The mirror, central to traditional Western epistemology and representation, has shattered. Yet its metaphors, mechanisms, operations and poetics continue to powerfully shape and evocatively describe, contemporary Western culture. The exhibition, After Reflection, investigates realist representation in a post-mirror paradigm, through paintings, prints and projections that incorporate perceptual plays, virtual imaging and digital modeling. The dissertation charts the history of the mirror metaphor and its reconfiguration through post-modernity. It suggests that while the metaphor may be superceded it remains useful and evocative but only if considered in the form of a mirror-ball rather than as a planar mirror. The dissertation examines the mirror metaphor and its relationship to a wide selection of aspects crucial to the arrangement of contemporary Western culture, art and space. / The thesis is structured as a mirror-ball, in small fragments that both reflect on and illuminate aspects of the topic. The dissertation is thus divided into various ‘Shards’ – broad subject headings derived from the primary mechanisms and poetics of the mirror. Within each shard are a varied number of ‘Rays’ – lines of illumination arising from each shard that impact on particular aspects of Western culture. / The exhibition After Reflection includes further speculations around the theme of the mirror and with the arrangement of contemporary space – both pictorial and actual. It is not intended to illustrate the dissertation but to be an additional supplement that visually elaborates on issues enmeshed and parallel to those addressed in the dissertation. The works have all been completed during the period of the candidature (from March 2000) They include six oil paintings, a set of Lightjet photographs (from the “Echohouse’ series) generated from 3d modelling programs and then face-mounted to Perspex. There is an additional three larger scale Lightjet photographs from another series. Finally there are projected works. One is a self contained DVD projection and the other is Mirror Land - a large scale 3d animation covering two wall and projected in a chiasmatic arrangement. Both works feature an endless looping repetition. / All the works play with metaphoric aspects of the mirror and examine the construction of space in contemporary Western culture. This space has become increasingly rationalized since the Renaissance and mirror a more general abstraction whereby the real is evermore preceded by simulations. The work looks at the mirror land and suggests a mode of realism capable of addressing the situation where the real has increasingly been reconfigured into representation.

Veidrodis mene neretai pasitelkiamas dėl simboliškai suvokiamo reflektavimo reiškinio. Šiuolaikiniame mene kombinuojant ne tik materialias medžiagas, bet ir mentalinio pobūdžio elementus, veidrodis tampa priemone įprasminti simbolinį atspindžio motyvą. Veidrodis svarbus ne tik kaip medžiaga, bet visų pirma kaip „atspindėjimo“ idėjos ir semantinių prasmių realizacija. Jis naudojamas dėl atspindžio motyvo, dėl galimybės transformuoti ar deformuoti erdvės įspūdį, keisti jos suvokimą, kurti originalų estetinį vaizdą. Tokio pobūdžio kūriniai nėra apibrėžti į vieną kryptį ar judėjimą, terminas veidrodžių menas egzistuoja dailės praktikoje kaip darbinis, nėra apibrėžiamas dailės terminų žodynuose ir nėra sunormintas. Šiame tyrime siekiama išanalizuoti, kaip veidrodžio pagalba meno kūrinyje konstruojamas savivokos ir savistabos elementas, kaip veidrodis dalyvauja autokoncepcijos kūrime, kaip menininkas „įtraukia“ žiūrovą į kūrinį arba, transformuodamas erdvę ir dezorientuodamas pasąmonę, žaidžia stebėtojo percepcija. Darbe akcentuojama semantinė veidrodinio atspindžio funkcija dailės kūriniuose. Tyrime pateikiamos teorinės idėjos – daugiausia iš Lietuvos autorių verstų, interpretuotų tekstų, kuriuose kalbama apie savęs suvokimą, antrininko vaizdinį, psichoanalizę. Šios teorijos atrinktos pagal darbo probleminius aspektus, apibendrintos ir pritaikytos veidrodžių meno teoriniam kontekstui. Magistriniame tyrime nagrinėjamas ir savivokos aspektas, per kurį saviidentifikacijos reiškinys... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / In this research is emphasized the semantic function of reflection in art. Analyzed which significances gain reflections, optically transforming the space and how they reveal the perception of human introspection and relation with surrounding. Mirror in art often is invoked exactly due to symbolically perceptible phenomenon of reflection. In contemporary art mirror becomes the medium to give a sense to symbolical motive of reflection. The aim is to analyze how is constructed the element of introspection and self-concept, how mirror participating in founding of self-perception, how artist involves the viewer into the artwork, and how manipulates the perception of spectator by optically transforming a space and disorientating the subconsciousness by using mirror in art. In this research are presented theoretical ideas mainly from Lithuanian authors translations. Theories are sorted out by problematical aspects of research, summarized and adapted to theoretical context of mirror art. There is mentioned the idea that physical qualities of mirror could be associated with semantic meanings, so often aspect of reflexion is compared with motif of reflection as a representation of different phenomenons. The object of this research is the phenomenon of mirror art. The aim is to investigate this phenomenon in various ways and expose the role of reflection in art. This work is the first in Lithuanian art history, where is described and structured phenomenon of mirror art, justified... [to full text]

(in English): Represented dissertation dedicated to the issue of male portraits of friends in Italian renaissance painting. Despite of existence of some publications focused on the specific aspects of male portraiture, this area has not been yet given sufficient research interest. In the introductory clause is presented theoretical outline of the male friendship concept of male friendship in the culture of the Italian Renaissance and also some key aspects of the portrait genre. The work is divided into chapters by topic: for example, "Portrait and Antique", "Portrait and Remembrance", "Portrait and Poetry". Some particularly interesting moments were extracted into separate excursions as profile portraits of two men, the subject of a mirror in a portrait genre, the communication possibilities of images. Artworks analyzed in the present research are not classified into a classical model of chronological "development". The pictures are interconnected with theoretical thinking, which is also conditioned by the artwork itself. For each painting, existing researches have been gathered and comprehended. There are also new iconographic interpretations of some of the presented works. For research have been abundantly used literature of period, theoretical writings and poetry. The work tries to respond to...