Justinas Vilutis’ exhibition „Fear Eats the Soul“ in Photography museum will be opened on 25 October at 6.30 pm. The opening is a part of contemporary art festival VIRUS’24 events.

Fear Eats the Soul is the first solo show by Justinas Vilutis, showcasing a series of brand-new work. Referencing landmarks of pop culture ranging from “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and J. Dante’s “Gremlins” to F. W. Murnau’s “Nosferatu” and N. Roeg’s “The Witches” – all of which are unified by depictions of evil, transformation and alienation, the exhibition portrays the subjects bound by predestination and decay.

The exhibition draws parallels between chaos and the grotesque, hyperreality and abstraction, while the subjects start losing outlines and merging into a shapeless horizon. Thus, the project becomes as a means of investigating the notion of abject, a primordial emotion that is caused by falling borders of external reality, observing the outside with a magnifying gaze, revealing the inner functionality and delving deeper inside the body horror. Decaying sea creatures, anthropomorphic landscapes and intertwining bodies – fear starts eating our souls.

Justinas Vilutis is a photographer whose current practice is focused around photography, sculpture and research, referencing influences ranging from Honey Boo Boo to psychoanalysis and dialectical materialism. Having just completed his studies at ECAL in 2018, he uses intricate multilayered set design, saturated and sleek surfaces, liquids and plastics in order to achieve an image of a melting, hyperreal, eroticized terrain.

 

 

 

 

 

During the opening the performance „Solitaire“ by Kristina Švenčionytė and Nora Ray will take place.

 

 

 

 

Organised by: Šiauliai Art gallery
www.siauliugalerija.lt

Sponsors: Lithuanian Council for Culture, Šiauliai City Municipality.

Informational sponsors: weekly newspaper „Etaplius“, news website „Etaplius“, daily newspaper „Šiaulių kraštas”, daily newspaper „Šiaulių naujienos“.

Partners: Photography museum, Šiauliai athletics and wellness centre, design house “Wãpsva LT”, „BIS A BIS“, company „Balheidas“, Šiauliai National drama theatre, Šiauliai State College, Šiauliai vocational education and training centre, Šiauliai cultural centre, Vilnius Town Hall.