Rebecca Đuran-Šilėnas Bekki
Rebecca Đuran-Šilėnas

 

Rebecca Đuran-Šilėnas, presenting as Bekki, is an artist from Croatia born in 1991. She graduated from the Academy of Applied Arts in Rijeka (Croatia) with a Master’s degree in Painting, 2017. She participated in the Erasmus student exchange 2013/2014 at the Academy of Fine Arts, Jan Matejko in Krakow (Poland). In 2017 she moved to Vilnius, Lithuania to study MA program at the Vilnius Art Academy, and in 2019 she graduated with a Master’s degree in Photography and Media Art.  She exhibited in Croatia and international exhibitions, few of which are XVIII Biennale of Drawings in Beograd, 2015, 9th Croatian Triennale of Aquarelle in Zagreb / Karlovac / Slavonski Brod, 2022,  2nd Drawing Triennial in Pula, and a solo exhibition at Menų Spaustuvė, Vilnius, 2023. Her paintings found home in many countries across the globe, from USA to Australia, Canada, Spain, France, Italy and many more. She is living in Vilnius, Lithuania and work as a full time painter in her art studio.

Her conceptual artworks are exploring the relationships between the artist and the society, artists and curators and inner struggles of the author. Most of her artworks are interactive installations in which the viewer is needed for the artwork to be completed. Since 2019 she continues to be focused solely on painting.

While she was creating interactive artworks, she always envied the silence that paintings can offer. There were no explanations, no essays on what author wanted to say, no distractions, paintings simply existed. Something that is rare today. And since coming back to painting, she was determined to keep that burst of simplicity that paintings can offer. Beautiful to look at, unspoiled by the outside, pure clarity of what’s in front of you. A floating space, in which she plays the role of a conductor. Her paintings reflect the feel of control, movement and freedom. She often uses bright rich colors, dynamic compositions, and odd shapes that defines the space on the painting. She feels the need to celebrate colors and bring the deconstructed space on the painting to a balance. Every aspect of the painting is well thought through, even the title of the painting sometimes feels like an additional part of the painting. Instead of demystifying painting by giving it’s description, she puts the emphasis on the viewer and his vision of the painting. She believes that once artist dwells into the explanation of the painting to a viewer, the artwork starts existing only between what was said, and does not go beyond it. It becomes “information” rather than a visual body of work.

Social media:  

Education:

 

2017. – 2019.

Master’s Degree

Photography and Media Art

Vilnius Academy of Arts

Vilnius, Lithuania

 

2015. – 2017.

Master’s Degree

Painting Department

Academy of Applied Arts 

Rijeka, Croatia

 

2011. – 2015.

Bachelor’s Degree

Painting Department

Academy of Applied Arts

Rijeka, Croatia

 

2013. – 2014.

Erasmus exchange

Painting department

Jan Matejko Academy of Fine Arts

Krakow, Poland

 

Selected exhibitions:

2023.

Pula, HDLU Gallery, 2nd Drawing Triennial, Croatia

Stockholm, Stockholm Affordable Art Fair, Sweden

Vilnius, Solo exhibition “When it’s sunny”, Menų Spaustuvė, Lithuania

2022.

Vilnius, Art Compensa Art Fair, Lithuania

Karlovac, Gallery Vjekoslav Karas, 9. Croatian Triennial of Aquarelle, Croatia

Zagreb, HDLU, 9. Croatian Triennial of Aquarelle, Croatia

Slavonski Brod, Galerija umjetnina, 9. Croatian Triennial of Aquarelle, Croatia

2019.

Vilnius, Gallery Titanikas, “Masters of Photography and Media Art”, Lithuania

2017.

Rijeka, Gallery Kortil, “Graduation works”, Croatia

2016.

Zagreb, Gallery Šira, „Art books“, Croatia

Rijeka, group exhibition in part of project “ArtBazaar”, Croatia

Rijeka, Gallery Principij, “ Županija u jednom danu / County in one day”, Croatia

Rovinj, “GrisiaYouth”, Udruga Faro11, Croatia

Lovran, Gallery Laurus, “Introspekcija/ Introspections”, Croatia

Rijeka, Gallery APURI, Noć muzeja, Croatia

2015.

Rijeka,  APURi, Solo Exhibition “ Dijalog/Dialog “, Croatia

Beograd, Dom kulture Studentski grad, “XVIII Biennale of students drawings”, Serbia

2014.

Rijeka, APURI, “Nominations exhibition”

Rijeka, Udruga Pravac , “ Art de light”, Poland

Krakow, Gallery Browar Lubicz, “Dzikošć serca, Poland

Krakow, Gallery Wojewódzka Biblioteka Publiczna, “Handmade papers”, Poland

2013.

Rijeka, APURI, “Izlazak/zalazak sunca / Sunrise / sunset“, Croatia

2010.

Zabok, National Competition, “Kaleidoskop” 2008. – Zadar , National Competition, “Isječak prostora i trenutak vremena”, Croatia