News
2021-11-18
'Young Painter Prize' announces this year's best young painter in the Baltic States
This year's winner of the Young Painter Prize competition was announced in MO Museum on 18 November. For thirteen years now, YPP is continuing to be one of the key events for the young artists from Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. The YPP's international jury announced Dominykas Si-dorovas as this year's best young painter in the Baltic states.
The last stage of the YPP competition involved fifteen finalists whose works will be on display in MO Museum until 30 January, 2022. By the decision of the evaluation jury, a special mention was awarded Erika Povilonyte and the "MO Award" went to Kazimieras Brazdžiūnas.
This year's YPP winner Dominykas Sidorovas was awarded a two month residency in Nordic Artist Centre Dale (Norway) along with the 11,000 NOK monthly stipend. Dominykas also received a 3,000 EUR cash prize and the opportunity to hold a solo show in Pamėnkalnis Gallery (Vilnius). The YPP winner's painting will be added to the collection of the Lithuanian National Museum of Art.
"Each year, the YPP winner is decided only a few hours, sometimes minutes before the announcement. The participants, audience, organisers and the jury thus have to spend all this time in the state of suspenseful excitement. And we are indeed particularly excited about this year's winner Dominykas Sidorovas. The jury said about his artwork that “it’s a unique contemporary new visual language, it’s taking an image of an everyday objective like a chair and turning it into unfamiliar and striking visual representation.” We are happy that Dominykas artwork will now join the collection of the Lithuanian National Museum of Art and thus become part of the history of painting in the Baltic states," said the YPP organiser Julija Dailidėnaitė Palmeirao.
"One of the key benefits of the YPP competition is that the artists, viewers, curators and art critics get the unique opportunity to see the work of the youngest artists who will soon become major players in the art field of the Baltic states," said YPP organiser Vilmantas Marcinkevičius. He also added that the reputation and continuity of YPP are all due to the active participation of artists from Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia.
The YPP project is ongoing since 2009 and is now one of the key art events in the Baltic states. Its mission is not only the introduction of up-and-coming artists to wider audiences, but also helping art collectors and curators discover new talent in the Baltic states. The YPP competition is open to art students and graduates up to years old.
During this year's competition, young artists were assessed by an international jury: Arild H. Eriksen (art historian, Director of Residency Centre at the Nordic Artists' Centre Dale), Gabrielė Radzevičiūtė (curator, MO Museum), Karin Laansoo (Director of the Estonian KAI Art Centre), Deimantas Narkevičius (filmmaker, video artist, sculptor), Zane Tuča (Latvian painter, the YPP 2013 winner), and Mėta Valiušaitytė (art historian).
During the opening night on the 18th of November, MO Museum held a public discussion "The New Generation of Painters: Quo vadis?". The YPP 2009 winner Andrius Zakarauskas, the YPP organizer Julija Dailidėnaitė Palmeirao, and the Deputy Director of the Lithuanian National Museum of Art Jolanta Marcišauskytė-Jurašienė spoke about the emerging young artists and their creative pathways. The discussion was moderated by the art theorist Laima Kreivytė.
