To mark the celebration of its 17th birthday, the capital-based Meno Niša Gallery invites everybody to visit the Mechanical Soul exhibition by painter Monika Furmana. The exhibition will run from 26 October until 22 November at Tsekh Gallery (Vytenio str. 6, Vilnius).
Monika Furmana’s exhibition Mechanical Soul will present works of an impressively monumental size reaching up to 5 meters. As Meno Niša’s spaces are not enough to host such paintings, Mechanical Soul moved to Tsekh Gallery.
When briefly reviewing the 17-year-old activities of Meno Niša, the director of the gallery, Diana Stomienė, admits that it was, and still is, not easy for one of the first private galleries in Lithuania to survive and function for so many years without consistent support from the state. “But we are very ambitious. We have been actively participating in international European art fairs for seven years, and we are organising ArtVilnius art fair for the eleventh year”, said the gallery’s directress. Meno Niša presents exhibitions by various artists, ranging from young and emerging ones up to the winners of the National Prize awards, and also runs the project “Art Space for Young Artists” for the ninth year.
With her exhibition Mechanical Soul at Tsekh Gallery, Monika Furmana will seek to reveal a man as an integral part of the material environment. The main theme in Monika Furmana’s works is a woman and her body. In her artworks, the artist provocatively and intrepidly deconstructs a woman’s body and changes her identity. The artist is fascinated by the blurring boundaries and contrasts that are shocking and exciting at the same time.
“The human being is material. It is materialistic in another sense, too: I consider the work of art itself as an object, i.e. a thing that exists independently of me (its creator) alongside with other things of the objective world. I observe how an artwork miraculously reveals the historically changing relationship between a man and a thing, a man and the nature, and religion. While departing from the idealisation and spiritualisation of an artwork, I emphasise and contemplate the materiality of the painting and the creatures born in it”, presents her latest exhibition Monika Furmana.
The famous painter, Monika Furmana (b. 1978) is a doctoral student at the Vilnius Academy of Arts and has held 14 solo exhibitions. Her works have been purchased by collectors from Lithuania, Belgium, Finland and the USA, including the most renowned Austrian erotic book writer and publicist. Monika’s works are also in the collections of the Lewben Art Foundation and MO museum. Meno Niša Gallery has been very successful for several years already in presenting the artist at such art fairs as Viennacontemporary, Positions Berlin, ArtVilnius and others.
Organisers of The Mechanical Soul exhibition by Monika Furmana: Meno Niša and Tsekh galleries. The exhibition will run from 26 October until 22 November at Tsekh gallery (Vytenio str. 6, Vilnius).
Tsekh’s opening hours: Tuesday – Saturday 2 p.m. – 8 p.m. Entry is free for all visitors.