Resort

I started this project thinking about the resort as a place where people go to deliberately and safely, not be at home, become someone else, heal or celebrate, where kitsch and "spirituality" fit together.

I decided to visit and explore Lithuanian resorts. Although this was my first visit to some of these cities, I had a strange feeling that they seemed familiar. I questioned what might be the reasons for these feelings. In this context, I started thinking about the spread of images and public memory. I observed that holiday or resort motives are often used in cinema, varying from romantic comedies to horror movies – hotel and sanatorium facades, corridors, restaurants, swimming pools, medical service rooms, etc. Social media is also a good platform for the spread of images. I have seen many vacation pictures online, even interiors of abandoned buildings. The motives in my paintings are "public" – I have noticed these places, buildings, objects while sightseeing. I would say that I have painted the peripheral vision of the tourist.

I was also interested in how abandoned, new, or currently restored architecture is shaping the narrative. It is not necessarily homogeneous – M. K Čiurlionis’ childhood village stands near a sanatorium built in Soviet times, this gives me contradictory feelings and thoughts. I learn about previous political regimes and visualize my parents or grandparents spending their holidays.

I decided not to depict human figures because I was interested in the effect of empty spaces, the liminal space phenomenon.­­­­­