Nederlands >>

---

8 September - 13 October 2007

Vygantas Paukste
paintings

Opening Saturday 8 September 4-6 pm

Wednesday - Saturday 12.30-5.30 pm

---

Vygantas Paukste (Lithuania, 1957) lives and works in Vilnius, Lithuana and attended the Arts Academy Vilnius until 1982.

Paukste's works have been shown in over 20 solo and 60 group exhibitions in Lithuania and other European and Asian countries and in the USA. The exhibition at Wetering Galerie contains a selection of recent canvases (2004-2006) and completes a series of events marking the artist's 50th birthday. Five previous exhibitions within Lithuania have presented both recent and retrospective works.

In his imagery Paukste plays around the core polarities nature and culture, woman and man, body and soul, figure and shadow, good and evil etc. He interprets the relationship between the opposing entities in such a way as to produce an ironic image which has no counterpart in either real or mythical world. The ironic effect is reinforced by the naïve manner of painting where the human shape is deliberately simplified. There is no imitation of perspective or sense of space, and the works look as if they are done in a child-like, nonchalant manner.

In Paukste's paintings, monochromic surfaces flirt with multi-coloured patches, a smooth canvas with rich reliefs, chaotic lines with accurate contour, sculpture-like human shapes with graphic silhouettes. Some of the motifs of Paukste's works can be traced back to the Lithuanian and Baltic mythology as well as universal cultural rituals, biblical and classical literary stories.

In Paukste's recent works the colour range is brighter and warmer. The Fauvist contrasts of his earlier works are being replaced by a more sophisticated colour sheme. The ironic slant has become sharper and the personages have become like cartoon characters. With time, the human figure is becoming more significant and the line more expressive. The body movement is not a mere signal of a single emotion, it is rather a suggestion of a range of feelings, deep and complex, bordering on sensuality. The world of Paukste's paintings is full of every-day human senses - joy, laziness, inspiration, apathy, humour or sadness.

Vygantas Paukste has been faithful to himself: his painting has retained the poetic touch and the ingenuity of colour. And with time, the painter's hand is getting lighter, the touch is getting softer, and the stroke is getting smoother.

---

Works of Vygantas Paukste >>

CV Vygantas Paukste >>

---