Born in Vilnius in 1965, Linas is one of the most known artists of his nation and with his paintings he invites viewers into a parallel world. However he is not only a valuable and famous creative talent. He is also a worthwhile expert of the artistic history of his country, which only achieved independence in 1990.
In the next few lines, he will describe his career, taking us in the knowledge of Lithuanian creative scene which deserves to be discovered. Let's not forget that the nation won the Golden Lion at the 58th Venice Biennale thanks to the performance "Sun & Sea (Marina)".


E.R. Looking at your artistic path, an element that catches the eye is your approach to many creative ways of expressions: painting, video and sound art, performances. Which one summarize your poetics in the best possible way?


L.L. 1990 was a breaking point in Lithuania - gaining independence, new spaces opening, a breath of fresh air in art world. I had just finished my art studies at the Academy of Fine Arts and there were new opportunities to work in different media, so I wanted to try everything- video, performance, installation art. Therefore, I devoted 10 years to new technologies for new ways of expression. Then from about 2000 I went back to painting and I didn't get distracted anymore. Nowadays it is my main form of expression but sometimes it is complemented by video or installation, which expands my painting field more. Painting is also changing - in the beginning it was more interesting to direct, to create various fictions or mystifications, but now it has become very interesting to capture a real moment, a real place and time. Fickleness is my trait.


E.R. You are also involved in many curatorial projects. Can you briefly describe us the Lithuanian contemporary art scene, which is not so well known by the non-local public?


L.L. Curatorial work has really become part of my path over the years. I engaged with it gradually and now I have more than 50 projects under my belt. They mostly involve the painting sector. I could describe painting in Lithuania as a changing and probably most traditional discipline of art. It was more bounded by the local time – in the context of Baltic countries, but after Lithuanian artists won the main prize in Venice, more attention was brought to different art forms, including painting - there were new art collectors interested in collecting Lithuanian artworks, there were more people interested in Lithuanian art field in general.



Chip and Dale Resque Rangers,2011m. 100x200cm acrilic, canvas


E.R. One substantial category of your painting is made up of surrealistic collages where romantic landscapes are disrupted by brightly coloured objects that you mention as “stickers”. Could you explain us their underlying meaning? Were you inspired by some great masters of art history?


L.L. I chose the backgrounds for the “Stickers” series using my visual memory, my memories of studying Renaissance art. They are all my own creations and compilations, not copies of other artists' works. It was interesting to play with the contrast the idyllic landscape of the past with the contemporary reality based on current affairs, to insert a screaming pop art element and to disturb the seriousness of the landscape. These are short soap operas about militaristic aggression, about the stamps of contemporary life, about the connections between scientific art and technology, about love... The cycle is not based on emotions but on an ironic view of the world, rationality, the possibility of intellectual speculation. A sticker on any object - a record, a book, etc. - allows you to change the content, it shuffles the cards like a foreign object. The title is an important element, it gives the direction of my idea.


E.R. Another important element of your poetic is technology. Why do you care about it so much?


L.L Technology as a subject of art and science is always interesting - it offers the possibility of combining different forms, materials, tools. For example, nowadays it is very important to use the right markers when working with markers – choose light-resistant, long-lasting ones and to fix them with lacquer and thus conserve them. Without this, the paintings can simply "evaporate", on the other hand - it could be quite an interesting creative position. J But for the time being, I am trying to preserve my work.


E.R. And what about your “nanopaintings”?


L.L. “Nanopaintings” is a series of works in which I'm trying to understand how tiny particles called nanorobots can heal, change damaged areas, clean surfaces and so on. I wanted to convey this in an image - what a nano-robot might be in a painting - and I chose the sphere as the shape that slides through most easily in a painting, in a computer game, and in the human body. I tried to convey all this as an auto-ironic computer action controlled by a human.




Ugly Duckling, 2014m. 120 x 70 cm. acrilic, canvas


E.R. Could you describe us one of your artworks displayed on Artsail that particularly reflects your poetics and painting style?


L.L. I probably could highlight “The Cape Town Enchanter"; 2020, 160x250cm. acrylic, canvas, markers.
This is an indirect replica of Henri Rousseau's The Enchantress of the Serpents. Interestingly enough, Rousseau himself also made replicas. Rousseau never left France and was inspired by the botanical gardens. I was lucky enough to visit the Cape Town Botanical Gardens in person, and the inspiration came straight from there - the giant agaves, the mysterious plants, the wonderful, mystifying surroundings. The painting is for the audiophile - I've built speakers into the landscape and I hope that a true audiophile will hear the enchanting music of the painting.




''Cape Town enchantress'' 2020m. 160x250cm. acrilic, canvas


E.R. Can you tell us some of your future artistic projects?


L.L. Recently I am most attracted to the topic about the relationship between the present moment and the infinity of floating time - hence the plans for an exhibition- Start-Pause project. I hope it will be a combination of paintings and a video film.