Graphic Designer – Marek Voida ©
On April 2, at 6 PM, the much-anticipated solo exhibition ‘Sync’ by artist Jurgis Tarabilda will open at Vilnius’ ‘Meno Niša’ gallery. This exhibition will transform the gallery space into a visual ecosystem, where canvases interconnect in overlapping systems, challenging the traditional notion of an artwork as a standalone, self-contained entity.
As art critic Rosana Lukauskaitė notes in the exhibition’s annotation, “The boundary between digital and physical reality is increasingly fading, becoming a fluid, ever-shifting link between signal and perception. Can we feel a streamer’s fever through a screen? Can the cold pixel grid convey a person’s fear in a war zone? Why do those three pixels in the distance seem more significant than the four nearby? We are constantly searching for recognizable forms, assigning faces to random lines, and imbuing fragmented data with a soul.”
Jurgis Tarabilda’s work delves into the interplay between virtuality and materiality, the interdependence of abstraction and meaning, and the boundaries between reality and the digital sphere, reshaping our perception of images. In ‘Sync’, the creative process itself becomes an act of synchronization between two distinct modes of visual existence.
Photo – courtesy of Laurynas Skeisgiela © Jurgis Tarabilda. Trackpad Drawing No.12, 2025. Acrylic, canvas, 110×70 cm.
Photo – courtesy of Rytis Šeškaitis © Jurgis Tarabilda
According to Tarabilda, his artistic approach is often rooted in collecting and archiving—whether it be documenting phenomena that intrigue him, such as solitary clouds, or gathering discarded objects like scraps of paper with pen tests from stationery stores. For this exhibition, the artist has compiled intuitive drawings from his personal virtual space, which he describes as traces of touch left on a screen.
“These are intuitive gestures created using automatic drawing techniques on a touchpad, later precisely transferred onto canvas with paint, masking tape, and a roller,” Tarabilda explains about the technique behind the paintings in Sync.
Exhibition architect Gabrielė Černiavskaja found inspiration for transforming the gallery space by analyzing Tarabilda’s works, his thought process, and what captivates him. From their discussions, she identified key themes: digital atmospheres, “clouds,” and layering. The way the artist’s information grows and builds upon itself reminded her of a constantly ‘loading’ webpage.
“I recalled the word ‘syncing’ and imagined it like an always-updating Google Drive file—this type of environment is never complete. In the exhibition, I wanted to ‘excavate’ sections of the ‘Meno Niša’ space to create the illusion of an unfinished, still-loading webpage,” says Černiavskaja.
Photo – courtesy of Laurynas Skeisgiela © Jurgis Tarabilda. Trackpad Drawing No.9, 2025. Acrylic, canvas, 160×190 cm.
‘Sync’ marks the fifth solo exhibition by Jurgis Tarabilda (b. 1992). A graduate of Vilnius Academy of Arts’ Sculpture Department, Tarabilda has exhibited extensively both in Lithuania and abroad. In 2017, he won the Public Prize at the ‘Young Painter Prize’ competition, and in 2020, he was named Best Artist by visitors of the ‘ArtVilnius’ art fair. His works are part of private collections in Lithuania, Latvia, Germany, the United States, Estonia, Denmark, the UAE, Israel, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom, as well as in Vilnius’ MO Museum.
Tarabilda’s art has been successfully showcased at contemporary art fairs, including VOLTA Basel (Switzerland), Positions Berlin (Germany), Enter (Denmark), viennacontemporary (Austria), Art Antwerp (Belgium), and ArtVilnius (Lithuania).
Jurgis Tarabilda’s ‘Sync’ will be on view at ‘Meno Niša’ gallery in Vilnius until May 20. The exhibition’s architectural design was created by Gabrielė Černiavskaja, with graphic design by Marek Voida. The exhibition is funded by the Lithuanian Council for Culture, with gallery’s main sponsor being the Vilnius City Municipality.
