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)