Artūras Mitinas (b. 1991) graduated from the Vilnius Academy of Arts with a Master’s degree in Painting. He curates projects based on theoretical research at the intersection of art and psychology and seeks to reflect on the issues of psychological health, sterility, and alienation from the body through the prism of art. The transformation and empowerment of these experiences in sensory expression become important in artistic and pedagogical practice.
Saviveikla is the fourth solo exhibition of A. Mitinas and the first at the gallery Meno Niša, where the artist will present his paintings and ceramics works. The idea of the exhibition was inspired not only by practice but also by theoretical research at the intersection of childishness (Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari, becoming-child) and the uncanny (Sigmund Freud, Unheimlich). Mitinas works as a sculpture teacher at the Grigiškės School of Art, where he has tried his hand at working with ceramics and recycled materials, and from where, according to the artist, comes his experience of acute, expressive, and experimental collective work.
According to the artist, he understands painting as a sensory, tactile, multisensory medium. This is a topical and little-explored aspect of painting in Lithuania. “I also became acquainted with Sigmund Freud’s concept of “the uncanny”, which helped me to decode certain effects in art related to corporeality and bodily memory, which are significant for me. When these elements – sensory painting and the uncanny – came together in theory, I started a research project in 2021, which I have continued ever since. The turn to the phenomenon of childishness is part of this broader investigation into the uncanny,” the artist said about the concept of the forthcoming exhibition.
“Inconsistencies, controlled and uncontrolled inaccuracies – using fractures, rejoining them easily – all discontinuities become part of the same process dynamics and sense of instability. Direct, not-quite-conscious touches create suggestive forms that radiate undefined potential. This state of uncertainty is suitable for reflecting on the boundaries of professionalism and unprofessionalism, legitimate activity and nonsense or not-exactly-sense, as well as the self-regulatory mechanisms that define them. In today’s context of optimization of personal energy, the qualities of opacity, sensuality, and incompleteness take on a positive meaning. Therefore, I supplement the term “saviveikla” (a derogatory term for non-professional art practices) with the meanings of self-referential, self-motivating, and self-driving process,” writes A. Mitinas in the annotation of his exhibition.
A. Mitinas’ exhibition Savivekla is a part of the long-standing project Art Space for Young Artists of Vilnius City Gallery Meno Niša, which was initiated by the gallery in 2011 with a special focus on young, promising artists.
The exhibition will be open until September 14.
Vilnius city gallery is sponsored by Vilnius City Municipality.
