Long time since my last post, but finally I pulled myself together and found time to keep updating this blog which always was a recreational experience for me :)
So back to Moscow for few weeks now, surrounded by Cold War (Soviet) Modern Architecture, and its repetitive and sometimes surreal rhythm, which led me to creating these block-housing series:
Still in search of my personal illustration 'style', I had time recently to experiment, which led me into directions that I was always leaving for some 'other time': a) focusing on structures, such as 3D structures made of blocks, b) focus on drawing items - different items around me, just to 'feed' my style with more details and more ways to draw in geometric, simplistic, but still recognizable manner, which led me to create these life-style type of series 'Shelves' ('Kitchen', 'Bathroom', 'Candy Store', '(Retro-) Office') aimed as interior decoration (art prints):
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By the way, a note for those interested in my professional illustration work: I've recently properly re-arranged my portfolio at http://kata-illustration.com/
Aside from commissioned work and art prints I make to keep my 'style' in shape, I'm also trying to find inspiration in Moscow, to eat as much Pierogi as possible, to visit exhibitions from time to time, for example a “Livre d’Artiste” (The Spanish collection. Picasso, Dali, Miro, Gris, Tapies, Clave. From the collection of George Gens and Boris Freedman) - "Book by an artist" - exhibition at the Pushkin state museum of Fine Arts and also the most recent exhibition I've visited (just yesterday) at the Multimedia Art Museum (MAMM) : besides other stuff, most inspirational parts of the exhibtion were:
• Photographs of New York by William Klein, full of ( ~ 1955) typography and other textures of the incredible city: http://www.mamm-mdf.ru/exhibitions/nyu-york-1955/
• Gorgeous photographs by Martin Parr: full of pop culture, trash and nostalgia for a childhood summers full of ice-cream: http://www.mamm-mdf.ru/exhibitions/posledniy-priyut-fotografii-nyu-braytona-19831985/
Well and besides illustrating, trying to find cultural inspirations, and understand Moscow and its life-style, I've also visited couple of new cafes here, one of which was "Products" («Продукты») at the Red October factory (a factory of chocolate in Soviet times, which now has emerged into a to-go place in central Moscow for those who look for clubs / cafes / exhibition spaces concentrated in one place):
And of course... I'm still trying to read Anna Karenina on
my Kindle. In Russian. Its still hard, as my head starts to ache from
efforts to read in Russian after 10 pages, but I keep trying although
Anna appears to be a very weak, naive, and almost boring character who would fit in any South-American soap-opera perfectly, but the way Leo Tolstoy
writes, keeps me stuck to the book and to be perfectly honest, a story
of Konstantin Levin interests me more than a story of any other character
(including Anna herself). One day I'll finish it.
After reading this blog-post one might think I have too much free time on my hands. Which is true sometimes, but not true in general. As I stay in Moscow looking for inspiration for month or two and freelancing, my small business Kata Kiosk (this is something I do aside from my freelance career) keeps growing in Vilnius, as I manage to pretend that I'm in Vilnius myself and call people on Skype and make deals in that way. Which is great and which means my "Lithuania" t-shirts (and new yet unpublished children t-shirt version) will appear not only in Vilnius, but in most tourist destinations in Lithuania this summer. Also Kata Kiosk has published new collection of greeting cards in much bigger amounts than in 2011 - and its inspirational to see my small business experiment growing in concrete numbers, although I admit that against all marketing and business 'rules' I allow Kata Kiosk to grow in few different directions at once, and I think I will focus on something in particular later in this journey. There just to much items and themes to illustrate now. And where-ever this road is leading me, after almost a year of having my own small business, I can clearly see it all was worth the effort because - besides all other reasons - I met people I probably would have never met if I didn't start publishing my own illustrated products next to sitting in my room (alone) and being a full-time freelancer. So to conclude, this is a perfect balance for me and I don't plan to change it anytime soon.
So back to Moscow for few weeks now, surrounded by Cold War (Soviet) Modern Architecture, and its repetitive and sometimes surreal rhythm, which led me to creating these block-housing series:
 |
| ©Kotryna Zukauskaite, 2012, Shop these art prints on paper or canvas at my Society6 store |
 |
| ©Kotryna Zukauskaite, 2012, Shop these art prints on paper or canvas at my Society6 store |
For those interested in buying these prints in different formats (art prints, canvases, cards), take a look to my Society6 and Artflakes stores to find the best offer.
***
By the way, a note for those interested in my professional illustration work: I've recently properly re-arranged my portfolio at http://kata-illustration.com/
***
Aside from commissioned work and art prints I make to keep my 'style' in shape, I'm also trying to find inspiration in Moscow, to eat as much Pierogi as possible, to visit exhibitions from time to time, for example a “Livre d’Artiste” (The Spanish collection. Picasso, Dali, Miro, Gris, Tapies, Clave. From the collection of George Gens and Boris Freedman) - "Book by an artist" - exhibition at the Pushkin state museum of Fine Arts and also the most recent exhibition I've visited (just yesterday) at the Multimedia Art Museum (MAMM) : besides other stuff, most inspirational parts of the exhibtion were:
• Photographs of New York by William Klein, full of ( ~ 1955) typography and other textures of the incredible city: http://www.mamm-mdf.ru/exhibitions/nyu-york-1955/
 |
| by William Klein |
 |
| by William Klein |
 |
| by Martin Parr |
 |
| by Martin Parr |
***
Well and besides illustrating, trying to find cultural inspirations, and understand Moscow and its life-style, I've also visited couple of new cafes here, one of which was "Products" («Продукты») at the Red October factory (a factory of chocolate in Soviet times, which now has emerged into a to-go place in central Moscow for those who look for clubs / cafes / exhibition spaces concentrated in one place):
 |
| these photos are not taken by me, I found these on different Russian websites |
***
After reading this blog-post one might think I have too much free time on my hands. Which is true sometimes, but not true in general. As I stay in Moscow looking for inspiration for month or two and freelancing, my small business Kata Kiosk (this is something I do aside from my freelance career) keeps growing in Vilnius, as I manage to pretend that I'm in Vilnius myself and call people on Skype and make deals in that way. Which is great and which means my "Lithuania" t-shirts (and new yet unpublished children t-shirt version) will appear not only in Vilnius, but in most tourist destinations in Lithuania this summer. Also Kata Kiosk has published new collection of greeting cards in much bigger amounts than in 2011 - and its inspirational to see my small business experiment growing in concrete numbers, although I admit that against all marketing and business 'rules' I allow Kata Kiosk to grow in few different directions at once, and I think I will focus on something in particular later in this journey. There just to much items and themes to illustrate now. And where-ever this road is leading me, after almost a year of having my own small business, I can clearly see it all was worth the effort because - besides all other reasons - I met people I probably would have never met if I didn't start publishing my own illustrated products next to sitting in my room (alone) and being a full-time freelancer. So to conclude, this is a perfect balance for me and I don't plan to change it anytime soon.
***
There's too much life left to live
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