On September 7-10, Meno Parkas Gallery for the second time will participate at the art fair "viennacontemporary 2023" and present works by Elena Balsiukaitė-Brazdžiūnienė, Eglė Ulčickaitė, and Kes Zapkus.

Meno Parkas Gallery for “viennacontemporary 2023” presents the diverse artistic visions of Kes Zapkus, Eglė Ulčickaitė, and Elena Balsiukaitė-Brazdžiūnienė, three artists who navigate the intricate relationship between identity, collective memory, and the ever-changing present. Each artist's work reflects a profound connection to external contexts, drawing inspiration from various sources. Zapkus paintings transcend mere abstraction, encoding cultural shifts and war traumas while finding solace in music rhythms. Eglė Ulčickaitė, on the other hand, explores the remnants of the Soviet past and its influence on the present, weaving mythology and literature into her art as a reflection on time, memory, and our intricate connection to reality in the digital age. Elena's art invites viewers into a world of enigmatic characters and narratives, incorporating references to literature, which sparks contemplation on societal norms and the eternal struggle to embrace individuality.

At the heart of their artistry lies a common thread - the understanding that the author is not an isolated self-reproducing system, but rather an integrated part of world culture. They draw from it interpreting history, literature, mythology and music, and infuse their creations with these influences, making them relevant and captivating in today's context. Whether through abstracted compositions, poetic incompleteness, or realistic narratives, each artist's work invites viewers to empathise with their unique perspectives.

The foundations and specifics of Kes Zapkus' work were formed outside Lithuania, from which he and his mother fled while he was still a little boy. After receiving an artistic education in the West, he became a New York artist.

It is very important to him that the visual language retains a hint of feeling. In Kes' painting, he strives for order among many active elements. They are inspired by compositional ideas of music, the information overload and globalism of the current world. This is not a "pure" abstraction detached from the world and life, where only colour combinations and composition are important. Zapkus paintings are systems of cultural codes that hide the shifts in the history of painting, traumas of war and ecological anxiety.

The artist finds peace from the news of everyday life in music. In his childhood, K. Zapkus himself played the violin and his father was a choirmaster. He sees painting as music, but played with a brush. His work sometimes resembles sheet music, from a black and white pentacle to a canvas of rich colours.

In Eglė Ulčickaitė's work, she has long explored the themes of experiencing time, memory, and the multiplicity of reality. In her paintings, she reflects on the material environment - objects, interiors, landscape elements, but she focuses on the changing part of the environment that is losing its utilitarian significance. In her most recent paintings, she chooses visually concrete but contextually quite abstract ideas as her motifs.

The specific event that prompted Eglė Ulčickaitė to turn her thoughts to the past was the loss of her Soviet birth certificate. Although this document had meant nothing until then, she felt a sense of regret at its loss. Then she thought about where and how she lives now, where she was born, how that environment affected her, how it affects her now, why she feels nostalgic.

The constant search for the commonality of different things is Elena Balsiukaitė-Brazdžiūnienė conscious stance of being open to everything that is happening around her. By rephrasing the old in a new way, visualising layers of complex meanings, Elena emphasises her forms of social engagement in art. She is particularly concerned with the problems of the city and society. Elena's canvases are often inhabited by strange characters: she enjoys telling a specific story, developing the plot, and saying more than there is. The unusual, the exceptional and society's reaction to it, the question of whether it is possible to survive being "different from everybody else" - this is where Elena's thoughts go when she paints her characters. Often it is about children, adolescents and their hermetic world.