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It is overcrowded in the gallery of French institute in Lithuania
An exhibition opening of a young and talented painter Mykolė Ganusauskaite is queued up till the stairs
The director of French institute sees Mykolė as the cultural bridge between France and Lithuania
The link is the process of creation, which is free from territorial belongings, or any inner or outer limits
The link between two countries reflected by particular Lithuanian landscape paintings,
But created in France
Both realistic and from the memory storage's
Mykolė creates Lithuanian landscape while she's abroad
The sense is like she created her own country while painting there
It seems like this process became as a therapy for her
Something close and familiar
With a nostalgy and realism, she succeeds to create a unique world
To tell about her land from which she is
I hope that people who came to this exhibition were attracted by the calmness of her works
Melancholic, authentic, unexplainable sophisticated
But deep and harmonic
Mykolė studied in Vilnius Arts Academy and Paris national high school of visual arts (ENSBA)
Held personal exhibitions in France and Lithuania
Also group exhibitions in France, Denmark and of course homeland
Recently Mykolė has a very intense creative life
Participating in an international plain-airs
There are a lot of motives why she took a part in Vyžuona
It means a lot to be invited in "Mariana Veriovkina" plain-air
Mariana Veriovkina was a very interesting personality
She was like a bridge between Lithuania, Western Europe, France, and Germany
She was very curious about a modern French art
And she spread and promoted that French art in Germany
The same she did in Lithuania
We can find a lot of similarities with Mykolė
She is a Lithuanian artist
Who started her education in homeland and finished in Paris
The same like Mariana Veriovkina was inspired by familiar things
Today the shapes are different but the principles are the same
Mykolė comes back to Lithuania and works in Copenhagen
That is like a bridge through her between countries, cultures and history
Art critics know Mykolė the best because of her Lithuanian landscape subject
Differently from a Lithuanian tradition, where the landscape is understood very expressionistic
She works with a realistic material
Pretty often even with photographies
Sometimes she tries to capture mystic emotions of Lithuanian landscape
This fascinates me the most
We are not surprised about foreigners who admire Lithuanian nature
Artists love it the most
Especially Utena city surroundings
The participants of plain-air also enjoying its nature
The same does Mykolė
She doesn't like too much to be a passive spectator
The first morning I woke here, the first thing I saw through the window was fog
It is very important for my creation atmosphere of the moment
The one which is there only that very moment, but after 10 minutes it is already gone
So I ran outside at 6 AM to take photos of fog
I was capturing until it disappeared
So, in the photo series, it is seen evolution from the fog's disappearance to realistic clarity
At first, I make photos
Because you can fix those moments in your memory
But when you want to express a moment's atmosphere of nature I prefer to do it with a photography at my hand
And it goes together with inner emotions which I feel while seeing the picture and think about it
Then it comes time for series of sketches
The small drawings, aquarelles or ink works, which remind graphics
These are usually exhibited separately
The composition is a different theme
Interesting structural shapes and hesitations whether the composition is interesting itself
Sometimes I make with pastel to understand the atmosphere and colours
I follow the photo, my emotion and what that landscape means and what it sais to me
Only then I paint from those sketches, photos, aquarelles
Mykolė is demanding a lot from herself
It would be a mistake to think that those light and transparent pictures are created too easily
An artist is sensitive to everything
Changing environment, different material chosen for the work and any small thing
Mykolė waves towards the finished art's work
"that's it. I like it" sais Mykolė
While doing photos I am already looking for compositions
Which interests me as a painting works in the future
It is not just photographing, but looking for the structures, shapes, first and the second plan
Sometimes the photos are also exhibited
Those frames which are important for me are enlarged
Those are aquarelle and ink works, used to find a tonality and atmosphere
I make series of those as well
And then it is a bunch of sketches
To check if the composition is interesting itself
Or it is just small things and it will all collapse while painting
For example, those seemed interesting
But when I made sketches it came obvious that they are not strong enough
And those I like
It is structure here and space, which is very important for me
That it is structured like a room
First plan, the second, wall, glance stops, and space ends there...
I work wit a first layer, that canvas would be transparent
Then the picture has some special shining inside
Humanitarian sciences' professor urges to go to Vyžuonėliai manor park
Name of this place is an incredible heartache and infinite refreshment
This manor part is well known because here was born Russian artist who took a part in German modernism
Mariana Veriovkina
In the end of XIX century, when she was 18
She started her first steps as a painter here
In the beginning of XX century, she joined Munich modernism movement
And became a member of a very well-known group in the Western Europe "The blue knight"
Mariana started creating expressionistic paintings
And, so she came one of the first women in expressionism history
The painter from Germany Marianne Geller is in Lithuanian first time
She is enjoying Mariana Veriovkina open-air event
An artist is especially glad that in this plain-air young painters work together with older
Just like Mykolė
The women sais that she enriched herself in Lithuania with interesting experiences
She saw how the young painters create, who interpret things slightly differently
I am really glad to meet her
I was impressed with how much Mykolė works
She wakes up early, makes photos, drives to print pictures, draw and then paint
She uses different medias for her work
Very hard working
That's how I see Mykolė
And I also think that a young artist generation excludes with a unique style
By a different attitude than older
And it is very interesting
Different understanding of a view and creativity
Also, the tools of expression are totally different
Marianne apologizes she didn't find time to go to Mykolė's exhibition opening in Užupis
Meanwhile, Mykolė is glad by exhibiting her paintings in non-traditional spaces
And by coming to spectator herself
She likes to see how people are interested in her works
And she doesn't know what is more important
The compliments of an art's critics or a good emotion and word of a spectator
Probably this inspires the most
When asked to tell about herself, she smiles
The story is simple
It starts when Mykolė finished Čiurlionis art's school and joined Vilnius academy of art's
Čiurlionis art's school is based on academic drawing and painting,
So I wanted something different and new when I was in academy
I even thought about quitting and start riding horses
I could make beautiful Natur morts, portraits of the people
But there wasn't any subject that interests me
I couldn't create series because I just paint one and it's not interesting to me anymore
So I stepped Paris preparation school because I couldn't talk French at that time
I found some friends who studied in preparation schools
They gave me contacts
All the information is in the French language
And I knew very little of it
So, I went there
Finished the preparation school, where I found subjects which interest me
Very good school
And it was very hard there
We slept just 5 hours
The pressure was incredible
There you achieve a portfolio to join national academy of arts in Paris (ENSBA)
I joined it
I came with two series of works
There were interiors of houses
Rooms are drawn with lines and some things there
And another - of friends drawn in the first plan and a carpet with deers in background
Simplified and flat
So my idea was, to paint a landscape with a style of interior
That you could feel as it is wall, wall, ceiling and floor
As a scenography
I started searching for motives and questioning myself "what kind of landscape it is?"
It was flat landscape with lakes, fields, and forests
So, I found that it is Lithuanian landscape
The beginning of artistic career marks series of works "winter without a snow"
Showing the well-known place Rumšiškės village museum
An empty museum, which doesn't allow visitors at winter time
"Winter without a snow" has a historic value now
While questioned why is it not French or Danish (where she lives right now) landscape?
Mykolė answers that only Lithuanian has a historic value
When Lithuanian sees those pictures he sais that it's like in his garden or in other his familiar place
Foreign people feel that it is East or North Europe
Who was in Lithuania guess almost right, that it's Latvia or Lithuania
For me, it is a landscape where are all of my memories
Where I grew up
Histories and the history of Lithuania
This landscape is very well known
French landscape would be interesting to compose for me, but emotionally it doesn't make so much impact as Lithuanian
The view is unique human's language
It is not a literature which you have to translate for foreigners to understand
Mykolė expects to be understood
It is important to her to stay a local
That Lithuanians could feel, she belongs to the common culture
But at the same time - international
Art's work has to talk to everyone
Mykolė doesn't paint French landscape
But it would be a mistake to think that she doesn't move it to Lithuania
In the other form
And it talks differently
More with video works
An abstract, short-film video experiments
I like when nature shapes abstract views by itself
And that abstraction starts to compete with a real view
And conkers it, without using any special effects
Just trying to catch reflections, sunlight or something like that
One of such works is "The dream of bar-code"
I just filmed the sun through tree's branches
And the screen came to stripes like bar-code
For me, it was very interesting when I made it black-white
Mykolė is like a river
She goes where she is curious
But never tortures herself to stay on the same road
She doesn't work on deadlines'
Mykolė makes photos, videos and afterwards 3-4 months doing intense painting
At that time, she vanishes from the society
But creates a lot
Just a little unsatisfaction remains
Fulfilled with sketches and ideas, which she doesn't have time to complete
But Mykolė never wastes time between the periods of creation
Artist of an open glance and word shines a strength
No miracles about that
She had to learn it
Self-conscious I achieved from the French academy of arts
A wonderful art school
The very first thing what this school gives to you is self-consciousness
When you come there, you still don't trust yourself
And they are trying not to teach you something,
but to help you to find the things which make you unique compared with others
And how to grow your small plant of unique, by not saying how you must grow,
But by making circumstances and giving proper environment for that
That is how you achieve a lot of self-confidence there
One of my professors was Dominique Gauthier, the French artist
Magnificent professor
All of his students were an authentic and unique world
Because sometimes you can meet a professor who promotes just one style or subject
At Gauthier studio was different
Every student did their works, which were original and not similar to others
So it took one year for me to become a self-confident artist there
I found what really interests me and I developed it
It doesn't stop at one particular subject
You are going deeper and deeper to that subject line for never stopping development
Mykolė is used to be openminded
She admits that she surprised herself
Firstly because she dared to talk not only with canvas but also with spectator
One thing is your work and the other is how you represent yourself
In old days, dominant image of an artist was bohemian style
Nowadays an artist has to be more active, enterprising
He must know how to introduce himself and of course creating something interesting
Mykolė who was awarded in the young painter's competition,
And developed herself through Lithuanian and French art's schools
Reveals a poetic Lithuanian nature view
Choose easily recognizable motives, fragments of landscape
Sometimes complemented by buildings, engineering constructions
Or by a lonely people's silhouettes in the composition
Mykolė paints different time of the year and day
Shows different weather
Specific Lithuanian landscape coloring
Stylized and generalized landscapes
Colours and structures diversity
Rhythm of natural elements
And sometimes you can event hear a Chopin music in her landscape works
We have an exhibition in which Lithuania is seen from Paris
Also, one where Lithuania is seen from Denmark
And there is one more series of works created in Lithuania while listening to Chopin music
Chopin was francophone
Polish-French origin
It was created under his music
And it is again related to France
In nature, Mykolė finds a balance to the noisy and dynamic city life
Spacy landscapes are meditative, lyric, unique and sincere
While being in her cherished places
For real and in her memories
Maybe in the dreams...