CREATURE COMFORTS by Greta Grendaitė, Tomas Vosylius ("Legal ART Lovers")

On April 12th (Wednesday) at 6 pm at the gallery's "Meno parkas" (Rotušės a. 27, Kaunas) second floor exhibition hall will be held an opening of the exhibition "Creature Comforts" by Greta Grendaitė and Tomas Vosylius ("Legal ART Lovers"). Exhibition is part of the 2nd Kaunas International Printmaking Biennial "Fragment Evolution". Inviting!

"As they crossed a clearing, like an island in that ocean, they saw in the distance and in a single place that the surface no longer moved in uniform waves, but was agitated irregularly, as if some animal, an enormous hare, moved in sinuous curves and not in a straight line, at a speed superior to that of any hare. Since these adventurers had already encountered animals, and of a sort that inspired no confidence, they tugged on their reins, and prepared for a new battle."[1]

The phenomenon of battle was destroyed by preparation. It opened the river. You always walked on shores. You dive into it, pull something out of it. Flood. Low tide. You pull away or get closer when the big rabbit warns you. You see another river flowing into this one, or this one into the other one. You look for the clearest one. Forgetfulness absorbed the narcissus beds, the woodworm eggs, the exuviae of zombies. The fight also sunk, if there was one.

Hand distance is fatal when someone is drowning. You plunge into the current if necessary. The weight categories are different, it’s risky. But the river is favourable, it doesn’t possess. The Cheshire Cat smiles. The rabbit of fear hops along the other shore. You’re surprised – small. Shots echo. A deer plops down. Not hurt. Gives in to the stream, gets out on your shore, gets startled having met the onlooking gaze, calms down, gallops on.

There is no fight. If the dream floats it over, you will smell it, you swim around those looking for war, it doesn’t occur. You let the rabbit through as well. If it’s annoying, just mirror it back. You yourself fly over as a water-bird, become a reflection in the eyes of a deer. They remind you of your rivers, waves, the puncture-line of blinks, unique islands and other important trifles – distance, duration, the (non)materiality of the elements, water, air, ...home. Home is everywhere. You breathe. Swish, here’s the rabbit again. Almost weightless. In the field of your peripheral vision, the shadow hops away over the roof, vanishes in the garden of memory clouds, toppling over the single flowerpot. The echo of the rabbit’s hops reminds you: life doesn’t care about a coherent plot.

Greta Grendaitė / Tomas Vosylius

Greta Grendaitė and Tomas Vosylius return to the gallery “Meno Parkas” with the third exhibition of the project “Disguise”. The project is travelling, changing since 2013, but the thematic line remains. Having creatively involved themselves in the contexts of the social tale, memory, the authors also glance at their own reflections in them. A reflection is important straightforwardly and metaphorically talking about duality and self-perception in the gaze of the Other. While “a world post-truth”, “a world post-shame” and similar concepts occur in cultural theory, the artists present an exhibition as an open opportunity for the puzzle of codes and, in the case of some objects, also offer a physical involvement.

Having found not the most favourite novel, but one that perfectly reflects the mentioned actualities through the imaginings of the Middle-ages, the authors of the exhibition play by diverting the passionate storyline of the archetypal liar Baudolino into the felt “real truth of life”. Is this one not utopian? The intention of such action goes against the meanings of traditional art as a break from everyday life. This is why you are invited not only to think how we ourselves absorb information from our surroundings, but also to utilise the symbols on offer, to “correct” the nuances, create new codes for a narrative or even your own fairy-tale.

[1] “Baudolino”, Umberto Eco. “Harvest Books”: 2003. P. 383-384 („Baudolino Arrives at Pndapetzim“).

Exhibition is part-financed by Kaunas City Municipality.