OUT OF THERE. Laura Slavinskaite

Laura Slavinskaitė

Laura Slavinskaitė painting is characterized by literature. The very best of that word. Her works do not illustrate stories, but they themselves tell. Tells what's hard to translate.Tell us not only by the objects, but also by the plastic language: by color, stubby, expressive stroke, flow, light and dark, hollow silhouettes. Slavinskaitė does not select motives rationally, she devotes to her subconscious and sketching hand. Painter does not search for, does not pick, does not lurk for stories. She welcomes the world with wide open eyes and catches its signals. 

This sensitivity to the environment implies to that author’s style is recognizable, but hardly can be defined by the manner or iconography. The author consciously avoids repeating herself. Therefore every canvas is like a separate micro-world with personal esthetic and content characteristics. Canvas architectonics varies from radical expression, abstractionism manifestation to realistic reflection with pop-art insertions. It is noted that the visual material that is mentally continued summons its own rules, conditions and author ventures into the birth of her work. 

To the author – emotion has the highest importance, which can be provoked by uncommon, close or an otherwise relevant motive. And by touching the depths of the soul with an event that can be both everyday and side-by-side, indifferent to appear to be insignificant. Therefore Laura’s canvas have two layers –compositions that can look fixed, stopped, frozen moments or we can immerse, submit our emotions, intuition and then we will see metaphors, symbolizing the principles of the authors’s worldview as well as general human experiences, values and verities.

The author arrives from the natural surroundings to Lithuanian capital Vilnius. She was ambushed by noise, chaos and rush. Capitalism artefacts started to manifest in her canvas – showcases, mannequins and plastic. The author let herself dive into a boiling and somewhat shining city life of a metropolis. Therefore, the last year’s period is represented by the painting “Organism” – moving, alive, screaming, painfully open nerve, sensory internal "I" of the author. Although, recently painter is interested in the connection between chaos, noise and serenity, silence. She begins to search for natures haven, wind shelter, listens to herself, her inner self, the depths of her soul. 

This step towards harmony – the very process itself, movement, action – is the image of “For Empathy”. It’s an isolation, positive loneliness, an embodiment of bright reflection. With this canvas we venture from outer toxic glitter world into the underground. The Triptych “Gallery of Souls” is dedicated to the memories and their ghosts. This minor tone is not negative. It is a state of concentration. And from the meditative triptych we travel into “Sand Box” with our eyes and minds, the whirlpools of memories. In this canvas, the reminiscences become subordinate, prone to manipulations, corrections. We are no longer their hostages. Liberated creativity, playfulness rejuvenate us, cleanses us from grievances.

This way the works of this exhibition convey the phenomenon of cyclicalness– so close to the nature, human lives – for each of us. All of Laura Slavinskaitė paintings are born from sketches that were influenced by life. The simplicity of Laura’s works in today’s artificial culture is an irreplaceable value. It seems that the visitors of this exhibition  are invited into this cyclic cleansing from the scurf of a routine and to take a close look into their true self. 
Art critic Austėja Mikuckytė-Mateikienė

Laura Slavinskatė (born 1994) holds a Bachelor's degree from Vilnius Academy of the Kaunas faculty, currently continuing her Master’s degree studies at Vilnius Faculty. The painter actively participates in group exhibitions, most important of which are: International Biennial in Alytus exhibition spaces (2016), XVI international Vilnius Painting Triennial in Kaunas painting gallery (2016), Drawing exhibition in ‘’Meno parkas’’ gallery in Kaunas (2017), 2016 Best of the year work competition exhibition in Kaunas painting gallery (laureate) (2017), “Two Academies” St. Petersburg (2017), “Art Cells 2017” Ministry of Culture in Vilnius (2017), VI international Algimantas Švėgžda drawing competition exhibition in the gallery “Titanikas” in Vilnius (winner) (2017), International group painting exhibition in Kaunas painting gallery (2018).

Supporters of exhibition:  Embassy of  the Lithuania in Vienna, JSC "BMG logistics", JSC "Vilniaus skaitmeninė spauda"