"Art Cannot be Learned"

One of the earlier works by painter Vilmantas Marcinkevičius.

Later works by Marcinkevičius will move away from the style of the traditional Lithuanian expressionist school. His paintings begin to take on more decorative characteristics, and his brush work become more tranquil and controlled by linear drawing.

Representative of Marcinkevičius' mature work. It is characterised by the vivid color contrast of blue and yellow...

as well as the painting's method of creation: impulsive expressionist brush strokes are controlled by decorative lines. 

Provocative religious imagery is fairly rare in Lithuanian art. Catholicism was persecuted and suppressed in Soviet times. Nevertheless, it remained a moral authority for a large portion of society. In the works of that period, artists hid religious themes behind allegory.

Doesn't the portrayal of a modern person eating sushi in a Soviet interior not seem somewhat ironic? This painting was created when artists were no longer required to hide from the guardians of Soviet ideological chastity. However, Soviet era experiences are still alive.

Kęstutis Grigaliūnas belongs to the generation of Lithuanian artists who completed their studies on the eve of the restoration of Lithuania's independence. Information about Western art flooded the country following the collapse of the Iron Curtain.

Grigaliūnas constructs images in his works on the collage principal. Objects of different origin meet in unexpected places.

His work depicts a dangerous animal – one we would surely not encounter in the forests of Lithuania – walking boldly through this holy space.

Patricija Jurkšaitytė draws her inspiration from very different sources than most Lithuanian painters.

She likes to repain the masterpieces of the renowned Renaissance and 17th century masters,  recreating the interiors without the characters. Interesting?

The artistic biography of Gintaras Znamierowski is rather different from that of other artists. He began studying stained glass art in 1988 at the Lithuanian Art Institute, but never completed his studies. He has deliberately assumed the role of an artist on the "margins".

Having consciously chosen the role of a nonconformist and avoiding almost all participation in official artistic circles, Znamierowski does not use his works to moralize or lecture. He observes and captures reality with an ironic eye.

You may ask, though, why he painted the yellow tablets on his copy of Mondrian's piece? It is not that important whether these are drugs, narcotics or just vitamins. Just swallow a tablet and things will be happier, easier, safer – a clear attribute of a consumerist society.

In this painting, the artist ironically represents man's desire to investigate and know his surroundings.

Gutauskas recalls how he first studied graphic art at the Vilnius Art Academy. One day he caught the smell of oil paints. 

The love for and attention to color in this work is in keeping with the tradition of the colorist school of 20th century European art, which had deep roots in Lithuania. Gutauskas continues the tradition of the glow of colors demonstrated by his teacher Augustinas Savicka.

However, the interior does not remind us of a luxurious palace. Only when you look closer you can see that this accommodation is like a cottage in a sunny land with green palms.

Eglė Gineitytė in her paintings creates the choreography of dance, wrestling and processions, just like the images of games or waiting, is presented as a fragmentary part of a frieze. 

Single paintings look like constituent parts of a larger composition or variations of preliminary sketches.