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Exhibition view Galerija Vartai, Vilnius, 2024.
Photo by Lukas Mykolaitis

Open a larger version of the following image in a popup:
Exhibition view Galerija Vartai, Vilnius, 2024.
Photo by Lukas Mykolaitis

Donata Minderytė Lithuanian, b. 1991
Kamile as Alice Wakefield, 2023
drobė, aliejus / oil on canvas
162.5 x 227 x 2 cm
64 x 89 1/2 x 1 in
64 x 89 1/2 x 1 in
€ 5,500.00
Further images
In this painting, personal experience and cinematic reference are directly intertwined. The cut-out of Kamile's face rests atop the contour of Patricia Arquette's face (Lost Highway 1997, directed by David Lynch, in which she plays the roles of Alice Wakefield and Renee Madison), as if replicating it, but not quite precisely, with the incongruous lines of the lips and eyebrows giving away the fact that the images are layered, superimposed on each other. Knowing the background, that this is a specific person I know personally and who is important to me, and the plot of the film, the painting can be interpreted in many ways, which is why in the title I am highlighting the approach taken to make this painting. The layering of personal and cultural experiences is also reflected in the structure of the painting itself - a square within a square. The idea for the painting itself came about when I was watching Lost Highway and I noticed the composition of the frame, which reminded me a lot of a photograph I had of Kamilė's many portraits, and when I looked at them side by side, I thought that it is those things that are most likely to catch one's eye that feels familiar, that are specific to you, just as certain experiences become easier to grasp, to deal with, to overcome, if it's not the first time they have occurred to one.
Donata Minderytė (b. 1991, Lithuania) is an artist currently living and working in Vilnius. She graduated from the Painting Department of the Vilnius Academy of Arts, obtaining an MA in 2016. Using the concept of visual translation, Minderytė analyzes significant changes in an image as it is transferred from one medium to another. Donata Minderytė has held solo exhibitions at the Vartai Gallery and Gallery Meno Niša in Vilnius and participated in multiple group shows in Lithuania, Austria and the UK. She is also enrolled in an Art PhD programme at the Vilnius Academy of Arts. Her works have been included in various museum collections, such as Kiasma (Helsinki), MOCAK (Kraków), the Noewe Foundation (Vilnius), and Mo Museum (Vilnius).