ROMUALDAS INČIRAUSKAS EXHIBITION “SCULPTURE. PAINTING. LIKE JEWELLERY…” IN KLAIPEDA CULTURE COMMUNICATION CENTRE

2018 on January the 19th at 17 o‘clock in KCCC (Didžioji Vandens g. 2, Klaipėda) an opening of Romualdas Inčirauskas exhibition “Sculpture. Painting. Like jewellery…”.

Artist‘s Romualdas Inčirauskas exhibition exposition is dedicated to his 40 years of creative activities; the newest words created in 2016-2017 years are sculptural installations “Civilizations I” and “Civilizations II”, cycle of paintings “Abstractions with a copyright sign” together with plasticity of metal cycle “As though it is jewellery”

Sculptural installation “Civilizations I” (2016/2017) is comprised of 12 metal sculptures and 10 “conserved in glass jars” different civilizations’ objects. A large portion of the latter were created by the author himself after he visited certain places (Ephesus, Side, Cappadocia, Jerusalem, Masada); he gathered architectural fragments of the old cultures, archaeological findings from the war-torn Syrian cities of Aleppo and Palmyra, as well as authentic fragment of the Berlin Wall destroyed in 1989, which not so long ago was used as a demarcation sign between two systems – the market and planned economies – enforced in the middle of what we regard as civilization. Other objects of artistry that were inspired by the ancient cultures but could not be physical visited by the artist were ironically depicted through eternalization of the West‘s consumer culture. The way he accomplished it was through careful and intentional centralization of old civilizations‘ power and glory turned into copyright objects turned into “acropolises” and “babels”.

In the continuation of the “Civilizations” project (“Civilizations II”, 2017) his artistic arsenal is reconstructed and he became even more brass in the way how he wittily engages with his artwork. This ability is pertained to playful, sometimes even ironic tone in which he is able to express the seriousness of his artwork. The artist is looking for materials to use for his rather odd creations not only in the flea markets or scrapyards, but also is a manner in which he re-creates the art from his previous creations (imagine it being a wartime’s inevitability to re-use metal sculptures and bells to create new weapons). The author creates 20 small metal plastic sculptures through a prism of childish and teenage rebellious nature by dividing his artworks to two supposedly warlike factions equipped with spears: “Pepsi-Cola” and “Coca Cola”.

The author explains that his overwhelming “attack of colours” that lasted for about two years or so was the cause of creation of about twenty or twenty-five canvas paintings which are shown through his painting cycle “Abstractions with a copyright sign” (2017). However, he denies that the things in the canvases are birds: “I am often asked by others “Why did I paint birds?” But after my answer that there are no birds in the paintings the viewer becomes rather baffled. Should I admit that I depicted birds in my artwork, I’d accept the claim of infantilism, for only a two-or-three-year-old child does that. But there were birds before, inspired by Richard Bach’s “Jonathan Livingston Seagull”. Back there they really were flying, wandering all over the canvas. Later on they landed on the ground, lost their wings, and became stocky, exquisitely refined, and they were no longer birds… These colourful shouts on the canvases are to soothe my soul from the metal artwork… And no bird exists there. The only thing that is left is the copyright sign, therefore, an abstraction with a copyright sign.”, Romualdas Inčirauskas comments his artwork

Art critic dr. Danutė Zovienė says, that one can call Romualdas Inčirauskas a true artist in between of the XXth and XXIst centuries: “In his work, rapid change in artistic ideas and movements, technology and plastic expression, the lack of genre boundaries and new media acquire a distinctive and impacting character. On the other hand, he, as being one of the renaissance artists, cares about and is subject to various fields of creation. The artist has formed a distinct form of sculptural plasticity in which there are traits of traditional genres are interspersed, such as medal, relief, jewellery, and three-dimensional sculptures. In addition, this is not an end in itself or a formal pursuit. Creative experience and professional knowledge of technology always serve him for creation of art from a long-matured and sometimes vivid idea. The author admits that he is most appreciative of the coherence of the concept and technology. The combination of thought, iconography and craftsmanship is his business card”, states dr. Danutė Zovienė.

About the author

Romualdas Inčirauskas was born in 1950 in Anykščiai. In 1974, he finished Telšiai technical school of applied fine arts., in 1979 – State Institute of Fine Arts in Tallinn, Estonia. Professor of Telšiai faculty of Vilnius Academy of Arts, member of Lithuanian Artists‘ Union, member of International Union of Creators of medals.

The artist has arranged more than 40 author‘s exhibitions, participated in many joint exhibitions, symposiums, pleiners and contests. Many works created by R. Inčirauskas are located in the public spaces of Telšiai, the most famous of them are: relief-sculptural composition of the cathedral door of the St. Anthony of Padua Cathedral, dedicated to 600th yearly commemoration of Christianization of Samogitian lands, sculptural compositions in the Great Wall of Samogitia, sign sculptures commemorating the Jewish community in the Old Town of Telšiai, sculptural (20 sculptures) project TELZ (Vilnius Gaon Jewish museum). His works have been acquired by Lithuanian and foreign museums (including theBritishMuseum), and by private collectors in Lithuania, Russia, Germany, Austria, Sweden, Finland, Japan, Israel, the USA, and others.

The exhibition will be open till February 18th of 2018.

Ticket – 1,70 / 0,75 €.

KCCC Exhibition hall (Didžioji Vandens g. 2, Klaipėda) working hours are: from Wednesday till Sunday, 11:00 – 19:00 (not working on public holidays).