IN THE NAME OF SAMUOLIS 0
(13th international plain-air of painters for the memory of A.Samuolis. Exhibition “Sign to Human-being“ at the gallery Meno Parkas) Kotryna Džilavjanaitė
www.kamane.lt, 2006 08 15
A.Brazdžiūnas - Dusė presented the work "Naked". Photo by L.Brundza.
In brief: International plain-airs dedicated to Antanas Samuolis were born as a necessity to creatively remind about the significance of this artist to the Lithuanian painting school. The annual event, which took place for the thirteenth time, marks the continuity which gradually turns into a tradition. It seems that the name of A.Samuolis has remained as a baptism name, formal label, which no longer has relations with the themes of exhibitions and exposition.
While the first plain-airs dedicated to Samuolis reflected the relation with the creative works of this artist, gradually experiments with the possibilities of artistic expression took up the place, and the step was taken from traditional painting to contemporary art forms. The works of plain-airs digressed from the Lithuanian painting tradition and made the symptoms of cosmopolitan art prominent.
The last plain-air was no exception. The supervisor of the plain-air “Sign to Human-being” of this year, the painter Gintautas Vaičys encouraged artists to turn to the topic of a human-being. The ideology of the exhibition is extremely modernist – works are realised as signs, image metaphors expressing the concern about the fate of humanity, talking about the vulnerability of a personality in the apocalyptical world. According to the author, one of the most original exhibits of the exhibition is the work "Naked" by Arvydas Brazdžiūnas-Dusė. Clear respect to A.Samuolis is given by Sofija Rickevičiūtė – the works of the artist have live traces of Ars art.
Meanwhile, foreign painters presented works which did not have much in common with the plain-air or Samuolis. Thus, the author questions the purpose of inviting foreign artists to the plain-air and the motivation for using Samuolis name for the event.