Two painters who chose the line 0
In brief: In about 1999, when the author of the article got acquainted with two painters Aistė Juškevičiūtė and Ramunė Staškevičiūtė at the gallery of Kaunas Artists’ Association, the artists were graduates of Vilnius Academy of Arts who returned to work in Kaunas. They organised some solo shows and participated in group exhibitions. They both participated in exhibitions of teaching artists called “Van Teachers”, “About the Man”, etc. Looking from the time perspective, both artists were bold and charmed by their maximalism.
This autumn the works of these artists were displayed in the exhibition from the cycle “Duets” at Aukso Pjūvis gallery in Kaunas. Recent works of the artists show that diverse means of artistic expression and issues of self expression still remain the most important foundations of creation for them.
The displayed works of Aistė included six paintings and a wooden flat object. They could be easily overviewed by a single look. The wooden object imitated a relief painting and was like an explanatory note, a poster that met the viewer. The painter developed the theme of geometrical figures in paintings and in the wooden object. She took the viewer to the labyrinth of lines that reminded of staircases, drawers, bars. All the geometrical, direct and curved lines derive from nature.
Ramunė Staškevičiūtė also explores global themes typical of masters of experimental spirit. Even though she presents herself as a painter, she frequently implements her thoughts in graphic works. Her last cycle of works “From family album” includes 18 drawings created by pen on paper. These are redrawn old personal photographs of unknown people.
It seems at the beginning that such works of the artist will address the theme of historicity, issues of private versus public social environment. The creative means - pen, paper - remind of the notebook style, references to important details and interesting stories that should not be forgotten. Still, we find all the works in a public place rather than private notebook. According to the author, she wanted to repeat the images of those people in drawings, which enabled her to highlight some dark or vague places of photographs and to erase details that emphasised personal features of the portrayed person. She was rather interested in the content typical of all people.
Both artists, who create open works that incite discussions, seem to know many specific secrets of fine arts, when the problematic narrative and artistic experiments erasing borders become important.