THE BIRD WOMAN

Acrylic and oil on canvas. Signed at the backside by Vilmantas 2024

“The Woman Bird" is a reflection on hiding one’s emotions. Sometimes, we feel the desire to conceal our emotions from the world - a desire to run away from reality, to mask our true feelings, to shield our fragile inner world from the rest. The woman figure depicted in the painting is of a dual character. She is in the state of taking off, but, upon looking up close, she seems to be injured. And still, she is trying to escape, to break free. We do not know her intentions, but we are the witnesses of her non-movement, the frozen moment of the desire to leave. She wears a mask that seems to be reminiscent of a Japanese kabuki mask, the belief of the power to transform the wearer into a wanted character filled with emotion, contorted to show the extremity of it, - and yet it shows nothing. There’s a dramatic air to her - it is the theatrical need to perform emotion, but at the same time her goal is to hide thefeeling. The figure of the body still trying to fly but appears to be grown into the ground, burdened by the weight of true feeling. She wants to hide, but also push forward - just like our inner world filled with desires and onslaughts, but also shoals and restraints.