The Gallery of Contemporary Textile Artists
Lina Jonike
Lithuania
-
Artist's Statement
Lina Jonikė uses one of the oldest techniques to decorate textiles – embroidery – and decorates large format photographs endowed with poetry, mystery or intrigue. The artist enchants the viewer with subdued tones of black-and-white photographs and the quiet poise and inner prominence of those she represents. By choosing to represent (or cover with her embroideries) a naked body, Lina Jonikė compares it to an empty canvas on which she creates the illusory fate of the human being. Yarn in Lina’s hands is not just a means of creation. This is a reliable method to reveal human identity, tested by centuries: one’s own and also a cultural identity.
Lina Jonikė uses symbols referring to the codes of the Lithuanian unconscious, inseparable from religiousness intertwined with legendary heritage or even mysticism (interpretations of Pensive Christ, Virgin Mary and mermaids). From the very beginning of her artistic career, Lina Jonikė’s one of the most important goals has been her search for identity revealed in her works with the help of technologically quite diverse works. Although all her embroideries are linked through the combination of stitching and photography, some of them are embroidered on canvas, others only create the illusion of traditional embroidery. A particularly intriguing choice is a garment covering a naked body (a cloak, a towel, a nappy or a piece of clothing) on a transparent plastic surface, distanced from the photographic base. The artist realised the first work in this technique, Textile and I, in 2001. The triptych consists of three photographs (fragments of a woman’s / the artist’s body); elements emphasising the tactile qualities of textile and the healing qualities of textile were embroidered on plastic surfaces covering the photographs: a headscarf on a neck, a bandage of an injured finger or plaster hiding a wound. The vital and simultaneously precise stitches of yarn on the surface of plastic sensitive to deformations place the represented woman into a world where she can choose: to be weak and vulnerable as everybody expects from her in the context of social stereotypes, or to ‘take off’ the stereotypes and be herself, for herself.
To be and not to appear becomes a kind of an artistic axiom for Lina Jonikė. An old lady against the background of a decrepit barn (mysteriously ‘protected’ by the state) is girdled with a wreath of embroidered forget-me-nots – the only colour highlight on the black-and-white photographic print on canvas. The figure of the old lady, leaning on a stick is composed like a monument: to humanity, authenticity and silent presence.
Dr. Virginija Vitkienė, art critic and curator. -
Artist's Statement
Lina Jonikė uses one of the oldest techniques to decorate textiles – embroidery – and decorates large format photographs endowed with poetry, mystery or intrigue. The artist enchants the viewer with subdued tones of black-and-white photographs and the quiet poise and inner prominence of those she represents. By choosing to represent (or cover with her embroideries) a naked body, Lina Jonikė compares it to an empty canvas on which she creates the illusory fate of the human being. Yarn in Lina’s hands is not just a means of creation. This is a reliable method to reveal human identity, tested by centuries: one’s own and also a cultural identity.
Lina Jonikė uses symbols referring to the codes of the Lithuanian unconscious, inseparable from religiousness intertwined with legendary heritage or even mysticism (interpretations of Pensive Christ, Virgin Mary and mermaids). From the very beginning of her artistic career, Lina Jonikė’s one of the most important goals has been her search for identity revealed in her works with the help of technologically quite diverse works. Although all her embroideries are linked through the combination of stitching and photography, some of them are embroidered on canvas, others only create the illusion of traditional embroidery. A particularly intriguing choice is a garment covering a naked body (a cloak, a towel, a nappy or a piece of clothing) on a transparent plastic surface, distanced from the photographic base. The artist realised the first work in this technique, Textile and I, in 2001. The triptych consists of three photographs (fragments of a woman’s / the artist’s body); elements emphasising the tactile qualities of textile and the healing qualities of textile were embroidered on plastic surfaces covering the photographs: a headscarf on a neck, a bandage of an injured finger or plaster hiding a wound. The vital and simultaneously precise stitches of yarn on the surface of plastic sensitive to deformations place the represented woman into a world where she can choose: to be weak and vulnerable as everybody expects from her in the context of social stereotypes, or to ‘take off’ the stereotypes and be herself, for herself.
To be and not to appear becomes a kind of an artistic axiom for Lina Jonikė. An old lady against the background of a decrepit barn (mysteriously ‘protected’ by the state) is girdled with a wreath of embroidered forget-me-nots – the only colour highlight on the black-and-white photographic print on canvas. The figure of the old lady, leaning on a stick is composed like a monument: to humanity, authenticity and silent presence.
Dr. Virginija Vitkienė, art critic and curator. -
Artist's Statement
Lina Jonikė uses one of the oldest techniques to decorate textiles – embroidery – and decorates large format photographs endowed with poetry, mystery or intrigue. The artist enchants the viewer with subdued tones of black-and-white photographs and the quiet poise and inner prominence of those she represents. By choosing to represent (or cover with her embroideries) a naked body, Lina Jonikė compares it to an empty canvas on which she creates the illusory fate of the human being. Yarn in Lina’s hands is not just a means of creation. This is a reliable method to reveal human identity, tested by centuries: one’s own and also a cultural identity.
Lina Jonikė uses symbols referring to the codes of the Lithuanian unconscious, inseparable from religiousness intertwined with legendary heritage or even mysticism (interpretations of Pensive Christ, Virgin Mary and mermaids). From the very beginning of her artistic career, Lina Jonikė’s one of the most important goals has been her search for identity revealed in her works with the help of technologically quite diverse works. Although all her embroideries are linked through the combination of stitching and photography, some of them are embroidered on canvas, others only create the illusion of traditional embroidery. A particularly intriguing choice is a garment covering a naked body (a cloak, a towel, a nappy or a piece of clothing) on a transparent plastic surface, distanced from the photographic base. The artist realised the first work in this technique, Textile and I, in 2001. The triptych consists of three photographs (fragments of a woman’s / the artist’s body); elements emphasising the tactile qualities of textile and the healing qualities of textile were embroidered on plastic surfaces covering the photographs: a headscarf on a neck, a bandage of an injured finger or plaster hiding a wound. The vital and simultaneously precise stitches of yarn on the surface of plastic sensitive to deformations place the represented woman into a world where she can choose: to be weak and vulnerable as everybody expects from her in the context of social stereotypes, or to ‘take off’ the stereotypes and be herself, for herself.
To be and not to appear becomes a kind of an artistic axiom for Lina Jonikė. An old lady against the background of a decrepit barn (mysteriously ‘protected’ by the state) is girdled with a wreath of embroidered forget-me-nots – the only colour highlight on the black-and-white photographic print on canvas. The figure of the old lady, leaning on a stick is composed like a monument: to humanity, authenticity and silent presence.
Dr. Virginija Vitkienė, art critic and curator. -
Artist's Statement
Lina Jonikė uses one of the oldest techniques to decorate textiles – embroidery – and decorates large format photographs endowed with poetry, mystery or intrigue. The artist enchants the viewer with subdued tones of black-and-white photographs and the quiet poise and inner prominence of those she represents. By choosing to represent (or cover with her embroideries) a naked body, Lina Jonikė compares it to an empty canvas on which she creates the illusory fate of the human being. Yarn in Lina’s hands is not just a means of creation. This is a reliable method to reveal human identity, tested by centuries: one’s own and also a cultural identity.
Lina Jonikė uses symbols referring to the codes of the Lithuanian unconscious, inseparable from religiousness intertwined with legendary heritage or even mysticism (interpretations of Pensive Christ, Virgin Mary and mermaids). From the very beginning of her artistic career, Lina Jonikė’s one of the most important goals has been her search for identity revealed in her works with the help of technologically quite diverse works. Although all her embroideries are linked through the combination of stitching and photography, some of them are embroidered on canvas, others only create the illusion of traditional embroidery. A particularly intriguing choice is a garment covering a naked body (a cloak, a towel, a nappy or a piece of clothing) on a transparent plastic surface, distanced from the photographic base. The artist realised the first work in this technique, Textile and I, in 2001. The triptych consists of three photographs (fragments of a woman’s / the artist’s body); elements emphasising the tactile qualities of textile and the healing qualities of textile were embroidered on plastic surfaces covering the photographs: a headscarf on a neck, a bandage of an injured finger or plaster hiding a wound. The vital and simultaneously precise stitches of yarn on the surface of plastic sensitive to deformations place the represented woman into a world where she can choose: to be weak and vulnerable as everybody expects from her in the context of social stereotypes, or to ‘take off’ the stereotypes and be herself, for herself.
To be and not to appear becomes a kind of an artistic axiom for Lina Jonikė. An old lady against the background of a decrepit barn (mysteriously ‘protected’ by the state) is girdled with a wreath of embroidered forget-me-nots – the only colour highlight on the black-and-white photographic print on canvas. The figure of the old lady, leaning on a stick is composed like a monument: to humanity, authenticity and silent presence.
Dr. Virginija Vitkienė, art critic and curator. -
Artist's Statement
Lina Jonikė uses one of the oldest techniques to decorate textiles – embroidery – and decorates large format photographs endowed with poetry, mystery or intrigue. The artist enchants the viewer with subdued tones of black-and-white photographs and the quiet poise and inner prominence of those she represents. By choosing to represent (or cover with her embroideries) a naked body, Lina Jonikė compares it to an empty canvas on which she creates the illusory fate of the human being. Yarn in Lina’s hands is not just a means of creation. This is a reliable method to reveal human identity, tested by centuries: one’s own and also a cultural identity.
Lina Jonikė uses symbols referring to the codes of the Lithuanian unconscious, inseparable from religiousness intertwined with legendary heritage or even mysticism (interpretations of Pensive Christ, Virgin Mary and mermaids). From the very beginning of her artistic career, Lina Jonikė’s one of the most important goals has been her search for identity revealed in her works with the help of technologically quite diverse works. Although all her embroideries are linked through the combination of stitching and photography, some of them are embroidered on canvas, others only create the illusion of traditional embroidery. A particularly intriguing choice is a garment covering a naked body (a cloak, a towel, a nappy or a piece of clothing) on a transparent plastic surface, distanced from the photographic base. The artist realised the first work in this technique, Textile and I, in 2001. The triptych consists of three photographs (fragments of a woman’s / the artist’s body); elements emphasising the tactile qualities of textile and the healing qualities of textile were embroidered on plastic surfaces covering the photographs: a headscarf on a neck, a bandage of an injured finger or plaster hiding a wound. The vital and simultaneously precise stitches of yarn on the surface of plastic sensitive to deformations place the represented woman into a world where she can choose: to be weak and vulnerable as everybody expects from her in the context of social stereotypes, or to ‘take off’ the stereotypes and be herself, for herself.
To be and not to appear becomes a kind of an artistic axiom for Lina Jonikė. An old lady against the background of a decrepit barn (mysteriously ‘protected’ by the state) is girdled with a wreath of embroidered forget-me-nots – the only colour highlight on the black-and-white photographic print on canvas. The figure of the old lady, leaning on a stick is composed like a monument: to humanity, authenticity and silent presence.
Dr. Virginija Vitkienė, art critic and curator. -
Artist's Statement
Lina Jonikė uses one of the oldest techniques to decorate textiles – embroidery – and decorates large format photographs endowed with poetry, mystery or intrigue. The artist enchants the viewer with subdued tones of black-and-white photographs and the quiet poise and inner prominence of those she represents. By choosing to represent (or cover with her embroideries) a naked body, Lina Jonikė compares it to an empty canvas on which she creates the illusory fate of the human being. Yarn in Lina’s hands is not just a means of creation. This is a reliable method to reveal human identity, tested by centuries: one’s own and also a cultural identity.
Lina Jonikė uses symbols referring to the codes of the Lithuanian unconscious, inseparable from religiousness intertwined with legendary heritage or even mysticism (interpretations of Pensive Christ, Virgin Mary and mermaids). From the very beginning of her artistic career, Lina Jonikė’s one of the most important goals has been her search for identity revealed in her works with the help of technologically quite diverse works. Although all her embroideries are linked through the combination of stitching and photography, some of them are embroidered on canvas, others only create the illusion of traditional embroidery. A particularly intriguing choice is a garment covering a naked body (a cloak, a towel, a nappy or a piece of clothing) on a transparent plastic surface, distanced from the photographic base. The artist realised the first work in this technique, Textile and I, in 2001. The triptych consists of three photographs (fragments of a woman’s / the artist’s body); elements emphasising the tactile qualities of textile and the healing qualities of textile were embroidered on plastic surfaces covering the photographs: a headscarf on a neck, a bandage of an injured finger or plaster hiding a wound. The vital and simultaneously precise stitches of yarn on the surface of plastic sensitive to deformations place the represented woman into a world where she can choose: to be weak and vulnerable as everybody expects from her in the context of social stereotypes, or to ‘take off’ the stereotypes and be herself, for herself.
To be and not to appear becomes a kind of an artistic axiom for Lina Jonikė. An old lady against the background of a decrepit barn (mysteriously ‘protected’ by the state) is girdled with a wreath of embroidered forget-me-nots – the only colour highlight on the black-and-white photographic print on canvas. The figure of the old lady, leaning on a stick is composed like a monument: to humanity, authenticity and silent presence.
Dr. Virginija Vitkienė, art critic and curator.
Contact Details:
www.linajonike.lt
