Elīna Vītola
Elīna Vītola (born 1986) studied painting in Riga, where she currently lives and works.
Painting, the picturesque and the points where they connect with everyday triviality are central issues in the oeuvre of Vītola. Her works are cheerful, curious, funny, visually challenging and play with Painting in the most diverse situations. The artist approaches colours, painting and painted objects in a conceptual way, posing humorous questions about its subject matter, technique and material. So in the exhibition space she presents a series of similar paintings depicting floor lamps, a nostalgic coffee thermos design and a page from a children’s book published in the Soviet era, on the last two of which she has discovered a vague abstract painting.
In her CV, Vītola had chosen to point out that she is interested in art and canned fruits — this phrase could be taken as a key handed to the viewer to unlock her works.
“Common issues in painting and every-day life: crapstraction” by Elīna Vītola at Kogo Gallery
Echo Gone Wrong. 22/10/18
Elīna Vītola (1986) lives and works in Riga, Latvia.
Education
| 2018 | Art Academy of Latvia, Painting (MA) |
| 2015 | Art Academy of Latvia, Painting (BA) |
| 2006 | Janis Rozentals Riga Art High School, qualification Illustrator |
Solo Exhibitions
| 2018 | Common Issues in Painting and Everyday Life: Content, Careva contemporary, Riga, Latvia |
| 2018 | Common Issues in Painting and Everyday Life: Crapstraction, Kogo gallery, Tartu, Estonia |
| 2017 | Common Issues in Painting and Everyday Life 3 — Landscape, Kolekcionārs, Riga, Latvia |
| 2017 | Dunno on the moon, 427 Gallery, Riga, Latvia |
| 2013 | no/birches/inside/me Vol.2, Kuupmeetri Gallery, Tallinn, Estonia |
Group Exhibitions
| 2018 | Viewing and Reading Room, Kogo Gallery, Tartu, Estonia |
| 2018 | MA graduation exhibition, Art Academy of Latvia, Riga, Latvia |
| 2017 | Children of the New East, Tallinn Art Hall, Tallinn, Estonia |
| 2017 | Bikini Zona, Jūrmala City Museum, Jūrmala, Latvia |
| 2016 | Too Far East is West, Alūksne, Latvia |
| 2015 | Apzīmētājs, Tobacco factory, Riga, Latvia |
| 2013 | Elīna+Madara 0123456789, Art Academy of Latvia, Riga, Latvia |
| 2012 | Warning, Gallery L, Riga, Latvia |
Prizes
| 2018 | Nordic and Baltic Young Artist Award, Grand Prix |
Elīna Vītola
Dunno on The Moon
Mural on the wall in acrylic ink, industrial alcyd on canvas panel
2017-2018
Bored as he was, Dunno often watched at the painting on the wall with the weird ticks and scrawls, and tried to understand what the painting shows.
“My dear brother, don’t look at the picture so much,” Kozlik advised him. “Don’t try to rack your brain. It is impossible to understand it. All painters paint like that only because the rich people buy such paintings only. One draws such ticks, the other paints incomprehensible curves, and some just put a liquid paint in a bowl and throw it in the middle of the canvas creating an absurd and weird spot. You just look at the spot and don’t get anything. It is just rubbish! But the rich stare at it and praise. “We, say, don’t even need the painting to be comprehensible. We don’t want an artist to teach us something. The rich get everything without the artist, but the poor doesn’t need to understand anything. That’s why they are poor not to understand anything and live in obscurantism.” See how he talks! …”
Nikolay Nossov. Dunno on the Moon. 1965.
Exhibition
Viewing and Reading RoomElīna Vītola
Common Issues in Painting and Every-day Life 6: Crapstraction
Oil on canvas
2018
Dimensions vary:
33 x 93 cm
80 x 43 cm
80 x 80 cm
80 x 130 cm
Elīna Vītola
Common Issues in Painting and Every-day Life 6: Crapstraction. The First One.
Oil on canvas
90 x 130 cm
2018
Elīna Vītola
Common Issues in Painting and Everyday Life 5
Installation: sofa, rolled up painting, oil on canvas
210 × 2000 cm
2018
