ISLAND LIFE was the first solo exhibition by emerging artist Marija Reikalas. It was created through long months of quarantine in Lisbon. It was a metaphor of being cast away on a desert island of one’s mind. The idea was born with a most recent series of 8 linocut prints about bittersweet solitude on a lush green tropical island, somewhere far between never-ending sapphire-blue waters, surrounded by nature, plants, and animals.These are allegoric images of a woman in exile in her own company. Voluntarily, involuntarily or without any reason, she finds herself alone facing the wilderness. She waits for her lover or anybody to rescue her, but he never comes. Nobody comes.Her mind, heart, and surroundings now look like an untouched, ancient tropical forest, full of secrets and mystery. It was a journey of discovery through the grief of lost past life, which leads to adaptation, befriending the wilderness, and inevitable transformation.
MARIJA REIKALAS is a graphic artist based in Lisbon. Her bold, minimal style, often described as messy minimal, is easily recognizable in the use of positive/negative space.Her art includes illustration, print-making (linocut & screen printing), and monumental painting (murals). Inspired by nature, tropical plants, wild animals, myths, and naked human body, she invites you to the sensible world of the night in the jungle. It’s all about high contrast and bold but elegant line. Her dreamscapes come alive in their simplicity without any separation from where they came from – the wild nature of human mind.
