum of Art 

Eglė Rakauskaitė 

/ Interdisciplinary artist 

Kaido Ole 

/ Painter 

Linas Liandzbergis 

/ Painter / Curator 

Neringa Černiauskaitė 

/ Editor of Artnews / Art Critic 

Sophie Lauwers 

/ Deputy Exhibitions Directos of the Centre for Fine Arts BOZAR 

Solvita Krese 

/ Latvian Centre for Contemporary Art / Director 


/ Painter 

PATRONS: 

Mindaugas Raila, Nicolas Ortiz family, Dali van Roiij Rakutyte 

PRIZES: 

The Main Prize: 2500 eur + two months’ residence in Nida Art Colony, Lithuania 

Special Prize: three months’ residence in Laudon, Austria (the winner of the prize 

was selected by BMUKK) 

Second Prize: 500 eur 

The Thirds prize: 1000 LTL for shopping in a store of artists’ resources “Dailu” 


SPONSORS: 

BMUKK, Nidos meno kolonija, Dailu, Delfi, Kultūros rėmimo fondas, Vitafarma, 

Shakespeare hotel 

SPACE: 

Titanikas Gallery


2012

Young 

Painter 

Prize 

90 

2012 


Martynas 

Petreikis 

PRIZE WINNER

Interview 92 


My first real encounter with painting happened when I was a fifth-grader. In an 

extra-curricular art group a teacher gave me two cans of gouache, white carton 

paper and a flat spatula. The colours were black and white. There was a simple 

still life on the table in front of me: a pumpkin on a green tablecloth. My task was 

to create the impression of tonal depth, render the surfaces and create an 

interplay of textures by using only two chromatic colours. I was overcome with 

excitement as I was dipping a spatula into the paint and feeling its thickness and 

then putting the paint on the surface of paper. I realised then that paste paint is 

the kind of matter I intuitively understand and am inspired by. During the art 

lessons I was anxious to get right to taking my gouache paint, palette and 

brushes so I could enjoy seeing over and over again the thick layer of paint 

sticking to the surface of paper and doing its magic. During my BA studies, when 

I had a chance to learn about all fields of art as well as its forms and techniques, I 

realised that pastose painting was the technique that I feel the most comfortable 

with while expressing my emotions and ideas. It then became part of my creative 

identity. 


I have got no special rituals that I need to rely on in order to create. I am the 

kind of artist who can become inspired on the spot. It can happen even in the 

most unexpected places: while having dinner with my friends, in the gym, in the 

swimming pool or when having a shower. I can get inspired by a certain smell in 

the kitchen, the weather, the sight of passers-by, or the shapes of shadows. I like 

travelling, and seeing new places, cultures and nature only adds to my creativity. 


working on?) 

Around 2012–2013, right after graduating from the MA in Painting, I was 

mainly interested in working on a portrait of a young man who is trying to 

survive in the postmodern society. This motif has been with me as I was making 

my first steps in my career. My pedagogic studies have greatly influenced my 

capacity to analyse this theme. Among all the art disciplines we had to learn as 

part of our professional curriculum, we also had a wide range of other subjects 

such as philosophy, psychology, social psychology and hodegetics. The 

formation of my creative motif was greatly influenced by my studies, especially 

social sciences and philosophy. 

Why am I interested in portraying a young man? I hear this question often. Why 

not an old man? I considered youth as being more vulnerable, and I was drawing 

on my own self-analysis. How do I see myself in this society, and how does is it 

making me feel? What do my friends think about these questions, and what are 

their experiences? The existential problematics of a young man was particularly 

interesting to me. I remember doubting a lot regarding my chosen path. I feared 

I was going too deep with this, and that the problems I was working on were not 

relevant and understandable. I feared being ridiculed. I was even considering 

choosing a topic that was more accessible and popular. After all, everyone is 

chasing fashionable things and aiming to get to the top of popularity. Perhaps I 

was supposed to follow the opinions of art critics and copy what was exhibited 

in the contemporary art galleries, because art is business — you have to paint 

things that other would want to buy. However I decided not to go down this path. 

I like taking risks and I do only what I am truly interested in and what I find relevant. 

After receiving the YPP Award I realised that I have to keep doing what is 

important to me, and not the kind of art that my teachers, my parents, art critics 

or gallerists prefer. One should not be afraid of this attitude. There will always 

be people who will understand and help you. When I started living in emigration, 

Lithuania-related motifs started receding. When the environment, culture, 

lifestyle, and social context changed, I began working on smaller and more 

manageable projects. 



Naturally, everything starts in with contemplating an idea, a motive, an object, a 

form, tonal depth and composition, and then, after the visualisations and 

sketches are made, I commit to painting. The painting is often influenced by the 

scale, and I have to change both composition and tonal arrangement. Colours and 

compositional elements have various impacts depending on the size of a canvas. 

I am paying a lot of attention to my palette. I think even the grayest of minds can 

produce a wide variety of tones. Which is why, I think, it is very important to 

carefully arrange a palette before I start. It takes time to create an artwork, and I 

let them appear gradually. I use the multiple layering technique, which means I 

have to work in stages. I see the whole process as a creation of the series of 

layers. It is important to understand how layering will influence the opaqueness 

and the distribution of tones and shades, how will they look in a month or even 

in a year, and what chemical processes might start taking place. When I put thin 

layers of paint on top of each other, I imagine that I am using the layers of 

coloured glass — the overlaying colours are able to create subtle tonal effects 

and depths. I often leave a half-finished painting hanging on the wall. I like 

seeing them greeting me as I walk into the studio. I can spend hours 

contemplating them and thinking about various tonal combinations. The creation 

of a single painting can last up to several months. Finalising is usually difficult 

because it always seems that there’s something else I can add. Thus it is 

important to learn how to stop.

94 



I never had any doubts. I always knew what I wanted to do and what my passion 

was. However there might be some periods in life when this passion is weakened 

by certain circumstances. However I know that my passion of painting will always 

be with me. 

I had some doubts about my career right after I received the YPP Award. Maybe 

it will sound strange. I had to encounter a lot of attention from the viewers and 

journalists. My works became objects of all kinds of feedback. Some were 

admiring and supporting me, while others, maybe out of jealousy, were 

dismissive and disparaging. I actually never understood that — how can someone 

have so much negativity in their critical texts? It seems that their point of view 

presupposes a very depressing view of the world as such. I am rather saddened 

by these people, and it is a shame that they get to shape the art of the future. 



I am not an art critic nor a theorist. I am unable to follow the development of the 

art scene in all the three countries — I have no time for this, and I think that 

contextual analysis requires a rather complicated academic research. But I think 

that painting is not yet dead in the Baltic region. We still have those classical 

painting schools that teach students how to work with a palette, how to feel the 

brush, and retain the painter’s spine. However I think that this classical 

foundation is now crumbling, particularly in the West European art. Everything 

is now regarded through the notions of media, performance, and temporality. 

Meanwhile the Baltic region is still ripe with canvases, techniques, colours and 

modern painters who are enriching the tradition of painting. The international 

collaboration during the biennials and triennials is bringing good results. I think 

that the Baltic region as a unit retains its uniqueness, style, and character in the 

context of the European art field. 

• How did the Young Painter Prize influence your artist’s career? 

The YPP Award not only made an impact on my career, but it also changed my 

life. This is a process that has to be experienced by every up-and-coming artist 

who is serious about her career. This initiative gives a young artist a great 

opportunity to learn and make a good start. Universities and academies are good 

at providing the theoretical basis, but the practical sides of creative life can be 

very different from what we expect. The very decision to take part in this project 

is a brave step already — a painter has to collect her works and introduce 

herself to the board of professionals. It is a special feeling to see your own works 

in a huge space together with the works of other young artists. This experience 

teaches you a lot of valuable lessons. The YPP helped me to understand what I 

really want from life, what direction I want to take, and how visible I want to be.

The Face. 180x145cm, oil on canvas, 2012

86 

JURY: 

2012 

Johannes Saar 

/ Centre for Contemporary Arts / Director 

Hafthor Yngvason 

/ Head of the Reykjavik Art Museum 

Teresa Ostergaard Pedersen 

/ Curator / Museum Jorn 

Jolanta Marcišauskytė Jurašienė 

/ Art Critic / Modern Art Center 

Thorkild NB Nielsen 

/ NB Gallery / Director 

Julija Dailidėnaitė 

/ Art Critic 

Ivonna Veiherte 

/ Gallerist / Gallery 21 

Dovilė Tumpytė 

/ Curator / National Gallery of Art 

Žygimantas Augustinas 

/ Artist 

Vita Zaman 

/ Co-director of the Vienna Contemporary Art Fair Viennafair 

PATRONS: 

Mindaugas Raila, Nicolas Ortiz family, Dali van Roiij Rakutyte, Modernaus meno 

centras 

PRIZES: 

The Main Prize: 2500 eur + two months’ residence in SIM, Iceland 

Second Prize: 500 eur 

The Thirds prize: 1000 LTL for shopping in a store of artists’ resources “Dailu” 


SPONSORS: 

The Bajorunas / Sarnoff Foundation, Dailu, Delfi, Kultūros rėmimo fondas, 

Shakespeare hotel, Vilniaus miesto savivaldybė, infashion.lt, artnews, 

echogonewrong 

SPACE: 

Titanikas Gallery


2013

Young 

Painter 

Prize 

104 

2013 


Zane 

Tuča 

PRIZE WINNER

Interview 106 

• Painting? Why? Was there a pivotal moment when you decided to follow your 

path as an artist? (how did this media appear on your creative road, why is it?) 

I have to admit that there haven’t been one particular moment in my life when 

I would realize that I want to be an artist. Somehow I just have followed to my 

need to do something that I have considered as the best way of expressing 

myself since my childhood. When I was 15 years old I decided to attend Janis 

Rozentals Riga Art High School and that has been a beginning of my path as an 

artist. I continued studying in a department of painting at the Art Academy of 

Latvia. During first years at Academy I gradually realized that painting has really 

important meaning in my life and I got an understanding that I’ll always keep 

doing it even if it wouldn’t be my profession in the future. During studies I have 

tried to work in other medias but I always have felt more precise in a painting. I 

have this inner feeling that I even think in a painting. All the time I am 

observing visual reality and considering how to translate it in a visual work that 

carries specific ideas which are actual for me on the each certain moment. 

Painting is a language which I am using to solve my most significant 

contemplations about being. I believe that it is a strong inner need to do it. 

• Who inspires you? What is your greatest indulgence in life? (personality, context, 

etc.) 

I am inspired by all the culture and artefacts which have been created in history 

until today. Even if concrete art movement is not particularly influential 

personally for me I appreciate it as an important part of a whole which has 

created situation in art scene as it is now. It is important for me because I am 

awaring that it makes a context in which I am living and working and as an artist 

one cannot ignore it. I always have been very inspired by literature. I admire how 

written word can build one’s visual imagery in your mind. I believe that process 

of making painting is something related to this. In a result of observations, 

experience and thoughts you build a certain image in your mind. Only here the 

process continues by bringing the image from your mind back to material and 

visual form which you can share with other people. 

• Main motive. (Who are your most interested in your work? What topics do you 

consider in your work) 

My paintings usually depict deformations of pure landscapes. These images are 

captured in reflecting surfaces which are typical in modern environment - 

different layers of landscape and urban environment are overlapping there (a lot 

of layers in material aspect as well). My main interest is an attempt to thematize 

idea about space which is created by painting and where temporary becomes 

timeless – a different space outside of the usual time. Images of my paintings 

are made from several pictures of the same object which overlap themselves for 

several times. There is a small shifting between those layers. I try to amalgamate 

them into one layer by using minutely drawing and painting. I relate usage of 

this image and technique as an attempt to visualize a place where different times 

come together in one timeless point. 

• Can you tell us about the process of making your work? From what does it begin 

and when does your artwork “end”? 

Process of making my work definitely starts in my mind. I believe that all my life 

is the process of making my work. Newest works are developing from the former 

ones. I continue to follow the main idea and path which flows through the all my 

oeuvre. All the time I keep looking for the images what could serve as a best and 

most precise carriers for the ideas and questions which I would like to actualize. 

When I decide that concrete image (photo or photo collage) is suitable for my 

intention I start to work in material form. I decide the size of the intended work 

which also has an important part of that how painting will affect on the observer. 

The process of the physical making of my work is very long. It can take months 

of intense every day working. I start with a background which I paint with acrylic 

paints. Afterwards follows the laborious part – covering the surface with very 

detailed graphite drawing using the pencil. As before physical realization of the 

painting I have very precise idea how it must look finished there is not a lot of 

space for improvisation left and it makes easier to decide and follow the criteria 

which indicates that the specific piece has been finished. 

• Do you have moments in your life when you have been keen on the chosen artist’s 

path? Have you ever had a moment when you questioned your career entirely? (if 

so, who then returned you? Stopped?) 

I have had a lot of moments when I have felt very confused and even despair 

about choosing artist’s path. Those moments repeat occasionally and I have 

admitted that at least in my case it is and always will be a part of a process. As far 

my inner need to paint has turn out stronger than desperation. It shows up us a 

sign of a weakness but I believe that it has important role in the context of one’s 

development. Those moments come with questions and doubts. It requires to 

rebuild and strengthen your confidence and reasons why do you keep going this 

path.

108 

• Are you interested in the art field of the Baltic region? (write your opinion on the 

context of the Lithuanian, Latvian, and Estonian artistic field: differences, 

similarities, advantages, aspirations, etc.) 

Unfortunately my knowledge about processes in Lithuanian and Estonian artistic 

field is not so good to make any comparisons. Of course I know some Lithuanian 

and Estonian artists and have travelled both to Vilnius and Tallinn to see 

exhibitions in museums and galleries. I would rather say that I can see 

similarities in Baltic region’s art field which differs it from Western Europe and 

have been influenced by our quite similar history. 

• Is the winning in the “Young Painter Prize” competition somehow influenced by 

changes in your artistic career? 

The winning of Young Painter Prize has very significant meaning in my life and 

artistic career. I appreciate it as a very good and valuable idea that YPP gives you 

a chance to take part in some artists’ residency in Europe as a prize. I got a wonderful 

opportunity to stay for 2 months in the most admirable artist 

residency – Nordic Artists’ Centre Dale in Norway. The residency program is 

available for artists who already have finished their studies and I even felt a 

little bit worried to go there as a student from the Art Academy. I perceived it as 

a huge responsibility. I can say that it has been very important and productive 

period in my professional life. Time which i spent in the residency got a lot of 

extra value. One gets not only much more time for physical execution of ideas 

but also a lot of time to over think and questioning your practice. That is 

invaluable possibility when you don’t have to bother about your daily and are 

able completely to focus on your thinking and working. As highly important I 

appreciated opportunity to meet and work alongside other artists from different 

countries and backgrounds. I think it is one of the best ways how to get known 

with other countries art, cultural, social, political situation. I was there together 

with artists from Norway, Sweden, Italy, Mexico, USA and Germany. 

Communication between us definetely broadened my insight of art field’s 

processes on these countries. I felt very encouraged when I experienced that my 

work could be interesting for other artists and people from art field outside 

Latvia. That meant really a lot for me. Also the time I spent in the residency 

features the time when I developed the technique which I still continue to use 

(pencil drawing on the colored acrylic background). 3 years later when I already 

had finished my studying I applied for the same residency. I got an opportunity 

to stay there for 4 months on 2017. And again it became a very significant period 

in my life. Paintings what I made there were exhibited earlier this year (2018) 

on my solo show ”…But one can never get quiet enough…” at Alma Gallery, Riga, 

Latvia. So I can say that winning of YPP 5 years ago still impacts my professional 

life and I am still very grateful.

Stillness. 215x245cm, oil on wood, 2013

114 

JURY: 

2013 

Arild H. Eriksen 

/ Nordic Artists’ Centre Dale / Director 



Kęsturis Kuizinas 

/ CAC Director / Curator 

Petri Hytonen 

/ Artist 

Sabine Vess 

/ Artist 

Zane Oncule 

/ Curator and Program Director / Contemporary Art Center kim? 

Rūta Frankė 

/ Art Critic / The European Investment Bank’s art program consultant 

Sirje Helme 

/ The Art Museum of Estonia / Director General 

Patricija Jurkšaitytė 

/ Artist 

Juan de Nieves 

/ Director of Rupert 

PATRONS: 

Mindaugas Raila, Nicolas Ortiz family, Dali van Roiij Rakutyte, 

Modernaus meno centras, Orlen Lietuva, Lewben Art Foundation 

PRIZES: 

The Main Prize: 2500 eur + two months’ residence in Nordic Artists’ Centre Dale, 

Norway, with a monthly grant of nok 8000,- 


SPONSORS: 

The Bajorunas / Sarnoff Foundation, Delfi, Kultūros rėmimo fondas, artnews, 

echogonewrong, Clear channel 

SPACE: 

Contemporary Art Center, Vilnius


2014

Young 

Painter 

Prize 

118 

2014 


Eglė 

Butkutė 

PRIZE WINNER

Interview 120 


I always loved drawing and painting. I went to several art schools, which I really 

enjoyed. I was also interested in theatre, scenography, and fashion design. 

People kept saying that it was very difficult to get into Vilnius Academy of Arts, 

but I braved myself and got in. It was a rather spontaneous decision. I now feel 

that I am in the right place. Painting has always been giving me a chance to 

understand and realise myself better, and to observe and analyse the world 

more deeply. 


I use tracks, scores, and rows to signify alienation, normativity, and loneliness. 

Finding interesting sports-related stencils or numbers always inspires me to 

think of the new motifs and and ideas. I also find the soviet legacy to be 

important for my art. The sight of certain walls, wallpapers and sports inventory 

can bring back memories and evoke a strange nostalgia. I am emotionally 

attached to all these steamy sports halls with their green walls and brown 

benches, with those weird yellows and mouldered blues — all those colours and 

their combinations bring back repressed memories and feelings that serve as an 

inspiration. 


working on?) 

In my works I am touching upon the topics of the disappearance of authenticity 

and personality, and the complexity of seeing oneself as an individual. My 

painting is about the freedom of being different. Many of my motifs are based on 

the imagery of the sports lessons because of my personal experiences and the 

desire to liberate myself from them. All these creative ideas are somehow 

related to the memories of me jumping over the trestle, making rollovers, or 

hanging on a crossbar. A sports hall full of all kinds of children — tall, short, 

stocky, spectacled, weak and energetic — and everyone has been attempting at 

doing the same tasks. Hanging, climbing, falling down, hanging again, and 

jumping up. These distant spaces and exercises are still vivid in my memory. I 

feel haunted by them. And my yet unrealised creative tasks are a reminder that 

life itself need me to perform and comply with norms. 



As I look back at these dirty and wind-swept stadiums, I find myself revisiting the 

situations when both possibilities and individual choices were still far from my 

aspirations. I revitalise those scenes through painting. I thus travel back to those 

halls lit by the fluorescent lamps. I am trying to find a relation to the past and the 

social environment in which every deviation from the norm resulted in of social 

ostracism of one kind or another. 

I find the landscape structure that dominates in my pantings important to me: 

I regard my past as a series of well trodden and ever-changing landscapes that 

sometimes can be completely fictional. The sketchiness in my works refers to 

a fleeting nature of a memory. I approach painting differently each time I am 

in front of the canvas. The paintings can never be completely finished, and the 

empty spaces in them are the clues to the aesthetic continuity between them. 



I don’t think I have. I like the path I have chosen. 



The art of the Baltic region always interested me with its variety of different 

stories and motifs, which is always evident in various collaborative projects and 

group exhibitions. I find a lot of sensitivity and depth in the works by the Baltic 

region artists. I always enjoy visiting the shows, art fairs and performances where 

I can encounter their explorations of narrativity, time, memory, everyday truths 

and paradoxes of life. 


Actually, this Award was really unexpected for me. Being recognised was very 

pleasing, I became more confident. These things are important for young artists. 

The Award did in fact open the doors to new exhibitions and helped with my 

visibility, not to mention the memorable residence in Norwegian mountains 

where I had a chance to develop many creative ideas.

Jumping the goat. 179x179cm, oil on canvas, 2014

126 

JURY: 

2014 

Arild H. Eriksen 

/ Art Historian / Nordic Artists’ Centre Dale Director 

Laima Kreivytė 


Gintaras Makarevičius 

/ Painter 

Barry Schwabsky 

/ Art Critic FOR THE NATION, ARTFORUM / Art Historian 

Iliana Veinberga 

/ Art Critic 

Andris Vitolins 

/ Painter / Head of Painting department / Art Academy of Latvia 

PATRONS: 


Modernaus meno centras, Lewben Art Foundation 

PRIZES: 




Talk: “Morandi’s Window: The Place of the Contemporary Artist”. The lecture by 

writer and art critic Barry Schwabsky in National Gallery of Art 

SPONSORS: 

Lietuvos kultūros taryba, echogonewrong, artnews.lt, airLITUANICA, 

Clear Channel, Downtown Forest Hostel, Delfi, ŠMC, NDG, Radisson Blu Hotel 

SPACE: 

Contemporary Art Center, Vilnius; Lithuanian Artists Association Gallery


2015

Young 

Painter 

Prize 

130 

2015 


Andrius 

Ivanovas 

PRIZE WINNER

Interview 132 




I gave painting a try during my undergraduate studies. Two years later, while I 

was still already in the process of acquiring an MA in Sculpture, my efforts at 

conventional painting brought me the Young Painter Award. 


I am amazed by Facebook and Pusheen the cat. I love combat animation films and 

American new wave rap with performers such as Lil Uzi Vert, Playboi Carti, and 

Tay-K47. By making their music without messing with the social contexts, they 

are spreading this honest joy about things, and I feel that my creative process is 

influenced by this movement. 


working on?) 

My painting ‘Book Shelf’ comes to mind. As I was painting the photograph of my 

late grandfather, I was also trying to imagine someone who had a happy life. I 

also feel inspired whenever I find genuine happiness in the worldly processes. I 

now realised that my practice of painting — the medium I no longer use — was 

a form of self-observation. I am interested in creativity insofar as it is a form of 

admiring myself and making ‘cool stuff.’ For example, I have created a steel wool 

‘bomber’ suit for the ‘Bennu Day’. Bennu is a half-a-kilometre wide asteroid that 

has a 1:2,700 chance of striking Earth in 2135. Due to the kinetic energy released 

during an impact that would heat up the planet, the ‘bomber’ costume is 

expected to shine brightly for a second, before the person wearing the costume 

is blown away by an impact wave that would roll across the whole planet. 

“Shining like I’m megaman” (Tay-K 47). 

I don’t know how to respond to this question. My creative ideas often come from 

an intersection between my interest in science and my religious experiences. 

There are also collaborations with other people that allow for fun ‘margins of 

error’ to emerge. My works often cease to exist with the termination of the 

services commissioned by my clients. And I remain involved in doing all other 

stuff only for as long as it brings me joy. 



I understand identity as something that is in constant flux depending on what we 

are involved in at a certain moment. Sometimes I am an artist, but I cease to be 

one when I’m not creating. So I am never tormented by identity-related doubts. 



I am not an art fanatic, and I guess I am not even interested in it. The art of the 

Baltic region does not interest me and I pay no attention to it. Thus I can’t say 

anything about this ‘art field.’ 


The Young Painter Prize had no impact on my visibility and I still have no career 

as an artist.

Shelf of books. 200x100cm, oil on canvas, 2015

138 

JURY: 

2015 

Vano Allsalu 

/ Painter / President of the Estonian Artists’ Association 

Tina Kaplár 

/ Art Historian / editor-in-chief of ArtGuideEast 

Patrik Entian 

/ Swedish Painter based in Norway / Artist-in-Residence centre Nordic Artists’ Centre 

Dalsåsen board member 

Justė Jonutytė 

/ Rupert director / Art Manager 

Kate Sutton 

/ art critic / writer at Artforum, Bidoun, Frieze, Ibraaz, and LEAP / 

Jaan Toomik 

/ Video Artist / Painter 

PATRONS: 


Modernaus meno centras 

PRIZES: 



Two Additional Prizes: 500 eur each 


Talk: Kate Sutton “Resurrection Day: Contemporary Art and its Future Visions” at 

the centre for creative industries “Pakrantė” in Vilnius 

SPONSORS: 

Delfi, Lietuvos Kultūros Taryba, artnews, echogonewrong, airLituanica, 

Downtown Forest hotel, Radisson blu astoria 

SPACE: 

Pakrantė


2016

Young 

Painter 

Prize 

142 

2016 


Rosanda 

Sorakaitė 

PRIZE WINNER

Interview 144 




Even though I loved drawing and crafts since my early childhood, I did not attend 

to any of the art schools or groups. I guess Art classes at school were enough for 

me and I received my art basics from the teachers there. I always loved drawing 

in solitude, I lived inside my own world where I did not need any guidance. It 

was only later, after finishing school, when I decided to take up private drawing 

lessons. My teacher was a painter and at first I was just copying everything he 

did. I was completely captivated by oil painting the very first time I tried it, it was 

a really special experience. I was surprised and mesmerised by this tremendous 

power that comes from using it when you’re really focused on what you’re doing. 


The inspiration comes naturally as soon as I find a good motif — if the imagery is 

captivating, then the whole process rolls naturally. I am always inspired by good 

art I see in exhibitions, but everyday situations can be just as inspiring for me. 


working on?) 

I can tell what interests me only when I reflect on what emerges and recurs in my 

work over time. I never choose a specific topic. All my works are reflections of my 

own life, so their motif is always the same. I am expressing myself through 

objects that surround me at home, in my workshop, or during the commute. 

These reemerging motifs are slowly developing with time, and I love this process 

a lot. 

I always start working from an image I already have thought through, even 

though I know that this image might change radically during the process of 

painting. I usually start with focusing on something that already had caught my 

attention before – this is when I start imagining the painting and shaping its 

visual motifs. I usually work on several paintings simultaneously, which leads to 

the formation of groups and series of works. I like slowing down and allowing 

myself to be carried away by my intuition. It’s good when I am able to achieve 

something new and improve on my technique, but sometimes the days are just 

as good as they get. 



Indeed I have. Especially when I have to fight for my time to create and break 

away from the grind. However the sense of liberation that comes with painting 

remains the biggest motivator. I am lucky to have a husband who is also an artist, 

which means we can support each other in overcoming these difficulties. 



It is interesting that this seemingly small region retains its distinct artistic 

languages despite being swept by the tendencies that tend to unify them. And 

the Young Painter Prize does a good work discovering and showcasing new 

interesting painters. 


Yes. Because of its popularity here in Lithuania, the Young Painter Prize helped 

me with the publicity and visibility. Meanwhile my career remains on the same 

path, I’m still busy in my workshop painting the night lights.

Night light. 200x150cm, acrylic and oil on canvas, 2016

150 

JURY: 

2016 

Tina Kaplár 

/ artguideeast.com 

Ugnė Bužinskaitė 

/ Lewben Art Foundation 

Oleksandr Shchelushchenko 

/ TSEKH gallery, galerist 

Andrius Zakarauskas 

/ painter / YPP’09 winner 

Siim Preiman 

/ Tallinn Art Hall / Curator 

Lino Lago 

/ painter 

PATRONS: 

Mindaugas Raila, Nicolas Ortiz family, Dali van Roiij Rakutyte and Lewben Art 

Foundation 

PRIZES: 

The Main Prize: 2500 eur + two months’ residence in in ICA Budapest artist 

residence, Hungary 

Two Additional Prizes: 500 eur each 


SPONSORS: 

Delfi, Lietuvos Kultūros Taryba, BOOKinn, Coffee inn 

SPACE: 

TSEKH Gallery


2017

Young 

Painter 

Prize 

154 

2017 


Alexei 

Gordin 

PRIZE WINNER

Interview 156 



Asked about when did I start drawing or painting, I always give the same answer: 

early in the childhood, just like we all did. The only difference between me and 

someone who is not an artist is that I never quit. For me, the secondary school 

classes were always boring as hell. Drawing was the only thing that used to save 

me from falling into depression. All my study books and papers were full of 

drawings. Some were funny, others were violent. At some point teachers simply 

got used to it. 

At the age of 15–17, I started studying art more seriously. Especially animations, 

comic art, caricature, and photography. In addition to drawing I started taking 

a lot of pictures of my surrounds. At that time I making mostly black and white 

pencil drawings on paper. These were black-and-white times: all my photographs 

and drawings were monochrome. When I had to decide what to do after 

finishing school, Art Academy came as an obvious choice. Everybody who knew 

me where sure I was going to study art. I did not know much about installation 

art or sculpture, nor did I know anything about printmaking. Although I did not 

have much of the painting experience, I decided to apply for painting program. 

I turned out to be the worst painter in the class. I regarded painting as ‘drawing 

with brushes.’ I gradually became interested in colours and learned about how 

layers of paint can turn into unpredictable surfaces. In the year 2011 Estonian Art 

Academy rejected my MA applicationthe at the. For the following three years I 

was working on my own, managing various painting, photography and film 

projects. In 2014 I got accepted into the MA program at the Helsinki Art Academy. 

That was also a start of my professional career. 

I think it is the absurdity of life that has always been my main inspiration. The 

world around us can be a complicated thing. It could be much better, but people 

keep making the same mistakes all over again. We don’t learn from history. Our 

values are extremely artificial and controversial, and our picture of the world is 

sometimes incredibly poor. Growing up in post-soviet Russia and Estonia, I witnessed 

a lot of depression, fear, and hopelessness. My early works were all about 

people being lost in this crazy world. The main protagonists of my early cartoonish 

drawings were social anti-heroes, alcoholics, bums and junkies. Later, when 

my professional career started to develop, I starated witnessing a lot of absurdity 

in art world as well. At first our ideas about being an artist are deeply romanticized. 

Then we start encountering various uncomfortable things about the art society 

and the art market. Many artists don’t talk about all that. And those who do, 

have nothing going on for them. There were times I was questioning my choice 

to become artist. I had no money and no hope. Although I considered making art 

being the best thing in the world, I had doubts about my committing to it. However 

these doubts are also the source of inspiration. I would prefer not to be too 

serious in my works. There is no point in being serious in such a world with its 

absurd beliefs. I am inspired by our everyday thoughts, observations, and stupid 

jokes. My dissatisfaction is the main thing that keeps me doing stuff. 


working on?) 

Nowadays my main motif is the existence of an artist in the world of strict and 

blind rules of capitalism. In fact half of the artists in this world seem to be thematising 

the struggle against capitalism. Somehow, this world does not make artists 

happy. I have witnessed a lot of insecurity among creative people. It is hard 

to survive even with the ingenious ideas, unless they are practical. My favourite 

motifs relate to how spirituality and money, and the will to create and the desire 

for stable life crash into each other. My art arises from my personal fears and 

anxieties about being an artist, and it extends into global topics such as social 

traumas and anxieties, politics, poverty, love and hate.

158 



I am quite random at doing things. I never plan or puzzle over developing 

narratives and concepts. My working process is like writing a diary — nI just 

create different snippets every day, and then revisit them later , uniting them 

into complete series of compositions in the form of an exhibition. My 

background is animation, and I always appreciated the ability of a simple, even 

stupid picture to say so much about life. 

Once I’ve got an idea inos my mind, I take blank canvas, or a camera, or whatever, 

and bring it to life. I can not say where my pictures come from, but usually I see a 

complete image in my head. The most interesting thing is that a completed work 

of art does differs from its idea. The process brings so many new things into it. 

For example, solving technical problems always brings something new to the 

picture because I tend to try something I have never tried before. I never work 

on several works simultaneously. Usually it is only one painting or one video at 

a time. After the work is done, I spend a few days just looking at it. Sometimes I 

add something, sometimes not. It is simple, really: the work is ready when I start 

to enjoy the result. 



Of course. I question myself every day about what the hell am I doing and who 

really needs my work. As I already mentioned, I went through some hard times 

when I had no money and no hope for the future. There were times when, after 

working on an exhibition for a whole year, I saw 10 people showing up at the 

exhibition opening. At some point I decided to make art for myself. In the end, 

it’s only thing I enjoy. I stayed honest with myself about what I was doing. 

Without any big expectations, without any attempts to fit into some circles. Just 

creating various stuff what I consider necessary for the moment. After some time, 

people started noticing my work. I can now say that I am doing art not only for 

myself, but for the people as well. There would be no Gordin without those who 

appreciate and reflect on my way of thinking. But I am still not feeling secure 

about either today or tomorrow. However, as I have already mentioned, l I am 

inspired by my own fears and anxieties about what it means to be an artist. 



I am not well versed in art theory. I usually just enjoy looking at an artwork 

without digging into the geopolitical or cultural contexts. I am interested in all 

kinds of art fields, whether they are Baltic, Scandinavian or South African. The 

Estonian art scene and a country as a whole become more and more focused on 

technology. Estonia now advertises itself as an ‘e-country.’ No doubt this reflects 

on art as well. There are not many painters among the young generation of 

artists. Our scene is becoming extremely oriented toward the new media. I am 

sure that Lithuanian and Latvian art scenes are a bit more traditional. Art schools 

are paying more attention to the basics of the craft and there are more promising 

young painters. During the past few years, Estonia have expanded its contacts 

with Scandinavian and West European art scenes, while Latvian and Lithuanian 

scenes are still quite localised. 


After winning the the YPP competition I received a huge amount of attention. 

I was bombarded with articles, interviews, and congratulations from numerous 

colleagues. The Award helps you to believe in yourself, and realise that your 

work can be appreciated on a global scale. But then you forget about it quickly, 

just like most other people do. It is hard to see how the YPP affected my career 

in a long run because it has been less than a year since I received the Award. The 

first part of the year 2018 was crazy, I could not even handle the amount of 

invitations to participate in various exhibitions. Surely the fact of being a YPP 

awardee played a big role, because my name became quite visible everywhere. 

Now that this PR tsunami is calming down, I still have to make plans for the next 

year, after the YPP exhibition in Pamenkalnio Gallery (Vilnius). Generally, my 

personal experience shows that any presentation of your work is good. It does 

not matter whether you won something or not. You never know who will see it 

and where it will lead you. Winning a big competition definitely feed your ego, 

and it should not happen too often. When it happened to me, I took maximum 

from this experience and realised the power of public attention.

Alone in the studio. 120x180cm, acrylic on canvas, 2017

164 

JURY: 

2017 

Renāte Prancāne 

/ Executive Director / Contemporary Art Centre kim? 

Arvydas Žalpys 

/ Galerist and Art Critic / Gallery Meno Parkas 

Leevi Haapala 

/ Museum Director / Museum of Contemporary Art KIASMA 

Triin Tulgiste 

/ Curator, Project Manager / Contemporary Art Gallery Kumu 

Linsey Young 

/ Curator, Contemporary British Art / Contemporary Art Museum TATE 


/ Painter / Young Painter Prize initiator 

PATRONS: 

Mindaugas Raila, Nicolas Ortiz family, Dali van Roiij Rakutyte and Lewben Art 

Foundation 

PRIZES: 

The Main Prize: 2.000 EUR + August/September 2018 a studio and 

accommodation in SomoS artist residency in Berlin + Personal exhibition in 

Pamėnkalnio galerijaGallery 


SPONSORS: 

Delfi, Lietuvos Kultūros Taryba, Amandus, Artagonist hotel, Somos berlin, 

Pamėnkalnio galerija 

SPACE: 

Titanikas Gallery


2018

Young 

Painter 

Prize 

168 

2018 


Monika 

Plentauskaitė 

PRIZE WINNER

Interview 170 

• Painting? Why? Was there a pivotal moment when you decided to follow your 

path as an artist? (how did this media appear on your creative road, why is it?) 

Visual arts, and most importantly painting, appeared in my life in my childhood. 

It happened, I would say, organically, because my parents always had a ceramic 

workshop at home where I was a frequent guest. I constantly found out what 

to do there - whether to mold, or to paint with glazes. In fifth grade I entered 

Kaunas Art School on my own initiative, which allowed me to continue on this 

path. Painting has become the preferred form of expression, this media allows 

me to control the surface while leaving space for a chance. At the same time, the 

painted image is like a fiction and a window to another reality. Real - world rules 

do not apply in this space, and the symbols appearing in it speak in indirect, 

multi-language. Painting is like a medium that you can see but can not physically 

appear in it. 

• Who inspires you? What is your greatest indulgence in life? (personality, context, 

etc.) 

I archive personal photos which helps me to remember events and admire frozen 

moments of life. Photographies come from a directly accessible documented 

reality, but by converting them into painting, one can talk fictitiously, 

symbolically, create new narratives, stories and images about reality. Those who 

are portrayed in photographies can act as actors here for new scenes, letting the 

author direct the painting and speak on relevant themes. 

The history of art and its “weight“ is also my source of inspiration. I always try to 

wonder how my painting (or any form of artwork) will interfere with the overall 

context of the art history (modern or classical paintings) and what kind of 

message it will bring: whether it is new, or perhaps old message, but a rethought. 

New inspirations also come at night. Sometimes I experience insomnia, in which 

my thoughts are more focused and sharped than usual, and this intuitively brings 

images that relate to issues of concern at that time. 

• Main motive. (Who are your most interested in your work? What topics do you 

consider in your work) 

This particular painting „The Female Painter (Self – Portrait)“ is about being a 

woman painter nowadays. It is ironical view of perception of a woman as an 

artist. I took a self portrait from personal photography and converted it into 

theatrical image. Painting lets me change the context of primary photography for 

expressing my position and attitude towards poor status of women artists (and 

women in general). 

--- 

My paintings are about changing reality of those who are depicted in 

photographies. It is about constructing symbolic narratives on canvases, that 

suggests new percepton and viewpoint. 

• Can you tell us about the process of making your work? From what does it begin 

and when does your artwork “end”? 

I would say painting begins from studying the reality and in my mind. Then 

comes the materialization process – sketches and drawings, photographies 

(those personal and owned by me and the new ones if necessary) and 

afterall – painting in my studio and directing new scenarios on canvases. 

Preferably I work with the daylight from 3 pm till 11 pm with the lamp, observing 

the painting in the both lights, because I have to check all the colors in various 

kinds of lighting. 

Artwork never „ends“ – it always expands itself while it is beeing observed and 

interpreted by a viewer. 

• Do you have moments in your life when you have been keen on the chosen artist’s 

path? Have you ever had a moment when you questioned your career entirely? (if 

so, who then returned you? Stopped?) 

I developed a sincere passion for the painter profession although it was not an 

easy path. Of course, there were moments in my life when I questioned it, 

especialy while studying in Vilnius Academy of Arts Painting Department for six 

years, but those were very momentary feelings I coped with. 

• Are you interested in the art field of the Baltic region? (write your opinion on the 

context of the Lithuanian, Latvian, and Estonian artistic field: differences, 

similarities, advantages, aspirations, etc.) 

I follow not only The Baltic States art scene, but also artists from all over the 

world. In my opinion, we assimilated a bit and there is no clear distribution of 

artists by locality and nationality. Of course, identity always plays an important 

role of an artist (especially in biography and background), but the internet and 

social networks such as „Instagram“ allow us to watch and communicate with 

different genres artists from different locations. Still, I try to follow the most 

prominent artists and major events of the neighbour countries (for example, 

The Riga Biennale, The Baltic Triennial...).

172 

The Female Painter (Self-portrait). 140x140cm, oil on canvas, 2018

176 

JURY: 

2018 

Francesca Ferrarini 

/ independent art advisor specialized in contemporary art and emerging artists, 

art advisor at Lewben Art Foundation, Italy 

Bruno Leitão 

/ art curator, Curator Director at Artistic Research Center HANGAR, Portugal 

Neringa Bumblienė 

/ art curator at Contemporary Art Center, researcher and writer, Lithuania 

Līna Birzaka-Priekule 

/ art historian and curator at the Exhibition Hall Arsenāls, National Museum, Latvia 

Kaido Ole 

/ painter and sculptor, Estonia 

Žygimantas Augustinas 

/ artist, Lithuania 

JURY FOR SPECIAL MENTION PRIZE: 

Artist And Composer Lina Lapelyte, 

Art Historian and NDG curator, 

Editor of KULTmisijos Jolanta Marcisauskyte -Jurašienė, 

Artist, Designer, Researcher, Engineer Julijonas Urbonas 

Nerijus Keblys, Art Director at “autoriai” 

PATRONS: 


Lewben Art Foundation, The Bajorunas/Sarnoff Foundation 

PRIZES: 

The Main Prize: The Main Prize of Young Painter Prize - 2.000 EUR + a studio and 

accommodation in Artistic Research Center HANGAR (located in Graça, Lisbon, 

Portugal) + solo exhibition in Pamėnkalnio Gallery, in Vilnius 

Autoriai Special Mention prize: 1000 eur 

The Rooster Gallery Open Aditional Prize: 500 eur 

The Main Informative Partner: 

JCDecaux 

SPONSORS: 

Lietuvos Kultūros Taryba, Amandus, PACAI hotel 

SPACE: 

TSEKH Gallery, Pamėnkalnio Gallery, Titanikas Gallery

178 

Young Painter Prize (YPP) - one of the most important 

art events in the Baltic countries, held since 2009. 

This project combines the Lithuanian, Latvian and 

Estonian young artists a common goal - to present 

their national identity, art school practices and 

personal creative potential. According to art critics, 

the project has become a kind of Baltic younger 

generation painting chronicler, an important 

platform for young artists. 

The project “Young Painter Prize” welcomes the 

participation of young artists from three Baltic States 

(Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia). The main aim of the 

project - to present the brightest and most promising 

painters of the younger generation and to create an 

opportunity for public access to such dynamic new art. 

Moreover, this projects aims to help its target 

audience in both Lithuania and abroad – art 

collectors, managers, curators – discover new talent 

in Baltic States. 

This project is focused solely on artists under 30 

years old from all disciplines who have acquired 

(or are in the process of acquiring) a diploma in art. 

The age limit has been imposed deliberately as the 

organisers wish to concentrate only on those very 

young artists who have just graduated (or are 

graduating) universities and have not yet had the 

opportunity to appear in public. This category of 

young artists is most vulnerable and has the largest 

need for support.

Young 

Painter 

Prize 

2018

X YPP Book

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