The 15th Young Painter’s Prize Anniversary Brings Exciting Events and the Art World’s Greats

3.10.2023

For the fifteenth time this year, the young artists from Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia took part in the Young Painter’s Prize (YPP) competition. Just like in the previous year, YPP has remained open to the submissions by the young Ukrainian artists currently residing in the Baltic States. Besides giving the young talents a unique opportunity to get together, YPP aims at fostering the cultural exchange among the countries and showing solidarity with Ukraine in these difficult times.

Julija Šilova. Semantic Satiation. Oil on canvas, 240 x 240 cm, 2023

The first session of the international jury has concluded with the list of the fifteen YPP finalists who will compete for the main and concomitant awards and prizes. The list includes: Agata Orlovska / LT, Andris Kalinins / LV, Gintarė Kondė / LT, Viltė Čepulytė / LT, Julija Šilova / LV, Jonas Motiejus Meškauskas / LT, Šarūnas Baltrukonis / LT, Felicija Dudoit / LT, Neda Naujokaitė / LT, Julija Skudutytė / LT, Katrina Biksone / LV, Benjaminas Ančeris / LT, Raminta Stasaitytė / LT, Armine Hayk Sargsyan / LT, Gerda Hansen / EE.

In order to ensure the young artists receive the exposure they need, each year YPP aims to collaborate with the notable art professionals from all over the world. This year the international jury of this anniversary edition of YPP includes: Arild H Eriksen (Norway) – art historian, the director of Nordic Artist’s Centre Dale; Monika Furmana (Lithuania) – artist; Arūnas Gelūnas (Lietuva) – artist, philosopher, director of the Lithuanian National Art Museum; Liisa Kaljula (Estonia) – the Chair of Painting Collection at the Eesti Kunstimuuseumi Museum; Māris Vītols (Latvia) – contemporary art collector and curator; Vita Zaman (Lithuania) – artist and poet; and a special guest.

The mission of YPP is not only to give exposure to the young artists and help them find their footing in the competitive field, but also to bring the international art communities together and lay the groundwork for the new collaborative initiatives. To mark the 15 year anniversary of the art competition, this year’s YPP jury will have a special guest: Laurent Le Bon (France) – art historian, former director of the Picasso Museum (2014–2021), and currently the President of Centre Pompidou. Le Bon is coming on his first visit to Lithuania under the personal invitation by the YPP organiser Julija Dailidėnaitė Palmeirao. During his stay in Lithuania, Le Bon will visit various art institutions and meet up with the distinguished members of the Lithuanian art field.

Each year the main prize is determined by the funds allocated by the YPP sponsors. We are happy to announce that the core of YPP patrons – Mindaugas Raila, the Nicolas Ortiz family (the YPP patrons who have been supporting the project since its launch fifteen years ago!), and our long-term supporters Bajorunas/Sarnoff Foundation – has grown larger thanks to the addition of Luminor Bank which has been the YPP supporter for two years now. This year, Luminor Bank has made a significant contribution to the prize fund. Our friends and partners this year are Lithuanian National Museum of Art, Nordic Artist’s Centre Dale, Pamėnkalnio Gallery, and The Rooster Gallery. Thanks to all our patrons and sponsors, we have a particularly appealing YPP prize package, which also includes some exciting secondary prizes.

This year’s YPP-15 winner will be awarded with the 5,000 Euro monetary prize, a two month residency in Nordic Artist’s Centre Dale (with 11,000 NOK annual stipend), and the opportunity to hold a solo show in Pamėnkalnio Gallery, Vilnius. The YPP-15 winner’s artwork will be included in the Painting collection of the Lithuanian National Art Museum.

For the second year in a row, a special prize “Enabling Youth” is offered by Luminor Bank. The prize winner’s artwork will be bought by Luminor Bank and then sold on an auction, while the resulting proceeds will be used to fund the psichological help organisation “Jaunimo linija”, the first volunteer-run emotional support centre in Lithuania.

During the YPP-15 awards ceremony, Rooster Gallery will award its own special “Rooster Gallery Open” Prize that will offer its winner to work with the professional team of gallerists and hold a solo show in Vilnius.

Furthermore, the YPP-15 sponsors Lithuanian Council for Culture and Vilnius City Council will also fund the publication of the anniversary edition of the Young Painter’s Prize album with the texts and illustrations overviewing the fifteen year history of the project.

In November, alongside the main show of the YPP finalists, there will be a series of exhibitions in a variety of art galleries: Alma Gallery (Tērbatas iela 64, Rīga 1001, Latvia) will show the works of of Zane Tuča (YPP winner, 2013); Pamėnkalnio Gallery (Vilnius) will host “Debunking the Conspiracy. Controller: The Last Chapter”, a solo show by the last year’s YPP winner Linas Kaziulionis, “Meno niša” (J. Basanavičiaus g. 1, Vilnius) will host a group show by the YPP awardees Jolanta Kyzikaitė, Monika Plentauskaitė and Jurgis Tarabilda; The Rooster Gallery will host two solo shows: one by the first YPP winner Andrius Zakarauskas (Pakrantė, Vaidilutės g. 79, Vilnius), and the other one by the YPP finalist Eglė Karpavičiūtė (Šv. Brunono Bonifaco g. 12, Vilnius), meanwhile the Lithuanian National Museum of Art will showcase the entire collection of works by the YPP winners (Arsenalo g. 3a, 01143 Vilnius).

In November, the Lithuanian Museum of Applied Arts and Design (Arsenalo g. 3a, 01143 Vilnius) will open an exhibition of the works by all the YPP finalists, while the YPP jury will reassemble for a second session during which it will pick the winners of the YPP main prize, Luminor’s “Enabling Youth” prize, and the special mention “The Rooster Gallery Open” prize.

The YPP finalists’ show will run from November 10 (7pm) through December 31, 2023.