Ieva Trinkūnaitė’s works could be read like the pages of a notebook, where snippets from old cinema, travel, popular science magazines, tourist brochures, and advertisements – some nostalgically faded, others glowing with vibrant disco colors – are carefully pasted in a unique sequence. In large-format sheets, fragmentary visual narratives unfold, fusing elements of landscapes, animal figures, and attributes of the human world. In her works, Ieva Trinkūnaitė sensitively explores the nature of closeness, often identifying with the characters, finding commonalities between different forms of life, while also raising broader questions about the relationship between humans and nature, opening up relevant psychological, social, geopolitical, and ecological topics.
The artist observes and depicts the objects and subjects of her artworks with special attention, accurately reflecting emotions, depicting their morphology in detail, highlighting their surface textures, sometimes exaggerating them and elevating into a dominant element of her work, as if enveloping her narratives in swirling layers of leaves, fur, feathers, or hair. Her working method involves applying and rubbing (or perhaps more accurately, caressing) paint with her fingers on the surface of the sheets, thus reinforcing the impression of tactility (Justina Augustytė).
Mountainous landscapes – vivid and exotic, yet radiating certain calmness and cozy nostalgia – entice to engage and explore. Characters from the animal kingdom gaze directly into our eyes; some of them seem to be thinking, while others are leaping, running, chasing something. It seems like I understand what they are experiencing. Like us, they rejoice in each other, fear something, want to feel needed, or want to be alone. Identifying with them, I recall how I had to rush and hurry, how I wanted to shut myself off alone. Like a tiger, I had to find strength within myself, how I loved like two otters attached to each other. Their world is not foreign to me.
The exhibition is about closeness to others, seemingly completely unlike us. About taking our time and immersing in the surrounding life, where everyday events turn into extraordinary adventures. About a close connection that forms when we understand each other, no matter how different we are. It just takes care and tenderness (Ieva Trinkūnaitė).
Ieva Trinkūnaitė (b. 1997) is an artist of the young generation. After completing her graphic arts studies at the Vilnius Academy of Arts in 2020, she has been working with rotogravure printing techniques, making mixed media drawings, and painting. Since 2018, Ieva has been actively participating in group exhibitions both in Lithuania and abroad, and has also held solo exhibitions in Lithuania and South Korea. Her works have found their way into the collections of the Lewben Art Foundation, Sun Blanket Foundation, China Printing Museum, as well as private collections.
Partner of the exhibition: The Rooster Gallery.
Sponsors: Lithuanian Council for Culture, Lithuanian Artists’ Association.
