Atlantis

2021, St. John’s Street Gallery (now Meduza), Vilnius

The title of the exhibition – Atlantis – whether a myth or a true story, speaks of the prevalence of a world in perpetual flux, and the infinity that lies beneath, as if under a thin membrane on the surface of the water, or a layer of varnish on a painting, manifesting itself in everyday life in ever-changing forms.

The presented collection consists of paintings from the blue series, many of which are self-portraits of the artist. In the ancient dungeons of Vilnius, as the present time disappears, one can feel the fairy-tale feeling of “Far Far Away…”, of Eliade’s “going beyond the profane world”, into the long-forgotten past, which is repeated countless times, becoming the present again.

The solo exhibition reflects the artist’s latest approach to painting. Rūta Matulevičiūtė, who explored the perception of a work of art during her studies, has radically changed her approach to creativity, with the development of creative intelligence through Transcendental Meditation as its foundation. Using images from her childhood, Lithuanian fairy tales, and the iconography of her personal mythology, the author searches for an individual expression of a foundational Lithuanian identity that has become aware of and no longer identifies with, the traumas of history.