Exhibition of V. Žukas “Burning Lithuania: Works of the Year of Disobedience (1975–1983)” dedicated to the memory of R. Kalantai
Thursday, Feb. 17, 5 p.m. At the Radville Palace Museum of Art the exhibition “Vaidotas Žukas. Burning Lithuania: Creation of the Year of Disobedience (1975–1983) ”, dedicated to the memory of Roma Kalanta (1953–1972).
50 years ago, in 1972. Romas Kalanta, who burned himself in Kaunas on May 14, became a symbol and prophet of the resistance to the Soviet regime.
A decade after his death, Lithuania marked the maturing national consciousness and aspirations for freedom, to which the government, in turn, responded with tightening restrictions and universal control.
The intense and very active creative period of the artist Vaidotas Žukas (born 1956) – 1975–1983 – coincided with this tension in social and cultural life.
After being expelled from the then LSSR Art Institute in 1979, Vaidotas Žukas was banned from exhibiting his works in official spaces for a decade, but the author continued to demonstratively present the works to exhibition commissions and bring the rejected ones back.
Despite systematic ignorance, the painter created much and differently. His early paintings stood out in the context of the art of the time, and are still accompanied by testimonies: “then no one painted like that.”
By not participating in the exhibition life, the artist retained his creative freedom. His approach was uncompromising, and his work, disobedient to the then demands of form and content, expressed the author’s authentic aspiration and reactions to the atmosphere of the period.
V. Žukas’ works intertwine quotations from ancient and modern Western art, literary references, and features of famous visual culture.
Even at first glance, the artist’s neutral works – portraits, landscapes – reveal political, social and cultural implications.
The works are presented in the exhibition, highlighting the largest groups of motives: the early cycles of “Angry Children” and naked figures, religious, existential compositions, global political figures and Lithuanian personalities – artists, scientists, dissidents.
Alongside the paintings, collages and drawings, there is a large exposition of sketches and press clippings, which helps to at least partially master the inspiration of the artist.
Due to awkward messages, undisguised irony, provocativeness, several sharp questions, as well as due to the artist’s own individualistic, confrontational attitude during the Soviet era, V. Žukas’ work remained behind the scenes of the official art life.
Despite the limited distribution in the local art field at the time, the works discovered their viewers: most of the artist’s works of this period later spread to museums and private collections in Lithuania and abroad.
Thus, this exhibition is an infrequent opportunity to see the core of V. Žukas’ early work in one place.
The exhibition is part of the program to commemorate the year of Romeo Kalanta.
The exhibition will run until 2022. April 24
Curator Justina Augustytė;
Architects and designers: Juozapas Švelnys, Saulius Valius;
Painter Loreta Uzdraitė;
Organized by the Lithuanian National Museum of Art.
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