10 Questions with Gabrielė Kuizinaitė

Gabrielė Kuizinaitė is an art critic, art journalist, curator, gallerist, and international visual artist. At the moment, she lives and works in Kaunas city, Lithuania. In 2003, she graduated from Vytautas Magnus University, Institute of Arts, and obtained a bachelor's degree in the criticism field. Since then, she got interested in digital, experimental arts, and photography. Between 2005-2007, she studied at the Vilnius Academy of arts in the UNESCO department and earned a master's degree in cultural management and administration. In 2019 autumn, she started creating pictures, and in 2020 she became a member of Thinkdesignerart studio in India, at Zervas web gallery in Greece. She is also an ambassador of the international art caravan gallery in Pakistan and a member of Acces gallery in France. Also, she is a board member of Vippa professionals artists association in New York. She has organized her 4 solo exhibitions and take participated in 70 international collective art exhibitions in Turkey, Austria, Italy, Indonesia, Pakistan, Iran, Marrocco, Paris, and other countries.
She has written about 160 articles, and organized more than 200 exhibitions of Lithuanian and foreign artists with "Gabrielegallery" in Lithuania and abroad.

www.paginearte/gabrielekuizinaite

ARTIST STATEMENT

“Art, for me, is like therapy and builds different relations between two worlds. I like to create abstract pictures every day. In these pictures, I am looking at how, in the time of art and in these abstract pictures, the philosophy of nature is fundamental, and so is the natural language. In my creation, there is an essential fixed process. For digital photography, details are crucial: the trees, herbs, things, and experimental painting, where I get mystical objects. Artistic composition is also very important, as I am trying to tell viewers authentic and different stories about the forest.”
— Gabrielė Kuizinaitė

Reflection of the time | Project Description

The first exhibition from this cycle was at the start of last December at Swan gallery in Kaunas, Lithuania, where I took part in a collective exhibition of Lithuanian artists for Christmas, titled "Christmas toy".

For this cycle, I draw inspiration from the famous filmmaker Andrey Tarkovski's book "Captured time". This cycle has more pictures and is a very large cycle. In this series, I try to create authentic stories about herbs life in the forest. This time is a fixed story about time and reflections of the time. In my experimental abstract cycles, there are some key elements, such as rhythm, fabula, and action with small actors bubbles.

In these paintings, there are scenarios and idea connections. In these personal stories, everything is shown through artistic, moral, and ideological viewpoints. This cycle has a connection with the past, present, and future context. These are important daily time metaphors.

INTERVIEW

First of all, introduce yourself to our readers. What is your artistic background, and how did you start experimenting with the images?

I am an art critic, art journalist, curator, gallerist, and international visual artist. I live and create in Lithuania. In my experimental images are general themes about the forest and the time. In my picture creation, I use different techniques and mixed media, and I give much importance to signs, symbols, and languages. Also, the forms and expressive colors are important in my experimental abstract images. 

Why are you an artist, and when did you first become one?

I have been interested in art since childhood. I come from an artists' family. My mother is a literature professor, and my father is a sculptor. Since childhood, I have gone to exhibition openings in my country with my parents. I have liked to paint since school, but I became an artist much later. My career started step by step: first, I became an art journalist, later an art critic, curator, and gallerist, and then a visual artist. I am really happy that I am a different artist and have my own abstract style.

You are an artist but also an art critic and journalist. How would you define yourself as an artist?

Yes, I have more activities in my work, which complement each other. At first, I started to write articles about artists' creations, and later I created visual and modern stories about forests and shared them in pictures. When I became an artist, I started to get invitations from many international galleries and museums and participated in international art exhibitions. With digital art, I like to create different artistic stories every day. In my abstract pictures, I like to connect different technics and colors. I create pictures every day, living in that moment in different colours and forms, which I add in abstract picture frames.

Can you tell us about the process of creating your work?

A fundamental element for my creative process is the surprise, which I get from details of nature, fragments of trees, or mystical signs. Sometimes unexpected objects in my everyday life, or their photographic fixation, can turn into unexpected mystical objects, and the transformation of forms and colors severs this. Nature and the forest have become a source of inspiration for me. By the forest, in pines, branches, plants, and herbs, I see graphic objects, the transformation of which, through photography, brings a more universal meaning, becoming signs not only of the environment around them but also the concepts of life. Recently, I am also happy and positive to create different pictures, which for me, symbolize not only signs of the period but also relationships with the surrounding.

You work primarily with abstract images. What themes do you pursue and what messages do you want to convey to the viewers?

Yes, from the start of my artistic carrier as an artist, I started to create abstract experimental images. Now I am happy that I can create different abstract pictures. In this past year, I created different cycles, such as Blue forms and The visions of the colored forest.  
For the viewers, I have a special message and my personal motto: "Art for me is like therapy and different thoughts". 

Do you have a role model that you've drawn inspiration from when creating your art?

I don't have a special role model for my abstract paintings. It is art from intuition, which I create at this moment, or at that time in a different place. 

What is one essential element in your art?

The key element in my artistic composition is trees. My first cycle was about the life of the trees, "Secrets of the threes" (2020). This cycle was shown in several exhibitions in different galleries around the world.

Is there any new technique or medium you would like to experiment with? Have you tried crypto art and NFTs?

There is this digital mixed media technique. But at the moment I can't say more because of the author's secret. In the future, I wish to collaborate with serious NFT platforms.

What do you think about the art community and market?

At the moment, in contemporary galleries and museums, the art world and the art community are very important. It is fundamental for artists to sell their artworks, and develop a community with collectors and buyers, but also galleries and museums.

Finally, any projects you are looking forward to for this year?

For this year, I started several collaborations with virtual platforms and contemporary galleries and museums in Dubai, Spain, and Italy, where I plan to present my personal creations as well as some other Lithuanian artists.