Rūta Adomaitienė | Friend My Muse | 18/7/2022–30/7/2022
Curated by Julija Mockutė
The exhibition also features an installation by Rodion Petroff
VAA gallery Artifex, Gaono str.1, Vilnius
Opening | July 19th 6 PM
To weave a rug by hand, the artist must lock themselves in a studio in front of the loom, and knot after knot, for months, or even years, progress little by little. According to the myth of the artist and their sources of inspiration, it seems like they should be isolated, especially when making something meticulously with their hands. With Friend My Muse, Rūta proposes a different approach to her creativity: the looming process is the same, the sheep are the same, but the artist is not alone.
Twenty years have passed since Rūta made her last tapestry, and now she comes back to the loom with muses. The tapestry is made through the touch of her own fingers, meditatively tying each knot, but the inspiration comes through connection with others: friends, from textile study mates like Daiva Zubrienė, Daiva Zubrienė, Gražina Aleksandra Škikūnaitė, Ramunė Gutauskaitė-Žutautienė, to Solveiga Gutautė, an artist who is peeking through together with Rūta in the image of the rug.
The pixelated image is also inspired by another source - it was made based on a capture of artist’s Rodion Petroff’s installation Face 2 Face (2018), which is also presented in the exhibition. There is only one tapestry, but Friend My Muse addresses creativity as a process that happens not in a vacuum, but through connections and contact with people, art and the material world. The image, seemingly pixelated, draws connotations with a face call, isolated and glitchy. The contrast with the warm and natural wool, and the contextualization of the work reflects the feminist and grounded practice of the artist, and invites the viewer to get to know her muses and become friends as well.
Rūta Adomaitienė (@rutaleart) is an artist, art therapist and a mother of four children. Rūta graduated from textile at the Art Academy in Vilnius in 1995. and in 2007 became a nurse, working as one for 13 years. In 2021 she graduated with an MA in Art Therapy from Lithuanian Health Sciences university, and works as an art therapist at Ąžuolyno Klinika.
Rodion Petroff (R. Petrov) (@rodion_petroff) is an artist and a painter, who creates and works in Klaipėda. In 2011 he finished his Masters at the Art Academy in Vilnius, and has had more than 10 personal exhibitions and participated in more than 30 group shows in Lithuania and abroad.
Julija Mockutė (@julijamock) is a curator who works at Kunstinstituut Melly in Rotterdam. She holds an MA in Museum Studies from University of Amsterdam (UvA) and has curated shows in Growing Space Wielewaal (Roterdam) and Van Abbemuseum (Eindhoven).
https://rodionpetroff.com/
julijamock.com
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