On May 31, at 6 p.m., the long-awaited personal exhibition of the abstract painting works of Rūta Katiliūtė, winner of the National Prize for Culture and Art, titled Cloud Shadows opens in the Vilnius city gallery Meno niša.
Photos – courtesy of Rūta Katiliūtė ©
When asked why the exhibition is called Cloud Shadows, Rūta Katiliūtė said: “Everything happened when I was up high, where there are no earthly problems. The painter’s pure gaze, where thought, colour philosophy, my humanism, love, and at the same time detachment are important.”
Rūta Katiliūtė is a laureate of the National Prize for Culture and Art, awarded in 2016 for the richness of her abstract painting. The artist has created a distinctive and unique style of abstract painting, which has received recognition in the Lithuanian and European contexts. Her style is recognizable, individual, and unique. The artist’s abstractions capture space and she is an excellent colourist, very sensitive to colour. Her works have been presented at international art fairs and exhibitions in Germany, Belgium, Lithuania, Latvia, Austria, Lithuania, Latvia, and Austria by the Vilnius city gallery Meno niša, with which the artist has been working for more than a decade.
As the curator of the exhibition, art critic Sonata Baliuckaitė stated that abstract art is an inexhaustible source of interpretations, constantly awakening the viewer’s imagination. Just like R. Katiliūtė’s latest exhibition, which invites us all to soar above the clouds or simply be in them. “The works of R. Katiliūtė in this exhibition are reminiscent of the shadows of clouds. However, the works were not painted according to the shadows of the clouds, but the other way around. For the artist, the shadows of the clouds reminded her of her work. You don’t paint what you see, you see what has already been painted,” S. Baliuckaitė, curator of Meno niša, described the exhibition, adding that the easiest way to understand the artist’s exhibition is to think about colours, which create emotions, images, and associations in Katiliūtė’s works.
Katiliūtė allows you to experience all her colour nuances through oil painting, from white, ivory yellow, blue, and grey to rich purple or dark blue hiding green layers. In a minimalist style, but with layer upon layer of colour nuances, the artist captures the immense space experienced through colour and painting itself. Whether large canvases, miniatures, or small paintings on paper, her works are meditative and natural, bringing you closer to the essence: not by capturing water or clouds, but by capturing air, light, and atmosphere.
In the exhibition Cloud Shadows, you will be invited to travel through Katiliūtė’s works in the metaphor of flight – gliding from transparent, completely light, and gradually turning blue clouds to dark ones, which remind the artist of shadows. The exhibition will present the artist’s works in various formats, created over the last year. Part of the exhibition will also serve as a kind of imitation studio, in order to bring a part of the artist’s cozy attic studio in the old town into the spaces of Meno niša. Cloud Shadows is a long-awaited solo exhibition for all lovers of the artist’s work. Her work was last presented in a solo exhibition at the renowned Riga gallery Māksla XO (2018) in collaboration with Meno niša, and it is actively presented in European art fairs and group exhibitions every year.
Katiliūtė’s exhibition Cloud Shadows will be open at Vilnius gallery Meno niša until August 11. The gallery is sponsored by Vilnius City Municipality and funded by the Lithuanian Council for Culture. The exhibition is part of the Vilnius 700 program.
