A woman taking a selfie with a subtle smile, short hair, wearing a leather jacket, against a blurred background.

BIO

Sarune Kaupas (b. 1976, Lithuania) is a visual artist based in Oslo whose multidisciplinary practice explores the poetic and symbolic potential of materials to reflect on identity, belonging, and transformation.

ARTIST STATEMENT

CV

Education

Master of Arts in Visual Arts (Site-Specific Art, Stained Glass)
Vilnius Academy of Arts, Lithuania, 2001–2003

Bachelor of Arts in Visual Arts (Site-Specific Art, Stained Glass)
Vilnius Academy of Arts, Lithuania, 1997–2001

Vocational Certificate in Textile Design and Knitting
School of Applied Arts, Telsiai, Lithuania, 1992–1997

Selected Solo Exhibitions

  • 2025: Derailment, Tveten gård Gallery, Oslo, Norway

  • 2024: I Am Here, Grolitt Festival, Deichman Romsås, Oslo, Norway

  • 2019: Colorless Encounter, Galera Gallery, Vilnius, Lithuania

  • 2010: Mini, Pamenkalis Gallery, Vilnius, Lithuania

  • 2007: Silence 1, Kauno Langas Gallery, Kaunas, Lithuania

  • 2007: Nordth, KKC, Klaipeda, Lithuania

  • 2005: Silence I, Ruta Gallery, Vilnius, Lithuania

Selected Group Exhibitions

  • 2025: Living Colors 2025, International Online Exhibition

  • 2025: Magic of Light, Lumen Gallery, Dubai, UAE (online)

  • 2025: What is life Without ..., Lillestrøm Art Association, Norway

  • 2025: 100imagesmqmm, Spazio Magma, NABA Roma, Italy

  • 2024: East Art, Alna Bydelshus, Oslo, Norway

  • 2020: NFUK Juryed Digital Biennale, Norway

  • 2018: For Children, Lithuanian Embassy, Oslo, Norway

  • 2014 – Family II , Sula Library, NO

  • 2012 – Family I , Sula Library, NO

  • 2008 – Totoriai Artists , Art House of Djursland, DK

  • 2007 – Totoriai Artists, Parliament of Lithuania, LT

  • 2007 – Art in the Appletons City Park, Appleton, US

  • 2007 – Lithuanian Time, Radvila Palace, Vilnius (juryed), LT

  • 2007 – Various Objects, Arka Gallery (juryed), LT

  • 2005 – Totoriai Artists Vilnius Town Hall, LT

  • 2005 – Totoriai Street Artists – The Ship of Creativity , Peda Gallery, Klaipeda, LT

  • 2005 – Figure in Time, Kauno Langas Gallery, Kaunas, LT

  • 2005 – Theme and Interpretation, National Theatre, Vilnius, LT

  • 2005 – Totoriai Street Artists, Arthur Krempins Music School, Appleton, US

  • 2004 – Totoriai Street Artists, Klaipeda Art Hall, LT

  • 2004 – The Largest Gallery, Exhibition Space, City of Vilnius, LT

  • 2004 – Totoriai Street Artists, Canadian Embassy, LT

  • 2003 – The Capital, Vilnius Town Hall, LT

  • 2003 – Totoriai Artists, National Bank of Lithuania, Vilnius, LT

  • 2002–2001: International Stained Glass Symposium 1+1, Riga (LV) & Vilnius (LT)

Artistic Commissions & Public Art

  • 2023: Forest, mural, Benterud Kindergarten, Lørenskog, Norway

  • 2015: Collours, mural, IKT Support, Åndalsnes, Norway

  • 2005: Stained glass, St. Anton, Lukiskes Prison Chapel, Vilnius, Lithuania

  • 2001: Stained glass, St. Maria, Holy Trinity Church, Troskunai, Lithuania

Awards & Grants

  • 2007: Project Grant for “Lithuanian Small Towns’ Cultural Heritage Through the Artist’s Eyes”, Lithuanian Council for Culture

Memberships

  • BONO

  • VISP

My artistic practice unfolds through a multidisciplinary approach at the intersection of painting, textile, drawing, and installation. I work with both traditional media—such as oil, acrylic, and ink—and materials that carry their own symbolic resonance: found textiles, soil, salt, bread, soap, and interior paint. These materials carry traces of life and memory, becoming integral to the narrative of each work.

I am interested in how the sensory and the symbolic meet within visual form, and how the histories of materials can convey experiences connected to identity, community, and transformation. My practice is guided by a desire to listen to the silent stories embedded in materials and to explore their poetic and social dimensions.

After completing my Master’s degree in Site-Specific Art at the Vilnius Academy of Arts, I worked for a decade within an artist collective in Lithuania, focusing on oil painting and drawing that explored urban environments, people in motion, and everyday observations. The work was grounded in craftsmanship, material understanding, and poetic attention to the human and the urban.

Today, my practice has evolved toward conceptually driven, relational, and process-oriented projects. Materiality remains at the core of my approach—both as a poetic language and as a means of social reflection. I see my artistic work as a continuous dialogue between material and meaning, between personal experience and shared structures.