Aistė Jakonytė

Aistė Jakonytė is a Lithuanian artist living and working in the UK. Her residency at Cel del Nord took place in 2023. (Cover photo care of Tara Collette).

What was unexpected about your residency?

I came to a lot of conclusions about my work quite quickly, which really surprised me. Being away from my usual work environment and out of habit applying some of my usual approaches to painting made me almost have an outsider's perspective on my work.

There’s one study I did very early on that I discarded at first, but that’s since become my favourite piece. I like the visible brush marks, the lack of hesitation in the strokes and the quickness of it. It is not an overworked piece, it’s a fast study capturing the essence of a fleeting moment. This was missing from my practice, as I had spent too long over-planning work instead of being ‘freer’ and more spontaneous.

I was also expecting for the residency to be quite an introspective, solo experience and in many ways it was. But meeting Tara Collette, who I bonded with very quickly and spent a lot of time with, was a very welcome surprise. I feel very lucky to have met another artist on the same wavelength as me. It made the whole experience even more special.

Image care of Tara Collette

As well as that increased spontaneity, how else did your work change at Cel del Nord?

I worked outdoors for some of the time. The physical limitations of being outside - like not having a desk or an easel, having just enough material with me, ensuring the work didn’t get damaged - as well as having a short amount of time to complete each piece definitely changed the way I painted. 

I found myself gravitating to bolder colours, bolder mark-making and being less precious with what and how I painted. It’s something I don’t necessarily tap into as often as I should. There was no planning, just painting what was in front of me. In a way, that experience solidified what I like most about painting.

Working outside was also quite time consuming and not very comfortable, though, and I switched to working from photos. In the past I’ve found working from photos limiting and would find myself falling into a trap of representation over interpretation, so I tend to avoid it. This time, having a photo felt like a nice guide rather than something to copy. Actually, I often found myself relying on memory and not looking at my phone that much, which was quite freeing.

What have you been working on since the residency?

I have been mainly drawing. Drawing for the sake of drawing, in a sketchbook and with the intention of some of the work being final pieces, rather than just plans for paintings. I think the amount of time I spent drawing during the residency has ignited this interest in me again. I did paint a couple small paintings as soon as I returned, and have left a few more unfinished, but I am enjoying this shift in direction

To learn more about Aiste and her work visit aistejakonyte.com