The Bee of God. Exhibition of Drawings by Gintautas Vyšniauskas

2017 01 18
In the final years of his life Gintautas Vyšniauskas (1958–2016) made a great many drawings of Lithuanian churches, architecture and landscapes. The drawings of churches in Lithuanian towns and villages created from 2014 to 2015 are professional, expressive and strike the viewer with their emotionality.
 
We will not find intricate technological solutions in Vyšniauskas’s drawings – he simply drew with soft pencils of different thickness. A sheet of paper is filled with bold strokes and lines, the forms are expressively generalized, and a suggestive relation between the architecture of cult buildings and nature is sought. In larger-format drawings the author makes a more realistic depiction of cult buildings devoting more attention to details and smaller architectural elements, and smaller-size pages torn from a notepad are characterized by freestyle drawing and the expressivity of strokes and lines. Here the forms of architecture and landscape are frequently marked with abstracted patches and often blend into shivering and restless blobs. The author was particularly concerned with the interaction of architecture and nature, and in his drawings “church buildings sometimes merge with nature, once covered, and once unveiled by trees... At times it seems that he even managed to convey an impression of the wind ruffling the tree tops...” (Kristina Stančienė).
 
 
Art researchers have noted that architect Gintautas Vyšniauskas is not alone in the context of his drawing and painting colleagues: the representatives of this profession have been always known for a sharp eye and a well-trained hand. Drawing from nature and other creative activities less related to the architect’s direct work is a hobby of several renowned Lithuanian architects. For example, Vytautas Čekanauskas passionately drew church bell towers, Jonas Minkevičius depicted urban motifs, and Arūnas Paslaitis has been on the road for several decades capturing various objects of Lithuanian heritage: manors, palaces, wooden cabins closely related to folk architecture and abandoned parks. Architects’ passion to create “for their own pleasure” is most probably inspired by the less romantic side of the architect’s profession – giving all the necessary “utilitarian” qualities to a building, considering its function and functionality, in other words, creating maximum comfort for the future user. Tired of their “earthly” affairs, architects get immersed into drawing or other forms of artistic work, which are relaxing and can transport them to another reality. In this way they express their personal interests and likings that have remained on the margins of their professional activity (Kristina Stančienė).
 
Lithuanian towns and villages whose churches Vyšniauskas drew are marked on the stylized maps displayed in the exhibition. The construction of the exhibition aims to emphasize the symbolism of a human life or a cinema film.
 
Exhibition curators: Edita Mildažytė, Saulius Pilinkus
Exhibition organizer: Church Heritage Museum
Architects: Audrius Bučas and Marina Bučienė
Catalogue designer: Daina Paulauskienė
Designer: Daiva Kišūnaitė




FUNDING FOR THE MUSEUM IS PROVIDED BY

Vilniaus Akivyskupija          
 
   

Informational sponsors

                   bernardinai.lt
         

Sponsors

       Domus Maria