I, Painter Šarūnas
Location: 4th floor, B-wing
For the first time, visitors to the Kumu Art Museum will be able to enjoy the paintings and sculptures of Šarūnas Sauka, an extremely original Lithuanian artist. Using the iconographic techniques of various eras, Sauka depicts a contemporary Babel based on an apocalyptic vision in his works of art. Sin and hell, vanity and madness, combat and pilgrimage are only some of the themes that Sauka uses to immortalise himself and the surrounding world.
“There are few artists today who are able to revive traditional painting styles as convincingly as Sauka,” said Tamara Luuk, the curator of the exhibition. “At the same time, he is exceptional in both the Lithuanian and international art worlds, as are all artist-heretics. His endless labyrinths of references are simultaneously maddening and astonishing; they repel and they attract.”
In 1989, Šarūnas Sauka (b. 1958 in Vilnius) joined an association of Lithuanian artists called Group 24. The group’s promotion of utopian-elitist principles, such as its opposition to utilitarianism and the commercial, and its high expectations for professional skills, represented one of the few examples of Sauka taking social positions. Usually, using Christian iconography, the artist moves between the polarities of eternal themes.
“In today’s art, where one seldom sees eschatological visions, Sauka, who builds his worlds motivated by obsessions, is thoroughly naked and vulnerable to the interpretations of social media,” Tamara Luuk said. “Just like a primitive in refined society. But a primitive as defined by the unsurpassably high level of Flemish primitives and, here, it is difficult to find anything comparable.”
Curator: Tamara Luuk
The exhibition was organised in cooperation with the Lithuanian art collector Edmundas Armoška and the Maldis Fund.
