Works by Rūtenė Merk

Virtualacra describes the uncanny reality of remembered and internalized objects and experiences that have never been part of one own’s experiences, resulting in a disturbing collision of real and virtual aspects of the own experience.
The exhibition features paintings of figures, objects and artefacts which originate from sources such as movies, video games and cultural history. For example, a portrait of the main character from the first fully animated motion picture “Final Fantasy: The Spirits within”, a small-scale still life of a side character from the Computer Roll-Playing Game “The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion”, a 3.000 year old Egyptian statue resembling the ”King of Pop” Michael Jackson and the trusty companion of Chuck Noland (played by Tom Hanks) from the movie “Cast Away”.

RUTENE MERK (born 1991 in Lithuania) is a painter who works and lives both in Vilnius and Munich. She received her bachelor’s degree in painting in 2013 from the Vilnius Academy of Arts and is currently studying at the Academy of Fine Arts (AdBK) in Munich.

Selected exhibitions include:
(How did I get here) Painting in Lithuania, Contemporary Art Centre, Vilnius, 2012;
24 Spaces – a Cacophony, Malmö Konsthall, Sweden, 2014;
Body and Darkness, Vartai Gallery, Vilnius, 2017;
Children of the New East, Art Hall Tallinn, Estonia, 2017;
Whit Walkers, Talinas 10, Riga, 2017;
JCDecaux Prize, Contemporary Art Centre, Vilnius, 2017;
Entangled Tales, Rupert, Vilnius, 2018;
Virtualacra, AdBK München, Jahresausstellung, 2018;
Spirits Within (solo), Project Space Editorial, 2018.

curated by,
Manuela Hillmann & Philipp Pess