Wedge
Meda Norbutaitė (Lithuania)
In her latest series of paintings, Meda Norbutaitė rethinks the image as a universal language. Through the ironic, almost grotesque forms of her characters, the artist probes the social anxieties of contemporary life – our fears and expectations, jealousies and insecurities, inflated egos and unrelenting self-doubt, as we navigate the tensions between social conformity and personal pride.
The figure of the clown, once a symbol of joy, has acquired darker undertones in modern popular culture – a creature to be mocked or even feared. In Norbutaitė’s work, the clown becomes a mirror of our inner selves: a mime without identity, capable of playing infinite roles. Humour is her point of departure and tool for exploring the dilemmas of today’s masked and performative self – a personality so anxious and so tightly wound its clowning looks borderline farcical.
In an age when social media offers almost endless channels for connection and floods our vision with images, Norbutaitė’s clowning becomes a wedge – a means to prise open the rigid frames that confine us so we can laugh at ourselves and rediscover a sense of freedom. Spanning the full range of emotion, the exhibition invites us to recognise and awaken the clown within – the self that reflects, opens up, critiques, loves, plays, errs, dares, and begins again.
Her cast of clowns, monkeys, and princesses – marked by symbols drawn from childhood, everyday life, art history, fairy tales, and cartoons – both teases and seduces. They provoke, amuse, unsettle, and excite, stirring our lustful gaze and prompting us to question the social norms we inhabit and the ways they continue to shift.
Ultimately, the works on view not only challenge the fabric of social reality but also reframe the artistic canon itself. Alongside her earlier “Clownery” series, Norbutaitė presents its sequel – a new body of work on de-canonisation, where recognition yields to something personal, subversive, and surprising.
Dr. Evelina Januškaitė
curator of the exhibition
Meda Norbutaitė (born in 1969 in Šiauliai, Lithuania) holds a Master’s in the Humanities, specialising in Art Criticism and Painting, from the Faculty of Arts at Šiauliai University (1998). An Associate Professor at VILNIUS TECH since 2016, she holds memberships in the Lithuanian Artists’ Association (LAA), the Taylor Foundation in Paris, the International Artists Association (IAA), and LATGA, Lithuania. Over the years, she has served on the Board of the LAA Painters’ Section (2016–2020, and since 2024) and on the LAA Council (2020–2024).
As a curator, Norbutaitė has led several notable projects, including the 18th International Vilnius Painting Triennial, where she also curated the Baltic States Collection. Among her other notable curatorial projects are “Document” (Vilnius Town Hall, 2018), “100% Painting” (Arka Gallery, 2016), and “Still-Life: Contemporary Context in Tradition” (Arka Gallery, 2015).
Since 1997, Norbutaitė has held more than forty solo exhibitions and participated in over two hundred group shows in Lithuania and abroad, including the United States, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Germany, Austria, France, Latvia, Estonia, Poland, Switzerland, Norway, South Korea, and beyond.
On view at the Rothko Museum from 5 December 2025 to 8 February 2026
Publicity image: Meda Norbutaitė “Vignette. Pie to the Face”. Oil on canvas. 150 x 200 cm. 2022
