IN SEARCH FOR A WOMAN, SILENCE AND BORNHOLM 0
Cherchez la femme!
In brief: The exhibition of intriguing title “Search for a Woman” open at Kaunas Picture Gallery invites to get acquainted with four female artists: Marcė Katiliūtė, Černė Percikovičiūtė, Marija Račkauskaitė-Cvirkienė and Domicelė Tarabildaitė-Tarabildienė. The exhibition is dedicated to the one hundredth birth anniversary of these artists.
The works of M. Katiliūtė, Č. Percikovičiūtė, M. Račkauskaitė-Cvirkienė and Domicelė Tarabildaitė-Tarabildienė belong to the golden fund of Lithuanian art, they were noticed and evaluated favourably by art critics in the interwar period. M. Katiliūtė and D. Tarabildaitė-Tarabildienė were awarded with gold medals in Paris world art and technical exhibition in 1937.
These artists are united not only by the year of birth – 1912 but also by Kaunas art school, friendship in student years and later by whole families, activity in the Lithuanian female artists’ association. Their oeuvre is revealed by presenting paintings, graphic artworks, sculpture, photography and set design works.
According to the exhibition organisers, paintings of M. Katiliūtė were not valued earlier and were called coloured drawings; still, interesting searches of Art Deco, cubism, impressionism directions are prominent in them. According to the museum director Osvaldas Daugelis, paintings of M. Katiliūtė were stored in unsuitable conditions in war years and became fragile and unfit for exposition. After restoration of paintings, the works revived for new life.
The artist Č. Percikovičiūtė is the most mysterious representative of the four. As M. Katiliūtė, she also died at young age – in Kaunas ghetto in 1942. According to the art critic Violeta Krištopaitytė, she was valued controversially. Only five works of Č. Percikovičiūtė have remained.
The creative road of D. Tarabildaitė-Tarabildienė started from sculpture, later the artist created graphic art, art photography, set designs and textile works. M. Račkauskaitė-Cvirkienė was a student of Petras Kalpokas, Adomas Galdikas, a strong representative of Lithuanian colour painting. The artist was interested in the theme of motherhood, still-lifes and portraits.
Silence of China in Photographs and Images of the Invisible
The exhibition of the art photographer Ignas Maldžiūnas “China. 1/5” was opened at Kaunas Fluxus Ministry at the beginning of November. The author of art and commercial photography presented his newest cycle created during the trip in China.
Even though the title of the exhibition refers to the fact that one fifth population of our planet lives in China, we will see no busy streets and crowds of people in photographs of I. Maldžiūnas. On the contrary, these works are full of space, figures of lonely people, poetic fragments of landscape. The feeling of emptiness felt in the photographer’s works is strengthened by the space of Lituanica shoe factory that was turned into an exhibition space. There is much silence here and in views of the distant country. This silence has its meaningful load and should be heard.
Similar comparisons can be made while looking at works of the painter Agnė Jonkutė in the exhibition “Images of the Invisible” at Kaunas Photography Gallery. In the cycle of painting and analogue photography, the artist reflects empty places and spaces left without man. According to A. Jonkutė, the beauty of daily life is discovered when the noise of information calms down. This is why the works of the artist remind of a stop, pause in the present overfilled with bight-coloured pictures.
The exhibition of the artist Jolanta Kvašytė “China – Tiger of Asia” open at Aukso Pjūvis gallery also speaks about exotic China, like the exhibition of I.Maldžiūnas. The artist was inspired by impressions experienced in the cognitive trip and international ceramic centre Fu Ping. No silence and peace will be found in the artist’s works. Exotic and expressive ceramics combining phantasmagorical features and bright décor may be called extravagant.
Glass artists inspired by Bornholm
The works of Artūras Rimkevičius, Sigita Grabliauskaitė, Valda Verikaitė and Audronė Andrulevičienė presented Lithuanian glass art in the international European glass art biennial European Glass Context 2012 open at Gudhjeme Art Museum and Hasle Exhibition Centre in Bornholm, Denmark this year. It was decided to showcase works of these artists in Kaunas too; therefore, the exhibition “Four Inspired by Bornholm” was opened at Kaunas City Museum.
The glass artist A. Rimkevičius shows favour to geometrical forms, precise surfaces and experimental combinations of various materials (glass, metal, wood). Meanwhile, the works of the artist S.Grabliauskaitė are painterly – the author composes bright-coloured images of faces and masks on glass boards. A.Andrulevičienė, is concerned with social themes and concerns of common people. She uses serigraphy, sculpture glass, special frameworks and things found at home for revealing her ideas. Finally, the works of V.Verikaitė replenish the exhibition by newly interpreted silhouettes of daily objects.
The works of these artists inspired by Bornholm reveal the diversity of aesthetic and technological possibilities of glass art persuasively in the exhibition.
