Sushi Eater

Vygantas Paukštė's work Sushi Eater was painted in 2005. The routine act of eating in this painting takes on not only a ritualistic tone, but perhaps also a sense of political and social critique. This is a rather rare phenomenon in Paukštė's work, which is more often characterized by mythical narratives and characters without specific time or space references.
Let us try to trace how this painting speaks about our own historical memory and current issues. First, look at the environment portrayed in the painting. The dingy green line on the wall in the background of the composition clearly brings to mind a Soviet era interior space and the stairwell of a multi-story apartment building. It captivates our view, since its even, dull flatness contrasts with the expressively gesturing figure and the fluidity of other elements in the painting.
Doesn't the portrayal of a modern person eating sushi in a Soviet interior not seem somewhat ironic? Paukštė's irony, however, was never brutal or excessively sharp. Rather, the artist gently and elegantly "pinches" the skin of the system. His works are usually distinguished by a poetic and romantic worldview, diluted with a benign sarcasm.
This painting was created in the 21st century, when artists were no longer required to hide from the guardians of Soviet ideological chastity. However, the diverse expressiveness and the comparison of different spaces and times shows that Soviet era experiences are still alive and painful. Moreover, Paukštė reminds us not only of the absurdity of the previous age, but also ironically ponders the snobbery and the bourgeois conventionality of our own day.