BAYS IN SEA OF COLOURS 0

Ugnė Kraulaidytė
www.kamane.lt, 2012-10-25
Irēna Lūse. From the cycle “Mothers and Daughters”

In brief: One of the most colourful art events in autumn Kaunas is the selective-competitive exhibition “Connections” of the fourth international watercolour biennial Baltic Bridges. Artists of various art fields have been invited to experiment and look for connections of watercolour with other techniques. Exhibitions (competitive, satellite group and solo exhibitions) were accompanied by master classes and the international conference that researched tendencies and actualities of contemporary watercolour. Grand Prix was awarded to Suzanne Möller (Sweden) for the large scale work “Birch Forest”, diplomas were granted to Girmantas Rudokas (Lithuania), Irida Lazdina (Latvia), Liisa Malkamo (Finland), Aslaug Thorlacius (Iceland), Trond Einar Solberg Indsetviken (Norway).

Big challenges awaited for visitors at Kaunas Picture gallery – they had to notice connections found by artists, to see tendencies and not to get lost among the abundance of artworks. Works that appeared too close to each other lost a great deal of their identity, even really original works disappeared in the glimmer without a bigger trace.

Nonetheless, it was rejoicing to find bays in this sea of colours where one could enjoy watercolour compositions without bigger effort. Kauans Photography Gallery became one of such bays – the exhibition of the Norwegian professor Morten Paulsen “Dark of Light” is showcased here.

In other exhibitions artists of different times took art admirers to the world of fantasy: Alvydas Bulaka (b. 1952) in the exhibition “Reality of Dreams” organised at Kaunas Artists’ House and Kazys Šimonis (1887-1978) in the exhibition dedicated to his 125th anniversary at A. Žmuidzinavičius Museum. Aukso Pjūvis gallery presented one more interesting representative of ceramics – Valdas Kurkliets (exhibition “Vicious Circle”), and the gallery 101 displayed the cycle of works of the painter Jūratė Kluonė “Story of One Family”. Meanwhile, Kaunas Žilinskas Gallery invited to take a look at more exotic art fields – it showcased works of contemporary Japanese artists.

Wandering in Vicious Circle

The exhibition of Valdas Kurkliets “Vicious Circle” open at Aukso Pjūvis gallery from October 17 to November 9 shows one more time that ceramics is much more than beautifully decorated pots and plates. The artist shows that works of this genre may be original and conceptual, reacting to actual and painful questions. The artistic experience of the ceramicist and new searches reveal in original and slightly strange forms provoking to confront the emphasised problem. The viewer is encouraged to rethink one’s trajectory and speed of movement in the vicious circle of consumption-economics-consumption.

Fixation of Life Memory

The exhibition “Story of One Family” of the artist Jūratė Kluonė displayed at VDU gallery 101 until the end of October is the graduation work of Master studies (supervisor Jonas Gasiūnas, Vilnius Academy of Art, 2012) telling the life story of the artist’s family. Both parents of the painter are resistance representatives, former political prisoners. At the age of 85 the parents often share their memories saying that they want people to know what they did to them.

The artist pictures her parents’ memories in several different ways: in paintings, texts and video recordings. The artist reveals many personal experiences of her parents in the cycle. Fixation of live memory actualises things that happened in the historically important time.

Remembering Kazys Šimonis (1887-1978)

The retrospective exhibition of one of the most famous Lithuanian artists of the 20th century Kazys Šimonis may be visited at A. Žmuidzinavičius Works and Collections Museums. On the occasion of the 125th anniversary of the artist, visitors are introduced the variety of themes and styles loved by K. Šimonis. Well-known and not so popular works of the artist that represent the fantastic, modern and Art deco directions are displayed.

The artist painted what he liked and explored themes that were actual to him. He longed for beauty and shared this longing with others. Nature is among the loved motifs of K. Šimonis. The result is sensitive paintings attentive to beauty that reflect personal searches and connections with achievements of professional fine arts. This became the exceptional feature of the artist that charmed his contemporaries and present-day art admirers.

Photos of the author


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