2024 Winners

Congratulations to this year’s Young Painter Prize winner, Tadas (Truchill) Tručilauskas (Lithuania), and to the 2024 Luminor Prize for Youth Empowerment recipient, Matilda Kalvaitytė (Lithuania).

A special thanks to this year’s jurors: Vilmantas Marcinkevičius, Andris Vītoliņš, Kaido Ole, Miglė Survilaitė, and Arūnas Gelūnas. Your expertise and insight made these awards possible.

On 20 January 2024 the winner of the 2024 YPP People’s Choice Award was announced – congratulations to Laima Andrejeva (Latvia)! Her captivating artwork, titled “Wardrobe,” has resonated deeply with our visitors, earning a remarkable number of votes. As part of the prize, established by YPP sponsor Vilniaus Rotušė, Laima will host a solo exhibition at the historic Vilnius Rotušė (Vilnius Town Hall). The YPP organisers would like to express their sincere gratitude to over 1.500 visitors who helped to elect the winning art piece; your votes and participation are genuinely invaluable to the success of our competition!

Don’t miss the chance to see all three award-winning paintings alongside works from the other 30 finalists at the Vilnius Picture Gallery, available for viewing until 25 January 25.

Young Painter Prize 2024 winner

Tadas (Truchill) Tručilauskas

Wing altar Storyteller, Parts of time Machine 400x210cm, mixed media of painting, 2023-2024

“Wing Altar: Storyteller and the Parts of the Time Machine” is a large-scale work, measuring 4 meters by 210 cm when unfolded, folded 210cm by 200cm. For me, painting is a noble act, demanding countless days of selfless dedication. My studio becomes a sacred space a cathedral or shrine where the act of painting transcends mere creation and becomes a dialogue with time itself. Over the past few years, I’ve been particularly drawn to revisiting and transforming earlier works,
layering new brushstrokes and ideas. This practice is both constructive and destructive, as I reimagine past works, revealing and concealing different experiences that have accumulated inside and outside the studio.

The Wing Altar is my interpretation of how the Sistine Madonna might appear if extended, allowing the Cherubim to descend from the heavens and observe the natural world. The altar is composed of three main parts: the central painting, which serves as the focal point, and two side paintings that complement and expand upon the central narrative. The central painting encapsulates the essence of love in action, symbolized by tennis balls tumbling down a staircase, observed by dreamlike characters who traverse time and space, defying the boundaries between reality and illusion. These figures move in a dance of light, surrounded by a visual setting of earth and sky. The reflective pools in these paintings aren’t merely background elements; they serve as metaphysical portals, echoing the central themes of time, transformation, and celebration. Together, these components unify the Wing Altar into a singular, immersive experience. The reflective surfaces, vibrant colors,
and dynamic figures across all three paintings interconnect, inviting the viewer into an endless celebration of life, art, and the passage of time . Much like the ripples in a pool echo the impact of a single splash.

The central piece is the result of numerous compositions, reconsiderations, and studies, deeply rooted in art history, particularly Raphael’s Sistine Madonna. The cherubim from Raphael’s work have been reimagined here , transformed into figures on rollerblades, gliding down from the heavens on a skateboard. The figure in white, holding a white flag, is inspired by a photograph I captured during the Dainų Šventė festival, highlighting my mixed-media approach, where photography, painting, and various techniques converge into a unified artistic expression. The left and right paintings of the altar . Left Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds and Right JUMP, come together to create a vibrant, celebratory atmosphere inviting to join into a dynamic party zone. Set against the backdrop of Hockney’s A Bigger Splash pool, Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds features lilies inspired by Monet’s observations of nature, blooming amidst a landscape teeming with life, wind, and the fresh energy of a poolside gathering. In JUMP, main figure leap and glide with joyful abandon, merging physical motion with the fluidity of water. If you look closely, the central painting also includes a mirage of Gerki, Sesute, Gerki in the top left corner a piece I created in 2018 at the Užupis Art Incubator. This subtle detail links the work to my broader artistic journey, embodying my belief that everything is possible in art. “Wing Altar: Storyteller and the Parts of the Time Machine” is more than a painting; it is a gateway to perception and vision, unfolding like a door or gate. The Storyteller is a vessel for any narrative, capable of telling tales from the past, present, or future. Stories that have happened, will happen, or might never come to be. Tales of fools and kings. Also some parts of the Altar shine in the dark.

Timelapse of Lucy and JUMP
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/LD21H7mBoYM
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/lRf1tYfPFms

Opening of the ALTAR
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2tLXZB0asD8

2024 Luminor Prize for Youth Empowerment recipient

Matilda Kalvaitytė

“From the series Ritual. Forest” 80 x 100 cm, oil paint on canvas

“Ritual”: a series of bachelor final creative works.

In this series of five creative works I examined the importance of ritual dances as a unique form of communication between two worlds – the physical and the spiritual worlds – as well as the importance of ritual in order to change unfavorable conditions of people. The aim of the work is to reveal the special relationship between supernatural powers, people and the rites that unite both sides in a pictorial way. In the series of final works, I sought to delve deeper into the importance of ritual as a way of communication, to give emotionality and uniqueness to the expressiveness of painting, and to visually convey the special connection created by ritual. Although ritual dances were an integral part of life for our ancestors, they are not practiced as often nowadays…

In the painting “Forest” I depicted a group of female figures performing a specific “ritual” during a blizzard. With this work, I wanted to emphasize the importance nature, the past, the connections that unite spirits and humanity, supernatural energy that can provide strength, spirituality and determination even in the most difficult times of a person’s life. Any person, regardless of where they live or the time of year, can cultivate connections with their environment, ancestral spirits, or any other deities.

2024 YPP People’s Choice Award recipient

Laima Andrejeva

“Wardrobe” oil on canvas; 240 x 180 cm (open), 190 x 120cm (closed).

While painting this work, I wanted to delve into myself, into my subconscious, recalling my childhood. In the center of the painting is my daughter, through whom I speak about myself. Each item in the wardrobe symbolizes an important event, emotion, or person for me. Childhood is a crucial phase of life where we draw everything for our future, but sometimes the experience can be traumatic and negatively affect the quality of life in adulthood. With this work, I invite others to look into their own “wardrobes.”

2024 Event Photo Gallery

2024 Finalists

We are delighted to announce that there were a total of 115 submissions to this year’s Young Painter Prize competition!

Due to the large number of exceptional submissions, we have decided to announce 33 finalists. Here they are in alphabetical order:

YPP 2024 jury

Miglė Survilaitė is a Lithuanian art historian and chief curator at MO Museum in Vilnius, Lithuania. She studied art at Vilnius Art Academy, where she researched Lithuanian art of the 1990s. Survilaitė has worked at MO Museum for nearly a decade, and has played a key role in the museum’s development. Throughout her career, the museum has become a staple player in Lithuanian art and culture.

Arūnas Gelūnas is a Lithuanian fine artist, philosopher and curator currently working as the director of the Lithuanian National Museum of Art, which he has been doing since 2019, as well as the commissioner of the Lithuanian Pavilion at the 60th Venice Biennale. Gelūnas had been enrolled as a researcher of Japanese painting and calligraphy at the Tokyo University of the Arts, which led to the article “Making Art in the Japanese Way: Nihonga as Process and Symbolic Action” (in Making Japanese Heritage, Routledge, 2009). Additionally, he taught a course in Japanese art history at Vilnius University. From 2010 to 2012, he served as the Minister of Culture of the Republic of Lithuania, followed by his position as the permanent representative of Lithuania and ambassador to UNESCO from 2012 to 2016. He is currently working as the director of the Lithuanian National Museum of Art, which he has been doing since 2019, as well as the commissioner of the Lithuanian Pavilion at the 60th Venice Biennale. From 2010 to 2012, Gelūnas served as the Minister of Culture of the Republic of Lithuania, followed by his position as the permanent representative of Lithuania and ambassador to UNESCO from 2012 to 2016.

Kaido Ole is a freelance painter from Tallinn, Estonia. In 1992, Ole graduated from the Estonian Academy of Arts, and went on to work as a painting instructor first at the Tallinn Art School, and later at the Estonian Academy of Arts. His works center around the concept of power relations between people – even sometimes confronting the power dynamic between himself, as an artist, and his work. Multi-interpretable, absurd and humorous, Ole’s works have been exhibited since 1989, and in 2003 Ole represented Estonia at Venice’s 50th Biennale in the Estonian pavilion.

Andris Vītoliņš is a Latvian painter, professor and Vice-Rector at the Art Academy of Latvia. Vītoliņš’s work focuses on industrial themes; machines, vehicles, mechanical parts, etc. He obtained a master’s degree in painting from the Art Academy of Latvia, a bachelors in visual communication and studied at the Faculty of Design for three years. Vītoliņš would be familiar to any artists involved with the art fair ArtVilnius, as he participated as both an artists and a chairman of the international jury for selecting the best participants.

Vilmantas Marcinkevicius is a Lithuanian artist and founder of the Young Painter Prize. Marcinkevicius’s distinct painting style was formed at the Vilnius Academy of Art during the collapse of the Soviet Union. His paintings can be distinguished by their vivid and unexpected colors, figurative metaphors and simplistic depictions of nature. Although Marcinkevicius creates spontaneously, each painting he creates has a theme, often posing uncomfortable questions. The artist has had 30+ solo shows across Europe, including but not limited to Denmark, France, Sweden and the Faroe Islands.

YPP 2024 patrons

Raila family

Ortiz family

Rasa Juodviršienė

Bajorunas/Sarnoff foundation

YPP 2024 sponsors