Introduction

Elīna Vītola’s practice is relational, using art as a communicator to investigate values, crafts, identities and histories. The artist approaches colours, objects and painting as a whole in a conceptual way, pitching humorous questions about its subject matter, technique and material. Her works are often curious, funny and visually challenging, playing with painting in the most diverse situations. This work is no exception. The large-scale interactive painting with a zipper explores what it means to enter the space of the artwork as well as cleverly scatters footprints of the artist’s previous creative projects. Arranged in a site-specific manner, the painting urges the audience to explore it in performative ways while uncovering its possible meanings and messages.

Elīna Vītola likes to explore the representation of certain imagery through abstraction. This method has been implemented in various ways, including in the 2017 personal exhibition at Kogo Gallery where she named it crapstraction, a synonym for Zombie Formalism, which characterises the revival of abstractionism. Through the years, Vītola has continued to document her creative journey by incorporating fragments of it in newer works.