Glass portraits, signs and hand prints at the Kaunas Castle 3
In brief: S. Grabliauskaitė's exhibition at the Kaunas Castle is intriguing and slightly surrealistic. This feeling is strengthened by enlarged photographs (as well as objects depicted in them). Artist explains the latter as her need to not only convey the creative process but also to highlight it as an integral part of the art for the viewer.
Before presenting the development of S. Grabliauskaitė's oeuvre it should be mentioned that she especially likes to crate in series, or rather in stages that last for several years. In these periods topics analyzed by the author change, as well as techniques and the perception of artistic form. For example, one of the earlier creative stages of S. Grabliauskaitė was inspired by the topic of sign - for several years she was creating monochrome plates, enriched with stylized animal images (metal inclusions) and ornaments.
In 2007 artist started working on bright colored works. At the time, the color just flowed in the agglomerated glass plates, for example, in the impressive Masks images or Tulips series, in which the natural flower world of carnival characters was unfolding, reminiscent of the abstract vision and art nouveau aesthetics.
Around 2010 S. Grabliauskaitė became interested in the topic of woman. This topic, often addressed by the artists, in her work was realized in a sculptural glass relief.
According to the artist she really likes to try different means of expression, to improve the skills of glass art and alternate between the sages of transparent and colored glass. We usually associate glass with transparency, optics and it is truly unique and amazing plastic feature of this material. But we can also admire colored glass, for example, fused glass made in Ancient Greece continue to surprise with its impressive mosaic textures and deep color tones.
Creative work and technological processes that took place in implementing portraits and hands remained captured in the photographs. Therefore, in the exhibition hosted at the Kaunas Castle we can see a rather non-traditional (partly, even educational) exposition. The photographs hanging on the walls present the birth of glass works, i.e. their production process and works themselves are presented in the hall on the glass stands - avenues of sculptural glass portraits and hands. The photographs help understand the search for glass manufacturing technologies.
Photographs by Sigita Grabliauskaitė, Erlendas Bartulis, Giedrė Jankauskienė