ARTist: Staselė Jakunskaitė
Our latest artist series features the work of Staselė Jakunskaitė. I first came across Staselė’s work exhibited in oversize form around Dublin’s Science Gallery and was soon swept away by her conceptual illustrations and the messages in her art.
The purpose of this series has always been to showcase artists that inspire us and see their take on our lifestyle and ethos and in doing so, hopefully bringing them to the attention of a new audience. Adopting her swap technique, we’re stoked to see it adapted across a range of our clothing. We caught up with Staselė recently for a chat about her background, style and plans for the future…
For anyone that doesn’t know, give us a brief outline of your background?
I am a Lithuanian visual artist and conceptual illustrator currently based in Vilnius for almost a year, I've been living in Dublin for more than 6 years prior to coming back to my hometown. My background is in fine arts as I graduated in Painting from Vilnius Art Academy and have also been studying fine arts and printmaking in the Netherlands and Estonia. However my career in illustration started and developed while I was living in Dublin, I was actively participating at the local art festivals like DCAF and Artfully and were working on a few collaborations with local brands like Hopfully Brewing, Dublin Science Gallery, Bean & Goose, The Library Project and others. So, yeah it was a great time and I'm happy for all these opportunities, people and life I had in Ireland.
Currently, despite illustration work I opened a new risograph studio/art-shop in Vilnius @hungryeyes_press dedicated for illustration and new graphics, so this is a very exciting new chapter, pushing me out of comfort zone in a good way and bringing more social life in this, at times lonely illustrator career.
I am also a mother of three little girls which I see as my biggest achievement in life so far, so things are pretty crazy busy right now and finding a balance is a true challenge sometimes.
We're big fans of music at Foam. What music have you been listening to recently?
I am a big fan of music too! I made one riso work dedicated to this, named Melomane with a girl playing a vinyl in her head! I don't have one favorite genre, but would lean more towards electronic music like trip-hop, downtempo and also new school rap or even classical music and sounds of singing bowls. However, recently I listen to more podcasts and audiobooks which is a great source of multitasking while doing something else at the same time.
Can you give us a rundown of the artwork you made for us?
I got this commision from you last summer while spending three weeks on the seaside of Baltic Sea, our friend is making amazing DIY surfboards and we were spending a lot of time learning to surf - getting this commision at this point really resonated with me! I used my SWAP method for this illustration, where some parts of common images or situations are swapped with each other creating new, unusual and somehow surprising senses and ideas. In this case it can represent the sensation of obsession with surfing or waiting for good waves with a cup of coffee in your hands!
What’s been inspiring you lately?
Lately, I feel inspired by meditative abstract forms and want to use them more in my drawings, also detailed hand-drawn textures which takes a lot of time, but I really enjoy drawing them.
What’s your plans for the rest of the year and going forward?
We are living in very uncertain times right now, specially here in Lithuania it probably feels even stronger than in Ireland. Don't plan too much ahead at the moment and started to be deeply grateful for current peace and independence in our country - whose things we've been taking for granted before. However, I would like to keep working on Hungry Eyes projects and have more time for drawing.
Lastly, Coffee or Beer?
Both:D
For more from Staselė visit: https://www.staselejakunskaite.com/ or @staselejakunskaite.