On Knowledge

In On Knowledge, a painting by Ričardas Bartkevičius from 2008, we see a bird and a light bulb painted in a childish style. As alluded to in the title of the painting, the bird is "inspecting" an unknown object, seeking to know more about it.
Here, a simple situation becomes an apt metaphor for human life – a characteristic quite common to many of Bartkevičius' creations. In this painting, the artist ironically represents man's desire to investigate and know his surroundings. He seems to be saying that many objects and phenomena are unknowable and impossible to experience with the senses. The eternal human push to know all of the secrets of the world is simply a naive pursuit, and doomed to fail from the start.
Despite its irony, the work is full of exuberance and optimism. This impression is emphasized by the bold pink, yellow and blue tones of the bird's silhouette, and the yellow brightness of the lamp, the warm colors of the background. Even the dark fragment of background on the right side of the painting does not undermine the positive mood of the piece. In the words of the artist, such a world view is very close to his own: I don't want to overdramatize, or concentrate the colors too much, because life is already dramatic enough. I feel a kinship with jokes, the grotesque, irony, but I always leave room in my creations for hope and contemplation,- says Bartkevičius.
The work of Ričardas Bartkevičius represents the Lithuanian neo-expressionist movement. Among contemporary Lithuanian artists painting in an expressive style, Bartkevičius stands out with his romanticism, symbolism, even baroque artistic iconography, but his work also contains references to the tempo and issues of contemporary life. His work can be compared to the neo-expressionist Neue Wilde movement that arose in Western Europe in the 1970s.