Budleja (Butterfly Bread)

Daiva was born in 1968 in Vilnius, where she grew up and entered Justinas Vienožinskis School of Arts. In 1995, she enrolled at the Academy of Fine Arts to study scenography, but after a year and a half she became fascinated with graphic art. This interest grew into further studies in the subject and in 2000, under the guidance of Professor Leonas Lagauskas, she obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree, and in 2002 she was awarded a Master of Arts diploma and became a member of the Lithuanian Artists' Union.


Daiva's work is special not only beacause of it's meticulousness, but also for the artist's endless imagination. Daiva Staškevičienė's paintings organically intertwine human figures, plant motifs, fragments of cities, various patterns and decorative elements. Most importantly, none of the details in these works are random - each one is a symbol, contains a piece of meaningful code. You are bound to notice that symbols of Lithuania are often interwoven among them, but they do not have any nostalgic undertones; on the contrary, they are references to the fundamental values of the nation. By exploring the rich details of Daiva's works, one can constantly discover new meanings through them.

Not surprisingly, the artist's works have been widely used for many years for the representation of the country; they have been presented to important Lithuanian and foreign dignitaries. Between 2001 and 2005, works depicting Vilnius Old Town were presented to members of the international conference "WoMen and Democracy, Reykjavik-Vilnius" and the NATO congress. Over the years, the author's works have often been used for books and other publications both in Lithuania and abroad.


Daiva has held 22 solo exhibitions, including a virtual exhibition during the pandemic, which took place from 1-31 December 2020 at Galerie Paveikslai.lt. Her work has also been exhibited in other group exhibitions in Lithuania and abroad. Many of the artist's works are executed with complex and time-consuming techniques, so a limited number of works often end up directly in the hands of collectors. Her works have become part of private collection in the USA, Canada, Germany, Great Britain, the Netherlands, the United Arab Emirates, Russia and other countries.