Adomas Rybakovas „Thirst“ 〰 Neda Naujokaitė „Inside/ Outside“: Part of VDA Graduation Show

We are always excited to find new talents in a broad and ever-changing art world. This time we present two young painters: Neda Naujokaitė and Adomas Rybakovas, defending their bachelor's degree in the Vilnius Academy of Arts painting departement, with their solo exhibitions:

Neda Naujokaitė

INSIDE / OUTSIDE

“Inside / Outside” an uncertain, ambiguous state. Life circumstances force me to move constantly, to live in a kind of transit state between different cities and settlements. Changing places of living is a familiar experience for me. I went to Holland for a year, so the changes of residence became even more intense. While I was there, I began to explore the relationship with multiple places, and focus my work with transitory, transitional spaces. I got acquainted with the posthumanist theories of the philosopher Rosi Braidotti and the French anthropologist Marc Augé, and the concept of "non-place". Non-places are hotels, airports, shopping malls, highways and railways. This phenomenon interested me not only because of the aspect of impermanence and change of places close to me, but also because in these technological times, traveling and the increasingly frequent relationship with non-places is a familiar experience to most people. Rosi Braidotti, with precedential ideas, also examines how the involvement of technology has affected modern man. I think that the changes in the present influence the relationship I consider with the respective places, the experience of travel. Analyzing my personal experience, I delved into the aforementioned theories, which enriched the topics I care about in various contexts. The speed of information and its dissemination seems to oblige a person to experience, move, hurry. There is a feeling of fear of missing out or being disappointed. It becomes difficult to be satisfied with the current circumstances, there is a strong expectation of something intangible, in another geographical location. Often, after traveling, various people, events and impressions, there is a need to stop and catch your breath. However, modernity involves us again and again in the vortex of dynamic life. In this "noise", process of painting allow me to feel sedentary.

Neda Naujokaitė (b. 2000) is an artist of the young generation, who graduated from the Kaunas Art Gymnasium and is currently completing her bachelor's studies in painting at the Vilnius Academy of Arts. 2021-2022 she studied in Holland at ArtEZ Academy, BEA program. Since 2016 Neda has participated in group exhibitions and projects. In 2022 she took the first place in the Algimantas Švėgždas drawing competition, and in the same year became a finalist in the "XIV Young Painter's Prize" competition. This year the artist organized the first personal exhibition Inside / Outside, in the VDA Academy Gallery.

Adomas Rybakovas

THIRST

“Thirst” is a project that mixes personal experiences, visual and textual material from news portals, social media, mass media, and details of everyday life. Cut-out, recycled images from the crime scene intertwine with a finger dipped in still-sticky, drooling chewing gum, a rippling casino scoreboard, or a strobe-cut image. These and many other fragmented images lie on canvases together with fighting, or perhaps dancing figures? "In a crowd, the fool, the ignorant and the envious are freed from a sense of inferiority and powerlessness - it is replaced by the effect of brute force - temporary but powerful." (Gustav Le Bon, "The Psychology of the Crowd"). The innate need to gather in groups, desires, illusions, the authority of the leader encourages to take extremes, unrelenting impulses take over. The multi-figure compositions pulsate with pungent, "chemical" colors that leave a blurred line between aggression and (dis)pleasure. The paintings are associated with dance and club culture. This is not too different from riots, gatherings in sports arenas or peaceful communities - a crowd of people, like one organism, affected by the same stimulus. The aspect of the ritual is also important, the desire to gather into ‘neo-tribes’, to break away from the routine, to experience unique, maybe even ecstatic states.

Bright, large-format paintings allow me to affect the viewer physically. In a series of paintings, I try to create an intense, breathless atmosphere.

Adomas Rybakovas (b. 2001), artist of the young generation. In 2019 after graduating from National M. K. Čiurlionis School of Arts, joined VDA's Bachelor of Painting Studies. 2021 - 2022 studied at the State Academy of Arts in Stuttgart. Participates in group exhibitions in Lithuania and Germany. In 2022 won the Zabolis Art Prize, entered the finals of the XIV Young Painter Prize.

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Patrons: Renata and Rolandas Valiūnai

Gallery supported by: Vilnius city municipality, Lietuvos Rytas, Vilma Dagilienė, Roma Puišienė, Rasa Juodviršienė, Romas Kinka, Ekskomisarų biuras, MailerLite, Plieno Spektras.