You are warmly invited to the opening of Miglė Kosinskaitė’s painting exhibition Bestia urbis!
Thursday, 10 September,
5:30 p.m.
Angel Museum – Sacred Art Center
The imaginary creatures in Miglė Kosinskaitė’s paintings sometimes resemble monuments, while the non-human inhabitants of this world – cast in bronze, carved in stone or shaped in concrete – seem to come alive at night. Allegorical figures of guardians and totems, as well as animal-shaped heraldic symbols, have long been an important part of urban architecture and façade decoration. They are so familiar that we barely notice them. And it is precisely these overlooked creatures that draw the painter’s gaze.
The Bestia urbis species is both abundant and diverse. Some of these beasts the artist encounters by chance while travelling; others are familiar members of the community in the city where she lives. Dalė Matulaitė’s bronze Aurochs, grazing in Kaunas’s Oak Park since 1979, is a heraldic symbol of the city transformed into a massive mammal. The famous lions at the Vytautas the Great War Museum once stood guard at Astravas Manor near Biržai until 1938. Cast in iron in 19th-century St Petersburg, they were commissioned by Count Jonas Tiškevičius. His son, Jonas Jurgis Tiškevičius, the manor’s last heir, later donated them to the museum. Today, concrete replicas of the lions guard the entrance to Astravas Manor. Visitors to Kaunas particularly enjoy photographing children riding the museum’s lions. Miglė’s Eclipse evokes a photographic negative. The artist makes no secret of using photographs as references for her paintings, although these metal beasts are perhaps the most patient models imaginable. The bears on the façade of the house at 2 Gedimino Avenue in Vilnius recall the confectionery shop of Izai Bunimovičius, which operated there in the early 20th century. Two bears perched on the roof ridge guard a remarkable example of Art Nouveau architecture on Vytauto Street in Ukmergė. The house was built in 1913 by entrepreneurs Kazimieras and Teofilė Deveikiai. During the Soviet occupation, all of its decorative elements were destroyed. In 1999, sculptor Mykolas Strioga (1931–2022), who had lived in Ukmergė since 1942, recreated approximate copies of the bears’ bas-reliefs based on surviving photographs. At the corner of Karmelitų Square and Taboro Street in Vienna once lived the Strauss family of musicians. At the top of the building’s bay window, above the attic windows, stands a copper deer created by metalworker Emanuel Lankotsky – a copy of a figure that decorated the German pavilion at the International Hunting Exhibition in Germany in 1910.
The company is joined by a cat carved from 16 tonnes of stone by Ksenija Jaroševaitė in memory of writer Jurga Ivanauskaitė; a dog in Tallinn’s Rotermann Quarter; eels by Mykolas Sauka; a monkey by Donatas Jankauskas-Duonis; hares from the Greek island of Samos; and concrete dinosaurs from Zarasai. Historic guardians of cities and decorations adorning contemporary homes, sculptures by renowned artists and works by anonymous craftsmen, humble and powerful, amusing and eerie creatures – all of them seemed to be asking to be painted. One of them, however, was invented by the artist herself. Can you guess which one?
– Erika Grigoravičienė
The exhibition will be on view until 14 October.
Organiser: Anykščiai Arts Center
Funded by: Lithuanian Council for Culture, Anykščiai District Municipality
Information partner: regional news portal Anykšta
This exhibition is part of the project Promoting the Appreciation and Understanding of Contemporary Art in Anykščiai. The project is a programme of exhibitions and events featuring contemporary visual art exhibitions, meetings with artists and exhibition creators, as well as lectures and discussions with art historians and educators. Alongside the exhibitions, the project presents talks and meetings with artists and art researchers, encouraging visitors to engage with exhibitions more deeply, pay closer attention to their surroundings, and establish a dialogue through art. The aim of the project is to promote professional art and foster greater appreciation and understanding of contemporary art in Anykščiai District.
