Past Exhibitions — 2019

Indre Serpytyte
From.Between.To

5 April – 18 May 2019

Introduction

Parafin is pleased to present an exhibition of new work by Lithuanian artist Indre Serpytyte, her second at the gallery. This exhibition coincides with ‘When the Golden Sun Sinks’, a solo display of newly commissioned works at Rugby Art Gallery and Museum. At Parafin, Serpytyte will show a series of new textile works for the first time in London.

At the core of Serpytyte’s practice lies an interest in conflict and its accompanying trauma. Working across photography, sculpture and mixed media, much of her previous work centres on the recent history of Lithuania, how it is recalled and its influence on national identity. However, these new works step away from such specificity, instead exploring the use of culturally charged symbols as an abstract language: a form of communication that traces a universal discourse.

In the series ‘From.Between.To’, Serpytyte employs ceremonial sashes specific to the Baltic region, overlapping and layering them across canvas stretchers. Using traditional materials, these works trace how the region’s communities intersect; motifs from one country are legible in another and reveal a call and response between nations that share a narrative of conflict. She also looks at how the repetition – or rhythm – of these patterns might be understood as a wider visual language, one that can communicate between cultures or regions familiar with war. Just as linguistic forms of expression facilitate a communal purpose, so visual matter can be incorporated into a process of mutual understanding.

Away from the Baltic context the works also address a different history, that of international Modernism and in particular the development of abstraction and the concept of the Readymade. By weaving the sashes into complex grids on canvas stretchers Serpytyte recalls the tropes of geometric abstraction. By using them unaltered, as Readymades, she both celebrates and deconstructs their historic meaning. Having initially begun the series working with traditional colour schemes – typically, reds, yellows, black and white – she now also collaborates with the weavers to produce the sashes in vibrant colours that recall the chromatic intensity of Pop and Op art, furthering the layered referentiality of the works.

Works from the series ‘From.Between.To’ are included in the major new Phaidon book ‘Vitamin T’.

Selected Works

Indre Serpytyte
Serenity. From the series From.Between.To, 2019
Cotton on wooden stretcher
110 × 110 cm

Indre Serpytyte
Eden. From the series From.Between.To, 2019
Cotton on wooden stretcher
114 × 114 cm

Indre Serpytyte
Fata Morgana. From the series From.Between.To, 2019
Cotton on wooden stretcher
106 × 106 cm

Indre Serpytyte
Grace. From the series From.Between.To, 2019
Cotton on wooden stretcher
117 × 117 cm

Indre Serpytyte
Sol. From the series From.Between.To, 2019
Cotton on wooden stretcher
114 × 114 cm

Indre Serpytyte
Vivication. From the series From.Between.To, 2019
Cotton on wooden stretcher
178 × 82 cm

Indre Serpytyte
Rise. From the series From.Between.To, 2019
Cotton on wooden stretcher
133.5 × 133.5 cm

Indre Serpytyte
Integer. From the series From.Between.To, 2019
Cotton on wooden stretcher
83.5 × 83.5 cm

Indre Serpytyte
Renewal. From the series From.Between.To, 2019
Cotton on wooden stretcher
84 × 174 cm

Indre Serpytyte
Rapt. From the series From.Between.To, 2019
Cotton on wooden stretcher
104 × 104 cm

Indre Serpytyte
Empyrean. From the series From.Between.To, 2019
Cotton on wooden stretcher
143.5 × 143.5 cm

Indre Serpytyte
Vicissitude. From the series From.Between.To, 2019
Cotton on wooden stretcher
183.5 × 183.5 cm

Indre Serpytyte
Roots. From the series From.Between.To, 2018
Cotton on wooden stretcher
48 × 32 cm

Indre Serpytyte
Vim. From the series From.Between.To, 2018
Cotton on wooden stretcher
36 × 21 cm

Indre Serpytyte
Matter. From the series From.Between.To, 2018
Cotton on wooden stretcher
49 × 35 cm

Indre Serpytyte
Expanse. From the series From.Between.To, 2018
Cotton on wooden stretcher
25 × 20 cm

Biography

Indre Serpytyte was born in Lithuania in 1983. She studied at the University of Brighton and the Royal College of Art, London. Serpytyte’s work has been exhibited internationally. Recent solo exhibitions include CAC, Vilnius (2017); Parafin, London (2016); Still House Group, New York (2016); the Museum of Contemporary Art, Krakow (2015); Ffotogallery, Cardiff (2013); and the Photographers Association, London (2011). Important recent group exhibitions include ‘Memory Matters’, Skissernas Museum, Lund (2018); Riga Biennial of Contemporary Art, Riga, Latvia (2018); ‘Undersong’, KIM?, Riga (2018); Daegu Photo Biennial, South Korea (2017); ‘Age of Terror: Art after 9/11’, Imperial War Museum, London (2018); ‘Ocean of Images: New Photography 2015’, Museum of Modern Art, New York (2015); ‘Conflict, Time, Photography’, Tate Modern, London (2014) and Museum Folkwang, Essen (2014-15); and the National Gallery, Vilnius (2013). In 2018, Serpytyte was awarded the Grain Photography Hub Commission and will exhibit at the Rugby Art Gallery and Museum in May 2019.