A hand snuggles in a pocket after it loses a glove. Touched by the moment’s carelessness, the glove settles for a long time in a random place, and from there waves with several of its fingers. It is not clear whether it is beckoning the passer-by onwards or pointing in the direction of the passage. Eventually, I discovered that my feet won’t get wet in the puddle, and the wind won’t blow the spines away. In the time it took for the night to shrink into a pupil, the inner pocket turned inside out.
Photos – courtesy of AV17 gallery © Day-to-day, plaster, palm leaves, 2018.
Marija Šnipaitė’s solo exhibition The Night is Too Long is opening at the (AV17) gallery on May 4th at 6 pm.
In The Night is Too Long, the artist creates a landscape that serves as a backdrop for exploring the theme of clothing fragments as a continuation of the human body and sensibility. The artist views the elements of clothing as spaces, territories and forms. Different parts of garments here are transformed into sculptural objects, losing their original function and becoming reincarnated into other roles. The exhibition itself is designed as a walk, where these elements – as if they were lost and left behind – blend seamlessly with the fragments of the landscape. The encountered objects reveal a multifaceted use of techniques, materials and textures, which are assembled into an exhibition that feels like a cohesive large-scale drawing, with the sculptures serving as vibrant spots of colour. The atmosphere created by The Night is Too Long distorts the usual passage of time and immerses the viewer in a minimalist, meditative space.
Whisper, installation view, 2019.
The artist is characterised by her consistently abstracted sculptural language, associative thinking and attention to materiality. Marija Šnipaitė is constantly testing the limits of sculpture by reconstructing space or combining found objects and fragile and durable materials. The artist’s creative process is based on the search for connections and the observation of the environment. Often her works do not have a final form – motifs, materials, or elements from one work can be reconstructed to appear in another. Such a transition from one work to another emphasises the continuity of Marija Šnipaitė’s work, the integrity of her creative process and the continuation of her ideological foundation.
Narwhals, foam, painted sand, wood, 2018
Sweet Words, paraffin, plywood, metal, 2019.
Marija Šnipaitė (1988) is a young-generation artist. In 2014, she graduated from the Vilnius Academy of Arts with a Master’s degree in Sculpture. In 2010 she had a traineeship at the Stuttgart Academy of Arts, Germany. Since 2016, she has been a member of the Lithuanian Association of Interdisciplinary Artists. Since 2011, she has been participating in exhibitions in Lithuania and abroad, presenting her sculptures in public space. Her work has been awarded several individual scholarships from the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Lithuania for art and culture creators.
Marija Šnipaitė’s exhibition The Night is Too Long will be open until 16th June at the (AV17) gallery.
Production of the artworks is sponsored by the Lithuanian Council for Culture.
