X YPP Book

Interview 92
• Why painting? (How did you discover this medium and why have you chosen it?)
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.
• What inspires you? (Individuals, contexts, etc.)
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.
• Creative motifs. (What drives your creative practice? What are the topics you are
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.
• What can you tell us about your creative process? Where does your artwork start
and where does it end?
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.