Artist Statement
I am a visual artist born in Vilnius (Lithuania), living and working in Vilnius and Barcelona (Spain).
Although my work wanders among painting, drawing, performance and installation, my preferred medium is oil painting. It allows me to play with the seriousness and traditional views often attributed to figurative oil painting.
My artistic research is dominated by my own living environment. I have an anthropological interest in stereotypes, lifestyles and subcultures. I am fascinated by visual aspects of seduction which I explore in my work through notions of sensuality, sexuality and erotism.
The surface is of great importance in my paintings: a shinny transparent layer that subtly reveals tactility. This skin-like coat allows a more sensorial appreciation of the voluntarily incomplete reddish figurative shapes. Although the figures are recognizable, they are blurred, letting the viewer to imagine what he is really seeing.
Through a neutral and decontextualized background I get rid of categorization and give my work an indefinable yet universal character.
RESUME
Born in Vilnius (1983), Alina Melnikova lives and works in Vilnius and Barcelona. She has exhibited her works widely in Europe -Austria, Spain, Germany, Poland and Finland- since graduating from the Vilnius Academy of Arts in 2008.
Through different mediums such as drawing, installation, performance and -especially- oil painting, Alina explores visual aspects of seduction through notions of sensuality, sexuality and erotism.
In 2009, she won the Award for Young Painters in Lithuania; in 2013, she was invited to the international artist residency “La Cité Internationale des Arts” in Paris. In the same year, she was granted Artistic status by the Lithuanian Cultural Ministry.
Her work has been exhibited in art institutions of international importance like the KUMU Contemporary Art Center in Tallinn (Estonia) and the CAC of Vilnius (Lithuania).
Alina’s work resides in significant contemporary art collections such as Dietrich Mateschitz (Red Bull Collection), Lewben Art Foundation and Moder Art Center in Vilnius.
CV
Education:
2014 Node Center of Curatorial Studies, Curatorial course for artists “Expanding Exhibitions: Innovative Approches to Curating”, Berlin (Germany)
2008 Vilnius Academy of Fine Arts, M. A. in Easel Painting, Vilnius (Lithuania)
2005 Universidad de Miguel Hernández de Elche, Erasmus semester: Painting, installation and video, Altea (Spain)
Awards and Scholarships:
2016 Lithuanian Culture Council Scholarship to produce new painting series: ¨I shall get a coat of a color of your skin”
2012 Lithuanian Cultural Ministry Scholarship, Location Condition: Beauty and The Beast, SV. Jonas str Gallery, Vilnius (Lithuania)
2009 Young Painter’s Award in Lithuania, Third Prize: ¨I shall Get You Anyway¨ (Aš vis tiek tave pasieksiu)
2008 SLEIPNIR – Nordic Council of Ministers scholarship: granted to investigate performance art in Finland
2007 SLEIPNIR – Nordic Council of Ministers scholarship: art residency finalized with group exhibition and performance
Residencies:
2013 La Cité Internationale des Arts, Paris (France)
2010 Potsdam Artist Residency, Potsdam (Germany)
2007 Tampere Artist Residency, Tampere (Finland)
Art Fairs:
2018 Group show at Art Vilnius, Vilnius (Lithuania)
Group show at Fresh Paint Art Fair – Tel-Aviv, (Israel)
2017 YIA – Young International Artists, Paris (France)
2016 Berliner Liste Contemporary Art Fair, Berlin (Germany)
Selected Exhibitions:
2018 Tropical: Drawing Party, Barrak Gallery, Naha ( Japan) in collocation with Fabrizio Contarino
Flash in the Daylight, Vilnius Graphic Center, Vilnius (Lithuania)
2016 Dare or Dear, Trivium galley, Vilnius (Lithuania)
2012 Location Condition: Beauty and The Beast, Šv. Jonas str Gallery, Vilnius (Lithuania)
2005 Stories in Raum 35, Gallery Raum 35, Vienna (Austria)
Group Exhibitions:
2018 The Big Picture, The Rooster gallery, Vilnius (Lithuania)
2012 From Dusk to Dawn, 20 years of LGBT in Lithuania, Contemporary Art Center, Vilnius (Lithuania)
Lithuanian Art: 18 exhibitions, Contemporary Art Center, Vilnius (Lithuania)
2011 Baltikum: Tides of Change, HangArt7, Salzburg (Austria)
2010 Inside of You/ Outside of Me/Inside of You, Gallery 11 Line, Potsdam (Germany)
2009 Turbulence, Vilnius City Hall, Vilnius (Lithaunia)
New Prospect, Vartai Gallery, Vilnius (Lithuania)
2008 PasiJos – Kaunas In Art: Contexts – Contemporary Art Festival, Architect´s House Gallery,
Kaunas (Lithuania)
Elephant Bullet, KUMU Art Museum, Tallinn (Estonia)
Performance, Perfo! Club, Tampere (Finland)
Painting exhibition “Carmine”, Tulips & Roses Gallery, Vilnius (Lithuania)
Contemporary Lithuanian Art Exhibition “ANEW”, Municipal Gallery bwa, Bydgoszcz (Poland)
2007 Familiar painting, Former Printing House, Vilnius (Lithuania)
Familiar painting, Former Printing House, Katovica (Poland)
Performance, Tojala’s Performance Festival, Tojala (Finland)