ART OF AUKŠTAITIJA EXHIBITION "METAMORPHOSES"

2024 September 7-28 in the Šiauliai art gallery, the Aukštaitija art exhibition "Metamorphosis" is open.

Opening of the exhibition on Saturday, September 7, at 1:00 p.m. Visiting the exhibition during the opening is free.

The exhibition is organized on the occasion of the birthday celebration of the city of Šiauliai. This is a great opportunity to get to know in detail the work of the artists of the city of Panevėžys and the Aukštaitija region, which is very close to Šiauliai, and to chat in a festive environment with the creators of this region, who are well known to many people from Šiauliai.

ART OF AUKŠTAITIJA 2024: METAMORPHOSES

The art of Aukštaitija again. This year marks the 12th edition of the exhibition, which first began in 1995. After a significant hiatus, the exhibition was revived in 2005 and has since been held biennially from 2006 onwards. It stands as a traditional and comprehensive showcase of professional art, each edition exploring a unique theme. This year is no exception.

Titled “Art of Aukštaitija 2024: Metamorphoses”, the exhibition invites artists to present their creative transformations. The exhibition examines how the expression of an artist changes over a certain period of time: from a beginner, who is just discovering his/her possibilities, to today’s, in most cases (in the context of Aukštaitija region), already established creator. Young authors also find a place here. They are often tend to experiment and despite not having a long creative path, changes in their work are also abundant.

This time, the art of Aukštaitija is somewhat sentimental. I have no doubt that it will be fun for both the audience and the authors themselves to remember how it all started, how the first works looked, and how the way of representation, tools, and themes changed.

During the curation process it became evident that many artists underwent significant shifts in their artistic direction, exploring new mediums or evolving stylistically within their chosen genres. Those, who remained faithful to their chosen branch of art changed stylistically and genre wise. It should be emphasized that selecting works for the exhibition proved challenging. Artists often presented not necessarily iconic his/her first works, but those that he/she was able to preserve. Many of them no longer had their early works and had to borrow them from friends, relatives, and museums.

I believe this process provided artists with a fresh perspective on their own work and will offer viewers a deeper insight into the artists presented.

Traditionally, the exhibition reflects the creation of representatives of various disciplines of art (painting, sculpture, graphics, ceramics, glass, photography, etc.). This year’s exhibition notably highlights the resurgence of graphics alongside the enduring presence of painting. The inclusion of numerous young creators offers hope for the future of Aukštaitija’s art scene.

– Curator Aurelija Seilienė

_ _ _

Artists

Aistė Bugailiškytė, Eugenijus Čibinskas, Egidijus Darulis, Daukantė, Fausta Diržytė – DUONA, Raimondas Gailiūnas, Paulina Giedraitytė, Alvydas Goštautas, Ramūnas Grikevičius, Evaldas Ivanauskas, Edvinas Klimas, Remigijus Kriukas, Sigitas Laurinavičius, Juozas Lebednykas, Vydmantas Mačiulis, Eugenijus Marcinkevičius, Henrikas Mazūras, Darius Misiūnas, Jolita Online, Evelina Paukštytė, Valentinas Pečininas, Ričardas Peleckas, Eglė Pilkauskaitė, Stasys Povilaitis, Rūta Povilaitytė, Egidijus Radvenskas, Rita Raziūnaitė, Bronius Rudys, Girmantas Rudokas, Tomas Rudokas, Diana Rudokienė, Jolanta Rudokienė, Artūras Stančikas, Jonas Staselis, Povilas Šiaučiūnas, Marija Šileikaitė-Čičirkienė, Vytautas Tallat-Kelpša, Lilija Valatkienė, Ilona Žvinakienė.

_ _ _

Dear visitors, when participating in exhibition openings, you do not mind that they can be filmed or photographed, and their photos are published on the Šiauliai Art Gallery’s website, in the media or on social networks.