Aušra Vaitkūnienė: night and day 0

Kristina Budrytė-Genevičė
www.kamane.lt, 2013-10-07
A. Barzdukaitė – Vaitkūnienė. "A Gate among Arbors and Rainbow Clouds”, 2013

In brief: This year was very creative for the painter Aušra Vaitkūnienė (b. 1962): the author organised four solo shows, received The Pollock-Krasner Foundation, INC stipend and is preparing the painting catalogue of the latter years. At the moment one of her exhibitions “Night and Day” is open in Kaunas, and this exposition should not remain unnoticed.

The title of the exhibition is related with the unforgettable gradation of works of Alfonsas Andriuškevičius (see article of A. Andriuškevičius of “Painting of Night and Day” in the selection of articles “Lithuanian Art: 1975-1995”, Vilnius: VDA. 1999, p. 67-71). Aušra admits this – when she selected works for the exhibition she saw evidently that some of them could be attributed to night paintings while others – to day paintings.

The feeling persists while viewing the exhibition “Night and Day” that Aušra Vaitkūnienė tells an exceptional story of her observations. The artist selected five night works created in 2011-2012: “A Night in Resort” (2011-2012), “Vamp Fool Moon in Resort” (2012), “The Big Path” (2012), “Dead Furnaces. Ruined” (2012), “Night Mill” (2012). They are displayed on one floor of the exposition. Meanwhile four new day works: “A Gate among Arbors and Rainbow Clouds”, “Watermill”, “Morning. A Dessert in Kaunas”, “Conker Tree” (all created in 2013) are showcased on another floor.

One should not suppose that dark works are in the centre of attention of Aušra – they do not dominate too much. Night and day works do not contradict to each other, they replenish each other. The artist is like the archaeologist of today: she reconstructs the recent past.

According to the painter, the longest creative process is in mind: views, details of shapes, their movements and positions appear, she knows even the mixes and density of colours before painting, and the painting is born rather quickly then. There are no some particular motifs or impressions – they are created from the most diverse experience of observations.

The painting exhibition of Aušra Vaitkūnienė “Night and Day” is open at Kaunas Aukso Pjūvis gallery until October 13.


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