Meno parkas
art KARLSRUHE 2018

TO BURN AFTER… “Meno parkas” (Kaunas) presents creation by Jonas Gasiūnas, Česlovas Lukenskas and Greta Grendaitė at contemporary art fair art KARLSRUHE (Germany), 22-25 February 2018.

Based in Kaunas city, LITHUANIA - the country which carries the title of geographic center of Europe, gallery "Meno parkas" has a vivacious constant goal to let people be aware about great Lithuanian artists bearing professionalism and imagination.
To art KARLSRUHE (Messe Karlsruhe, Messeallee 1, 76287 Rheinstetten, Germany) "Meno parkas" presents three gallery's artists - Jonas Gasiūnas, Česlovas Lukenskas and Greta Grenadaitė.

“Meno parkas” exposition at booth H4-M01 exploites the burnt in two different ways. One strategy pulls out the result of burning, puts it under glass and exposes. Installation CREMATES (2017) by Česlovas Lukenskas, who is one of pioneers of contemporary Lithuanian art and reformers, operates good quantity of framed burnt wooden objects what may refer conservation of the meaning.

CREMATES (2017) – essential ideological symbols / icons / signs, touching in particular traumatic experiences of human in recent ages. Signs pool to demolish representatives and identities of other signs. For some mythologems, victims and executioners, eternities and dusts of temporary, renouncing the highest humanity values, finds themselves in the face of question of the meaning of existence without answers. The only answer is repentance.
Lord, have mercy on us.

Installation by Česlovas Lukenskas is also composed of another object from series DADASHARE (2013).
Česlovas Lukenskas - installations, objects, actions and performance artist, who has musical education. He is one of pioneers of contemporary Lithuanian art and reformers, member of meaningful artists group - "Post Ars", who trembled in in art scene around 1990s and maintains it while being a dean at Vilnius Academy of Arts.

Another strategy uses burning as a tool for ephemeris - huge scale canvases by Jonas Gasiūnas provokes perceivers, where the black strokes forming the drawing of the painting has the role of some kind of fiction. Remove it from the surface of the painting and what remains is only an not informative formal plot of colour providing just a partial reflection of reality.

Exposition includes three paintings created by a rock star of painting in Lithuania - “Faust” (2014), “Radar “Kazakhstan” (2017) and “North Wind” (2011). The technique of drawing with burning candle and forming black contours on oil or acrylic surface – is J.Gasiūnas characteristic feature. Artists with his creation exposes scepticism towards objective reality. Artist born in exile (Siberia) is one of the most key persons that has made huge impact for Lithuania’s painting of today. Artist is a winner of the National Culture and Art Prize. Member of legendary Lithuanian art group “Angis”.

For Special Exhibition Graphic Reproduction (curated contributions from the program of the exhibitors) on this year's art KARLSRUHE was selected work by Greta Grendaitė and will be presented in Hall 1.

In her work of art the relevant theme is man and his environment and – the man in the environment. Greta’s graphic art can be defined as taming of the plane. According to the artist, the match between art practice and theory is a great asset to her creation – better understanding of context helps not so much in deciding what to create, as spares the effort of creating unnecessary things. The artist picks out from her environment images she needs and amalgamates them into a problem picture. Occasionally they are emphatically naïve. The artist’s appropriations prompt the perceiver to think about excessive consumption of present-day society, of problems of alienation and senselessness of life. The conscious search for the meaning and value of life in Greta’s art resembles humanist and pacifist ideas of the 1960s.

Besides taking part in numerous individual and group art shows, artist is also a curator of several group exhibitions including international ones, students’ art shows, author of over 10 research publications based on art and culture fields, speaker at the conferences, ex. “Graphic Art at the Crossroad of Contemporary Arts” (Vilnius, 2008), „The Japanese Image in Europe“ (Kaunas, 2007). Member of Lithuanian Artists Association (from 2009) and the Union of the Lithuanian Art Photographers (from 2002). Worked as assistant (2005) and as junior researcher (2005-2008) at the Centre of the Japanese Studies, Vytautas Magnus University, lecturer (2005-2011) and associate professor (2011-2015) at the Department of Graphic Arts (2009-2012 – the department head’s position) at Kaunas Faculty of Vilnius Academy of Arts. Together with artist Tomas Vosylius, forms the basis of a creatively active group Legal (Art) Lovers.

Gallery’s “Meno parkas” participation at art KARLSTUHE is financed by Lithuanian Council for Culture, Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Lithuania.

„Meno parkas“, Rotušės a. 27, 44279 Kaunas
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