November

In brief: The sculpture and painting exhibitions called the Salon were started by the Royal Painting and Sculpture Academy of Paris in 1667. The first exhibition of the Autumn Salon (Salon d’Automne) was held in 1903 in Paris by the artists Georg Rouault, André Derain, Henri Matisse, Angele Delasalle and Albert Marquet as a response to the official, conservative Paris Salon.  

The Autumn Salon exhibition became an important event that used to present the development and innovations of the 20^th c. painting and sculpture. Works of the prominent artists such as Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Auguste Rodin, Paul Cézannes, Henri Matisse, Paul Gauguin, Pablo Picasso and others were displayed in the exhibitions of the Autumn Salon.

Inspired by the famous Paris show, the exhibition ‘Autumn Salon 2011’ was opened in Kaunas, the Meno Parkas Gallery, on the 23^rd of November. One of the most important aims was to spread new approaches to art, to introduce the audience to various tendencies and perceptions of art. However, the show does not attempt to represent ‘absolute’ novelties or to evoke a revolution in the field of contemporary art.

Eleven artists were invited to participate in the exhibition: Elena Balsiukaitė-Brazdžiūnienė (painting), Jonas Gasiūnas (painting), Patricija Gilytė (video art), Agnė Jonkutė (painting), Algimantas Kezys (photography, USA), Česlovas Lukenskas (object, installation art), Eimutis Markūnas (painting), Vaida Tamoševičiūtė (performance art), Laisvydė Šalčiūtė (painting), Eugenijus Varkulevičius (painting), Alfonsas Vilpišauskas (painting).

The curators of the exhibition (Giedrė Legotaitė, Arvydas Žalpys) wished to look at the artists anew, to discover the signs of change in their work, new thinking and means of expression. The show displays absolutely new works that have not been shown in public before. The exhibition should be interesting for a viewer because of different creative intentions seen in one space.