The Selected

This project is multifaceted - it comprises of the psychological portraits of artists segmentally conjoined into an allegorical puzzle, a selected set of puzzles produced from paintings created by them, set-off by an intrigue revealing catalogue that combines to captures the whole.  The exhibition is my subjective interpretation of the "Elect" metaphor (All are called, but not all chosen).

How I hunted my selected ones?

This cognitive educational project is the result of my long-term observations (through the eye-of-the-lens) and perceptions. I photograph artists in public in everyday, normal situations, their workshops, during plein-airs, events and celebrations.

Visual art is created by thousands of people in Lithuania. It would take a giant wall to present them all. There, they would be like tiny, barely visible pixels on the art map of our country. For the project – the exhibition, puzzles and catalogue, I chose a tangible hundred as representatives of the whole. Through them, I intend to show in one place, a topographic image of the art world, revealing the diversity and abundance of artists who create the visual mosaic of Lithuania. As it is impossible to show all the creators, my "Selected" symbolically form the visual content of Lithuania, enriching both the individual, the nation, and the state.

Artists usually create in solitude. Their talent is formed in silence. They hide their character in the whirlwinds of life (as clearly reflected in the portraits created by me). They are typically seen individually at their exhibition openings and book launches, but are rarely presented collectively. I thought of grouping them into segments to make them more accessible to the public.

The project creates intrigue, a background in which one wants not only to recognize the selected ones, but also to get to know their individual creations - through the puzzle as a game - piecing together, segment-by-segment, pictures painted by famous contemporary Lithuanian artists.

In the background of the exhibition, the project provided an opportunity to hold educational sessions for schoolchildren, and to enrich and reduce the exclusion of the most socially vulnerable groups – for example, grandparents living in social care homes. (The complexity of the puzzles used depended on the intelligence of the group being educated).

This project is a multifaceted narrative. If you put the segments together correctly, you get a picture.

My photographs are searched out, interesting in themselves. "The selected" is a mosaic of the personalities creating Lithuanian art, a variety of talents: painters, sculptors, graphic artists, art critics, teachers and professors. They are not chosen by caste or status, nor chosen by any party or government.

In my work, I apply specific signs, I interpret them subjectively. Art itself is subjective, so I also propose that you look at my chosen ones subjectively. Just as a painter does not explain his creative process, I do not lead you by the hand, nor literally interpret metaphors.

“The Selected” Project: Game Element and Respect for Creators

The exhibition of photographs by journalist, editor and photographer Lilija Valatkienė “The Selected”, was recognized as an extraordinary event in the art world - an expression of respect and gratitude to Lithuanian creators. The educational part of the "Gallery of Games" program attracted as many young people and families with children, as usually gather for the most fun holidays of the year.

Art critic AUSTĖJA MIKUCKYTĖ-MATEIKIENĖ

Psychological portraits

Lilija Valatkienė is indeed a creative and original author. Almost every art event initiated by her is difficult to define, hard to fit into mainstream categories and concepts. This summer, L. Valatkienė presented a one work exhibition titled "Lithuania – structural formula", which was complemented by extensive archival documents. This time around, L. Valatkienė rolled out the red carpet for art and its creators. In this exhibition, her photographs are psychological portraits of selected participants in the Lithuanian art field. Another defining trend of her initiatives is communalism – notably, each time, the author's events become a real celebration for its cultural representatives, where discussions are heated, contacts are made and strengthened. The author is also known for always combining visual and verbal language, creating their synthesis. Apparently, the only suitable word to describe L. Valatkienė's activities is non-standard.

"The Selected" exhibition is accompanied by, as art critic Evelina Januskaitė calls it, an "album of Lithuanian art". However, it does not contain reproductions of artists' works, but of the artists and art critics themselves. As such, this album is extremely meaningful. More than once, I thought that I knew and recognized an artist's work, remember their last name, maybe even knew the titles of their works, but could not clearly identify the author's appearance, face, nor describe their personality. The same applies with the texts of art historians and the identities of authors of publications. Although the creators of postmodern art tend to talk and comment on the general context in their works, they rely on subjective opinions, attitudes, and reflections. Therefore, their own personalities are inevitably reflected in their works. All said, the interpretation of modern art is fundamentally based on subjectivity, intimate emotions and feelings. Therefore, the creator's personality and his work should be known, understood and interpreted comprehensively.

In this project, L. Valatkienė adheres to the integral principle and attitude that "unacted, natural expression is the most direct outcome of the person being portrayed". Almost 100 psychological portraits of creators are presented in the catalogue and gallery. Their works are demonstrated in an integrated video installation "Enter the picture" produced for the exhibition by Bartoš Polonski. An exhibition first is L. Valatkienė’s initiated manufacture of puzzle sets representing a selection of paintings, graphics and sculptures created by the subjects of this exhibition.  These evolved from Lilia Valatkienė’s long held idea that, instead of reproductions of iconic works - which are already boring to everyone -, children could be put together to assemble puzzled images of the works of Lithuanian authors. B. Polonski's installation became an important highlight of the project. Visitors to the exhibition were invited to take a virtual, interactive walk-through selected works… Take a dip in a pan embroidered by textile artist Severija Inčirauskaitė-Kriaunevičienė, bask next to the tiger of painter Svajūnas Armonas, cover yourself in a jar by painter Vilmantas Marcinkevičius, stand in the rain of frogs by painter Linas Lianzbergis, ride on the dog of painter Miglė Kosinskaitė, or land on the shoulder of graphic artist Mikalajus Povilas Vilutis...

A penetrating look

During the opening, B. Polonski jokingly apologized to the authors for ruining their compositions. However, speaking more seriously, the viewer's place in the picture is often meaningful, non-random, and has a connotational charge. Here, for example, in Martyn Gaub's self-portrait "Container" we are reduced. We feel trapped in the system of the Soviet regime. And how perfectly this encoding of meaning resonates with the author's own creative credo: "I am against art without a deeper idea." In the catalogue, under the photos of the creators, we find short statements by the authors themselves, their colleagues or art critics. L. Valatkienė undoubtedly has a penetrating gaze. Through the portraits of the creators, the author herself is also revealed in this way. As an insightful observer and listener, emphasizing smiles and goodness. Most of the quotes are the thoughts of the authors, expressed without seeing the selected photos and without knowing where and how these answers will be applied. But how perfectly the image and the word resonate! Here, one can say, a collaborative strategy was used, with the author assuming the role of director. The witty, expressive emotion of cartoonist Vitalijas Suchockis is accompanied by a quote: "Grey in the head..." Such coincidences cannot be accidental. This is the result of Lilija Valatkienė's ability to observe, record and summarize the essence of personalities, to convey their spiritual portraits.

Here I have revealed some of the names of the selected circle. We see that the palette of creative personalities is very colourful. Here we meet modernists and postmodernists; awarded, recognized, famous and lesser known; painters, sculptors, stained glass artists, graphic artists, textile makers, art researchers... I am glad that there are many creative women presented. The project cleverly uses the media. Works following the tradition of mediated modernism acquire a postmodernist tone. Pictures printed on canvas become installations. In the discourse of art, reproductions are recognized as less valuable and influential. In them, the work loses the aesthetic and semantic information provided by the surface and, in the words of the philosopher Walter Benjamin, its aura. However, in this project, the works of the authors, once they are on the screen or in the puzzle, acquire the status of a new work. It is even a form of appropriation. L. Valatkienė does not attempt to evaluate the works of immortalized artists. She looks at the authors themselves as works of art.

A play on words

Art creators and researchers were captured on various occasions, circumstances, and environments. Some are posing, others are caught and captured in discrete moments. The photographs are selected from a huge archive accumulated over many years. Painter Aleksander Vozbinas, with a chocolate bar in his hands, looks on with a philosophical gaze and says: "The fragility of the individual is sweetened by irony." Sculptor Augustinas Kluoda pokes his tongue, claiming that most of his works are "just illustrations of feelings in three-dimensional Esperanto." The sincere, open face of the painter Arvydas Šaltenis, as always, urges you not to lie. M. P. Vilutis continues the topic of truth-telling, forging and breaking the truth. The painter Silvija Drebickaitė emerges from a dark background spreading the light of a smile. The painter Saulius Rudzikas takes a bite of his pipe embarking on a journey of self-discovery. Painter Rūta Eidukaitytė listens to her music, spreading in the rhythm of strokes. Narrow-eyed Julijonas Urbonas "likes to confuse people", speaking about himself in the third person. The installation of textile artist Jolanta Šmidtienė turns into a decorative photographic abstraction. Sculptor Leonas Pivoriūnas expresses his position, as a seeker of justice, with a clenched fist.

The creators' portraits included in the album were based on intuition, aesthetic feeling, and meaningful associations. In "Art on the Wall", the portraits of the creators are grouped, connected and covered with a puzzle-screen. Such a democratic, non-hierarchical selection and connection seems to contradict the very name of the project. However, L. Valatkienė, as a journalist and editor, used to working with language, with words, simply relies on wordplay. Art creators became puzzle pieces, picked out, disassembled and reassembled. Nicked into smaller details then designated to become a piece of the puzzle. Detail plays an important semantic and aesthetic role in the portraits of the creators. Those selected really have something to be proud of, they have been noticed and acknowledged, as important participants in the cultural field. However, the aim of this event is far from elitist, neither rejecting, delimiting or denying other artists and art researchers who did not, in this instance, come under L. Valatkienė's lens. As the author herself states, she looks through the lens not objectively, but subjectively. Here is another charming and meaningful play on words.

Art critic Austėja Mikuckytė - Mateikienė

A woman destined to "hunt" portraits of artists

If you had to draw the Lithuanian Artemis, the goddess of hunting, she would probably resemble the well-known journalist, editor, photographer Lilija Valatkienė. Just that her "hunting" weapon would be a camera, and the trophies would be portraits of Lithuanian artists.

In her collection L. Valatkienė has more than 200 such portraits, most of which - within the framework of the exhibition "Selected" - travel through Lithuanian cities and towns. Another part of the artist's works recently featured at the capital's Kunstkamera gallery, flashing together with the works of other well-known photo artists in the exhibition "Faces".

And we were there, and we admired those somewhat unexpected but very real portraits of artists "hunted" by L. Valatkienė! When finally, we regained our composure, we sat down to talk with the artist herself - about the peculiarities of portrait "hunting", the subtleties and genres of photography, and all of those other annoying and pleasant things.

- Lilija, why are there only artists in your portraits and not a single face from other fields of art?

- You have rightly noticed - yes, I really only photograph people from the world of art: graphic artists, painters, sculptors, art critics and researchers... Everyone who fits under the common denominator - art.

As it is, I didn't choose them, it all happened naturally - at one stage of my life I worked at the Lithuanian Artists’ Association and became very close to this field of art. I saw artists at various events, plein-airs, festivals, creating in their workshops, in everyday life with their loved ones - they were so close that I just couldn't help but take pictures. After all, I was where others don't have the opportunity to be! That's how I saw those faces that others may not be able to see - they are from the inner life of the tribe.

- You worked as a journalist for a long time and wrote about people. When and how did you realize you could photograph them?

- Actually, during my studies in journalism, I specialized in photography. But it so happened that after graduating, photography went to the side, as there was simply no time left for it.

After completing one active stage of my journalistic life, I went to the next. I recalled my first profession, my beloved photography. I retook the camera in my hands and, most importantly, it still feels so very good. I feel comfortable hiding behind that lens and "hunting" people's faces - moments that are truly subjective. Frankly speaking, I do not shy from this subjective perception of the image.

- How is the keen gaze of a journalist different from that of a typical photographer?

- It is very difficult to say who is a typical photographer these days, because now everyone takes pictures, especially with mobile phones. They even make excellent exhibitions of such photographs, but for amateurs, more often it is fortuity that helps.

It is easier for me to observe a person through the lens of a camera. This is what the old masters of photography taught me - to look for a point of view - a beautiful, orderly background interaction with the photographed object; to "catch" a person in more than one situation. Each time I look for the characteristic features of the particular person being photographed. Sometimes I have to look through tens, even hundreds of their photographs until I find that real look, feeling and emotion on their face.

You know, it is very important for me that my hero does not hide behind the frame. And after all, artists successfully do this, first of all, by hiding behind their work!

- Maybe it is possible to hide behind your photograph?

- Maybe. But when studying the same person for a long time, seeking to discover their essential features, they often have nowhere to hide – they seemingly become naked. That little feeling that lives inside still breaks through to the surface, and I just hold the camera, wait and observe, explore. Of course, I am very happy when a person admits that I "caught" them as real as they, sometimes, are.

- But it is probably not very easy for an artist to photograph an artist...

- I usually take pictures from a distance - I never make eye contact, although people feel my presence. Distance does not create stress for a person, it allows them to relax, and then their true inner self is revealed.

Maybe that's why I don't like studio photography. It is very difficult for a person to relax there - you are as if "locked-in" all of the time, because you have to pose all of the time and think when will this suffering end. All poses and masks disappear in everyday life. People move freely here.

- Why do you usually choose the portrait genre? Maybe you have special feelings for it?

- I don't only photograph portraits of artists, and I don't photograph them only because I want their faces for myself. I feel a great creative need to immortalize them, especially those who represent the older generation. They are always a priority.

I also like other genres, among which I would single out photographic graphics. I create them using the precision of architectural images, the fractal rhythm of industrial landscapes. From the start I grew up with black and white photography. I worked with colour for a while, but I didn't stay with it for long. I went back to shooting my photographs in black and white, bringing out the essence, but without the visual noise of colour. At some point I will show my personal relationship with the landscape in an exhibition.

- Are there things that annoy you when you look at photographs?

- Yes, a messy second frame. There are always power points, electrical boxes, fire extinguishers, poles, random people who shouldn't be there... All that is really not needed (laughs - ed.). So, when taking pictures myself, I have to either wait for the unnecessary object(s) to move away or find another angle of view.

I still don't like taking pictures in the summer, when the colour green is raging, and leaves hide the wounds of the earth. By putting together a coherent narrative in my photographs, I want to create a field of tension and push the viewer to travel along non-pristine roads. I want to show the essence of being, with its pulsating melancholy, accumulated sadness, the pain and mourning of a soul not covered by the triumphs of nature.

This of course, does not interfere with portraits - it interferes with other genres of photography. So summer is generally the time when I sit and work on my archives or organize exhibitions.

The exception is if it rains and the city becomes one of puddles. Then I search out and photograph what is reflected in them, thanking the municipality for the crooked sidewalks and pits where, when water accumulates, the most interesting sights emerge. Those image searches in puddles are very interesting, and while they are going on, passers-by often ask if I’ve lost something in that puddle (laughs - ed.)

- Do you capture the faces of others, or do you take pictures of yourself? Do you like taking selfies?

- Yes! Only my selfies are not taken with a phone, but with a camera in various reflections. I like glass, water, materials that reflect an image. So sometimes I see myself somewhere and take a picture.

- What if there was an opportunity to allow yourself to be immortalized by a colleague? Who would you trust with such a job?

- I would focus on which photographer could "see" me as I am. It seems to me that Ramūnas Danisevičius, Paulius Lileikis could, and equally, that Greta Skaraitiene would do it well...

- So, people from the media world.

- Exactly. You're right: people from those areas close to me.

- Thank you for the conversation.