Kristina Alisauskaite is a young artist that has finished her MA-level painting studies at Vilnius Academy of Arts just recently. Yet her consistently cultivated individual style distinguishes her works in the context of Lithuanian painting and makes them instantly recognisable.
In terms of means of expression employed, Kristina’s paintings are utterly laconic; they are monochrome compositions that portray meandering lonely characters. Nevertheless, this minimalist, sparing plastic language proves to be capable of resonating in the viewer’s perception. The emptiness that is so prominent in Kristina’s pieces (a larger part of the canvas remains devoid of painted objects) creates a strong impression of tension – the primary state mediated by the paintings.
Alisauskaite’s compositions radiate tension on the level of content as well. The very titles of her pieces point to negative states: emotional frigidity, alienation, solitude, jealousy etc. The ephemeral space of the paintings is an allusion to dreams and subconscious images. Recurring subjects and themes seem to suggest a traumatic nature of the portrayed situations. Yet their ceaseless repetition is also potentially therapeutic – much like disburdening one’s mind. The artist carefully employs psychoanalytical insights, as if challenging the viewer to guess how many personal experiences her paintings contain. Kristina’s works certainly have an autobiographic element. The artist appears to expose herself, yet she does not allow the viewer to delve too deep into her private inner space, presenting the portrayed experiences as universal at the same time. The fragmentary compositions of her paintings seem to promise a possibility of an accidental glance, turning the viewer into a secret observer and provoking him or her to not only embark on an imaginary journey into the painter’s subconscious, but also dig into the secret corners of his or her own.
The depicted situations are given a universal dimension by the portrayed characters themselves. The fact that the latter are already familiar to the viewer as being the regular objects of images disseminated by mass culture reveals the artist’s objective to engage in critique of materialism and consumerism. She exploits the images commonly associated with popular culture and advertising, yet presents them in a different way, stripping them of their obligatory erotic appeal and magnetism, so that they acquire an odd quality and become unsuitable for instant consumption. Female figures, painted in cold greyish and bluish hues, are objectified and come to resemble the plastic bodies of dolls or mannequins. This strategy serves the purpose: the images draw attention, yet their artificial coldness and the fact that they are torn out of their usual entertainment context prompt the viewer to re-approach and re-evaluate the mass of images circulating in culture and their meanings. This makes Kristina Alisauskaite‘s painting work, which combines refined form and visual appeal with emotional and conceptual depth, one of the most noteworthy discoveries in young Lithuanian painting. … Read More