is an artist mostly known for his drawings, but his works also include sculptures and objects. He graduated from the Sculpture Department at the Vilnius Academy of Arts in 2003. Despite a sketch-like manner, free and swift strokes, Lukošaitis’s drawings are acutely precise, vibrant and energetic. His work can be distinguished for a notable craftsmanship and a deep conversance of anatomy.
Without employing archival material or photographs that would illustrate the topic of his work, Lukošaitis substitutes documentary history with products of his own imagination. His artworks demonstrate the power of vision and imagination that allows having a sharper look at topics such as history, the relevance of post-war resistance, the search for identity, and the spirit of patriotism - both in history as well as in everyday life. The artist tends to rely on the classical, academic drawing technique, where a pencil is used for shading and outlining. However, his approach to academic drawing is unique: Lukošaitis draws “his own realism”, without using models or pictures.
Another important aspect of Lukošaitis’s work is its non-historicalness. The artist draws strange uncanny pictures of isolated objects and nature-like forms, or depicts imagery of unrealised ideas. These drawings are created not to be contextualised outside themselves but to be understood as free products of creative inspiration or realisations of the sketching practice in drawing.
Mindaugas Lukošaitis regularly takes part in international group shows and holds solo exhibitions in Lithuania as well as abroad. He represented Lithuania at the 26th São Paulo Biennial and participated in the Populism exhibition curated by Nicolaus Schafhausen at the Frankfurter Kunstverein in 2004. Lukošaitis’s works have been exhibited at institutions such as VOLTA NY, Vilnius Contemporary Art Centre, and Galerie Fons Walters in Amsterdam. His drawings have also been included in Phaidon’s encyclopaedia Vitamin D: New Perspectives in Drawing and featured in collections of the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art (Denmark), Lewben Art Foundation (Lithuania), MO Museum (Lithuania), as well as ones of private collectors in Lithuania and abroad.
