INTERPRETATIONS OF WHITE IN THE 'COLOUR - MOOD - SYMBOL' EXHIBITION 2011-12-20
Kaunas Balta Gallery has organised the festive exhibition-competition ‘Colour – Mood – Symbol’ for the third time already. White colour is interpreted in the show by the Lithuanian artists who use various techniques in order to express the significance of white. Some authors associate it with purity and cleanness; others perceive it as a state of space for sacrality and contemplation or attempt to reveal the aesthetics of the colour.
I WILL KNIT ARMOUR FOR MYSELF 2011-12-15
The duet created an aesthetical and purified spectacle in the gallery. An everyday activity – knitting – was represented as a form of meditation in terms of affecting viewers. V. Tamoševičiūtė naked as a baby was sitting within white walls, in the circle of blue threads, indifferent towards the environment, ignoring the cold and tiredness (the performance 'Armour' took seven hours). Surrounded by sounds created by D. Pupkevičiūtė, she was knitting a scarf and transferring the viewers into a parallel world.
GLASS ART EXHIBITION VITRUM BALTICUM AT KAUNAS PHOTOGRAPHY GALLERY 2011-12-06
The international Vitrum Balticum glass art project was organised in Lithuania for the fifth time. Glass art exhibitions are held in Lithuania rather rarely but they are welcomed and significant. Aims and conceptions of the Vitrum Balticum are interesting and purposeful. Since the largest textile biennial in Europe is already organised in Lithuania, it could be hoped that eventually we will have a big event of glass art too.
CONTRASTS IN THE EXHIBITION OF A. PETRAŠIŪNAITĖ AND A. DRAZDAUSKAITĖ 2011-12-03
Antinomies define the exhibition of A. Petrašiūnaitė and L. Drazdauskaitė the best: vivid – pastel, sharp – soft, personal – universal. Nature without human forms is inspiration to one of the artists, while another one is influenced by her own intimate and close surroundings. In any case, an individual world is created, open to wide interpretations. The duet represents harmony of contrasts from a poetical natural world to personal and hurtful experiences, coloured with a light irony.
BETWEEN EAST AND WEST. ‘GEORGE MACIUNAS AND BEYOND: FLUXUS NEVER STOPS’ 2011-11-25
It would be hard to say flatly, how much the Far East philosophy and the Western culture affected the Fluxus movement. Concrete facts prove such links but it is especially confirmed by the possibilities of real experiences, scenarios of happenings and creative experiments. The project organized by Kaunas Biennial showed that Fluxus can change not only the way of presenting art exhibitions but also the experiences of the everyday.
EXHIBITION 'SACRED SKETCHES' BY V. KAŠINSKAS - FOR PEOPLE INTERESTED IN RELIGIOUS ART 2011-11-18
‘The sacred art goes underground gradually, by yielding ground to the postmodern art. Sacred art delimits significant things from the accessible, elementary ones that fit into the concept of profanity’, - artist V. Kašinskas says.
THE IMPALPABLE SHIMMER OF SUBATOMS AT THE EXHIBITION OF Ž. JANUŠAITĖ 2011-11-17
The author refuses to depict the material world. She prefers to accentuate the space surrounding the human being and the shoddiness of matter by leading the viewer towards metaphysical contemplation. Her painting reminds a bit the colour field painting of Mark Rothko – the brushstrokes and play of undertints create the impression of depth and specific mood, affect the viewer emotionally.
THE LANGUAGE OF RŪTA NAUJALYTĖ'S BEADS 2011-11-16
The bouquet of fancy experiments and individual improvisations were offered by Kaunas Biennial Textile’11 and especially the exhibition ‘Rewind Personal Story‘, displayed at M. Žilinskas Art Gallery in Kaunas. One of the most interesting textile works in the exhibition is the piece ‘09/03/1981’ by Lithuanian artist Rūta Naujalytė. An extraordinary technique, peculiar colours and a conceptual idea drew the attention of many visitors.
"WEEKDAYS OF VILNIUS AND KAUNAS" - PRINTS WITH VALUE 2011-11-09
I exhibited my cycle “The Lee” that was my protest against myself – the staging, the editing myself. The people seen in “The Lee” did not know they were being photographed. Such way of making photographs was the greatest happiness for me. Staging is a dull thing, you want more real experiences all the time“, - R. Rakauskas stated.
TURNS OF SPACE AND LIGHT 2011-10-28
Space and light are two most important things to Aušra Andziulytė. „I always try to convey them and often with the help of the yellow colour. This colour is not absolutely real to me – it associates with light. Others say that space is blue; meanwhile I cannot imagine the blue space. The yellow colour reminds me of icons. Probably it is the intangible glint and lustre that help me create the sense of space. I always try to turn the flatness into space“, - the author says.
MADONNA WITH CHILD IN THE ORIENTAL EYES 2011-10-17
Gao Yuan used the subject of Madonna and child as a discovery and creative inspiration. Influenced by the Renaissance masterpieces, seen in Italy, the artist decided to incorporate the subject into the Eastern cultural space. The concept of two worlds is represented in the artwork – religious (Christian) and astrological (Signs of Zodiac, celestial bodies). Chinese women and children are involved into the composition instead of Jesus and Mary.
MAKERS OF "THE INVISIBLE FRONT" AIM TO SHOW THE LITHUANIAN AFTERWAR HISTORY TO THE WORLD 2011-09-13
Film “The Invisible Front”, premièred in Kaunas “Romuva” cinema on the 4th of September, was a possibility for Lithuanians to look at themselves from outside because the grievances of Lithuanian history were contemplated by foreigners here. It was a fair challenge to the creative team to speak about the problems of another country. Both directors are related to Lithuania very closely (Swede Jonas Ohman has been living here for almost a decade and Vincas Sruoginis is a Lithuanian American) but the latter admits he thought the film would be booed in Lithuania.
WHO WILL SAVE THE ARCHITECTURAL HERITAGE OF KAUNAS? 2011-09-12
A paradoxical but obvious fact must be noted: there are too many objects of defensive architecture in Kaunas because we failed to preserve them. Many citizens believe that Kaunas fortress, representing Russian Tsarist period, is alien to us. That is another flaw in the treatment of Lithuanian cultural heritage: history is sorted to acceptable and unacceptable periods. However, ignorance of history not only impoverishes our memory but also condemns repeating the forgotten mistakes.
FAREWELL TO THE SUMMER ALONG WITH G.PUCCINI’S MUSIC IN PAŽAISLIS 2011-09-05
Although the premiere of the opera “La Rondine” closed Pažaislis Music Festival, one could not state that it generalised the entire festival of this year. All concerts were rather different, and this concert also differed a lot from others. Nonetheless, one may rejoice that the concert was very unexpected and interesting to serious music admirers by all aspects.
REPORT FROM ŽAGARĖ PLEIN-AIR 2011-08-30
The idea to organise such plein-airs belongs to Židrija – she decided to organise such an event while studying at the Art Institute, when students of different specialties worked in closed auditoriums and did not see colleagues’ works. Therefore, the artist encouraged artists to open up, to take interest in others, to communicate and perhaps even try different fields of art.
T. GUTAUSKAS’ MASKS UNITE BASKETBALL, FOLK AND MODERN ART 2011-08-26
T. Gutauskas brought up the question of value of art. “A deeper question is why art is needed in general? Artists think about the meaning of life ostensibly, they give existential questions while the real life passes by on its won. Why are they creating then? For themselves? Art is for the public. If people do not accept it, it is not needed by anyone, why are they creating it then?” the author questioned.
PHOTOGRAPHIC DIARY OF NINA KORHONEN TELLING THE STORY OF EACH MAN‘S LIFE 2011-08-25
The photography exhibition of N.Korhonen “Rewind” met visitors by a photograph of a portrait with the cut-out face. This personal and on another hand very impersonal painting became a wonderful introduction to the exhibition, which tells a very personal story sometimes but which speaks about each of us at the same time.
