Lithuanian artist Roberta Railaitė creates illustrations that have a haunting beauty created in a unique style that she calls ‘existential horror’.
Using various shades of reds, blues, black and white, her artworks are cinematic film-noir-like scenes often lit by a screen or small light source amongst a dark and moody environment.
Her work creates “an ominous reflective gaze into the depths of your mind” as she accurately describes it, whilst exploring the themes of anxiety, fear, and dread that are connected with our existence.
Her work evokes a craving for love and understanding, with a sense of emptiness that permeates through the tones, shapes and colors found throughout her body of work.
Railaitė says that being born and based in Lithuania has surely had an impact on her work. “Lithuania is a post-Soviet country with a lot of pain and an oppressive past” she writes, “there is a lot of darkness and gloominess here”. Railaitė states that one would have to be emotionally dead to not be impacted by their surroundings, a very on-brand comment that feels fitting to the emotional and stirring conceptual and aesthetic qualities of her work.
However this is not to imply that she doesn’t love her country, as these atmospheric elements provide the perfect context for her to create the artwork that she does. Lithuania is also a strong, beautiful country with amazing forests that inspire and energize her.
Furthermore, inspiration comes to her in many other forms, like being aware of the present moment and surrounding herself with the “experiences that life gives you”. These sources of inspiration include "dreams, art, music and relationships” for example. Most of all, she says, inspiration comes from reflecting from within herself. She began to notice that the more she reflected on her self and personal emotions, the more these metaphysical qualities emerged in her work.
For Railaitė, experimenting with an artwork until she finds a good foundation to build upon is important. Therefore at early stages she finds herself searching for shapes, values and playing with contrasts to create a piece of art that continues on to the final stages of completion.
“An ominous reflective gaze into the depths of your mind”.
The emergence of the Web 3 space has had a huge impact on her as a person and as an artist. Whilst being cautious not to sound “overly dramatic”, she states that it has changed her life. “I wouldn't have dared to dream that all day every day I can just draw and build relationships, talk art and joke around with my fellow artists and collectors. It is a dream come true and I plan to enjoy every bit of it”.
The personal gains that she’s experienced are ones that she hopes can inspire and uplift other emerging artists as well.
That being said, she embraces the ups and downs of the NFT space, comparing it to a rollercoaster. Her acceptance of the ebbs and flows of the market and one’s personal cycles of creative inspiration allows her to “enjoy the whole ride” as she says.
Railaitė’s main goals are to continue creating art and having it reach as many people as it possibly can. Sustaining a career path that guarantees a future full of creating art is her driving motivation. She also values the connections made at a human level and celebrating each other’s victories together as members of a creative movement that we are all fortunate to be part of.
What does the long term plan of her creative practice look like? “More existential horror!” she says. We can’t wait to see what else she produces in this dark but sophisticated genre of which she is a leader.