Dance Pavilion, 1999, woodcut on canvas, 151x205 cm, 1/1
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Egmontas Bžeskas
The graphic art of Egmontas Bžeskas is an example of an entirely different kind of sign art. On his large-format canvases (the biggest is 14 m2), in most cases one or two objects find their place, but even they with great difficulty find enough room in this reservation of space. The laconic structure and suggestiveness call to mind enormous witty logotypes: they parade the poster form and clear drawing, they are informative, suggestive and full of optimism. They actively signal the viewer and energetically stick to the surroundings.
The arsenal of EB's means confines itself within a predatory, genderless space and several symbols. His favorite images are the human pictogram and the spiral. Both of them obviously ignore their historical origin, craving to be like the personages of an animated cartoon. The artist willingly helps them, giving them the opportunity to be reincarnated and the elastic form of the snake. The human becomes a spiral, the spiral becomes a snail, the snail becomes a human, the human becomes a labyrinth, the labyrinth becomes a stone, and so on. Each easily adapts itself into its new role and, "while every moment feeling the joy of existing", they gush with a frantic temperament. This phrase, borrowed from Camus, does not seem out of place in this context: the animated personages of EB especially enjoy playing Sisyphus with the rock.
The artist tries out other bodily metamorphoses, too. Often in his works strange creatures can be seen, constructed from several recognizable organs. EB behaves like a superstitious primitive artist (who tried to emphasize the most important places of the body), but the scale of values is changed: mouths and legs prevail. Reverse motion can be seen in the plasticity of these surrealistic neologisms: it is not the sign that turns into a live personage, but rather the reduced anthropomorphic forms that turn into a sign (moreover, keeping their distinguishing characteristics).
To find one's place in EB's scale of values is rather difficult. Contrary to his inspirer, Camus, the artist does not burden himself with existential considerations (the drama of Sisyphus impresses with its aspect of the absurd). His infantile characters are content with their present state of being despite its sometimes cheerless nuances. The author is delighted with the irrationality of his creatures, which is an opportunity to open an energy 'channel'. The centrifugal force of a compressed spiral serves this purpose very well: the different manipulations of his well-liked spiral. And, of course, harsh colors; their relationship with black creates a situation full of conflict automatically. The vital plasticity is tamed mildy by the derivatives of the composition that mostly pay heed to the center and other classical norms.
The woodcuts by EB, pressed on the large canvases, naturally coincide in the neighborhood of painters, but they don't renounce the privileges of the graphic arts. Here not only the slippery black tracks are valued, but the rough cloth, too; not only the common outlines, but also the inner sections — the mist of color, the texture of an uncoordinated stroke, the graceful intervention of a dotted line. But these works of complicated technology that don't lack subtlety do not attempt to impose with their professionalism; on the contrary, they make an impression of a loose, caricatured, childishly naive drawing. However, their simplicity and careless merriment are not marked by the weightlessness that is characteristic of naive art — the works of EB stand out with their strong dominance and suggestiveness.
Today, the artist's work is summarised in a nutshell as a new generation of hybrid graphics. 20 years ago, EB's enormously large woodcuts were printed on canvas and awarded the diploma/record for the largest printmaking work in Lithuania, freeing printmaking from the standards of small formats and framing, and bringing it a bit closer to painting. The artist's graphic art at that time was not only surprisingly distinctive, but also inspired the work of many young graphic artists, changing the traditional dogmas of graphic art at that time.
Today, the EB does not stop there, using the latest electronic technologies, various building materials, silicone, plastic, intelligent LED lighting, sound effects, and touch functions, thanks to which the viewer can partially engage in a direct conversation with the painting. The artist has long continued his own and others' themes of the shadow of people, integrating fragments of classical wood engravings. Carves/engraves wood blanks/mouldings together with the help of modern machinery/robot. The paintings have become content, and some of the protruding parts are 3D printed. QR codes are also integrated into the paintings, giving the viewer access to the deepest layers of the artwork. All these elements complement and reinforce the ideas conveyed by the artist and do not leave the viewer indifferent.
Art is a game, it is each of your journeys into the labyrinth of my paintings. It is a performance with all its inherent elements, physically squeezed between four sides, but unrestricted to expand in all infinite directions. Let's play together...
Born in 1974, Kaunas
STUDIES:
1981-1992 Secondary school, Kaunas
1992 Graduated from Kaunas School of Art
1992-1998 Vilnius Academy of Arts, Department of Graphic Arts
1998 Graduated from Vilnius Academy of Arts with a Master of Arts degree
PERSONAL EXHIBITIONS
1996 Academia Gallery (together with Martynas Meskauskas), Vilnius
1997 Academia Gallery, Vilnius
1998 Vilnius Graphic Centre, Left-Right Gallery, Vilnius
Municipal Exhibition Hall , Telsiai
1999 M. K. Ciurlionis Art Museum, Picture Gallery, Kaunas
Atelier Klasen, Vastervik (Sweden)
German Embassy in Lithuania, Vilnius
Samogitian Art Museum, Plunge
Gallery Vartai, Vilnius
Konst & designgalleriet , Nacka, Stockholm
TAIEX Office, Brussels
2001 The Red World together with Body Painting Performance, Savickas Picture Gallery, Vilnius, Lithuania
2003 International Art Festival, Menden, Germany
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
1997 Vilnius Graphic Centre, Gallery Left-Right, Vilnius
I Erotic Art Exhibition, Gallery Vartai, Vilnius
1998 II Erotic Art Exhibition, Gallery Vartai, Vilnius
II International Graphic Triennial, Inter-Contact-Graphic, Prague'98
XI Tallinn International Graphic Art Triennial, Tallinn
III International Biennial of Small Graphic Arts, Vilnius'98
Lithuanian Art Exhibition "9+9", Town Hall, Aachen, (Germany)
Exhibition of Christmas Miniatures, Gallery Vartai, Vilnius
Vilnius Graphic Centre, Left-Right Gallery, Exhibition Adventure, Vilnius
1999 IX International Biennial of Graphic Arts. Espace Champ de Foiret, Sarcelles (France)
Educational exhibition From Cliché to Print, Akademija Gallery, Vilnius
Samogitian Museum Alka, Telšiai; Ausra Museum, Siauliai, Samogitian Art Museum, Plunge
Gallery Vartai is eight years old. Gallery Vartai, Vilnius
International Art Salon Moscow 99, Moscow
III Erotic Art Exhibition, Gallery Vartai, Vilnius
Without Shadows Gallery Vartai, Vilnius
Great North Rhine-Westphalian Art Exhibition, Düsseldorf (Germany)
X International Graphic Biennial, Varna'99, Varna (Bulgaria)
Graphic Art'99, Vilnius Graphic Centre, Gallery Left-Right, Vilnius
The Beginning of the End , Gallery Baroti and Klaipeda Art Exhibition Hall, Klaipeda
2000 Gallery Vartai is nine years old, Gallery Vartai, Vilnius
V Sapporo International Graphic Biennale, Sapporo (Japan)
Exhibition of works from the International Artists' Camp at Vilkenai Mill, Gallery Baroti, Klaipeda
Tradition and future. Review exhibition of fine and applied art 1997 - 2000, Contemporary Art Centre
International Biennial of Graphic Arts of the Baltic Countries, "Kaliningrad-Kenizberg 2000"
2001 X International Biennial of Graphic Arts. Espace Champ de Foiret, Sarcelles (France)
Polish Cultural Centre, Without Shadows, Stockholm
Gallery Vartai is 10 years old, Gallery Vartai, Vilnius
European Parliament, Without Shadows, Brussels
Gallery ArTyp, Without Shadows, Briuselis
Project - Exhibition, Floors, walls, ceilings. Gallery Vartai, Vilnius
Lithuanian Art presented by Gallery Vartai, in association with Gallery Gildenburg, Petesburg, UK
Lithuanian Art is presented by Gallery Vartai, in association with David S. Gordon & Margaret M. Gordon Gallery, London, UK
Erotic Photography through the Eyes of Artists, presented by Gallery Vartai, together with Nitra gallery, Slovakia
Erotic Photography through the Eyes of Artists, presented by Gallery Vartai, together with Gallery Town gallery, Bratislava, Slovakia
Euroropean Perspectives, Art fair, Gallery Vartai, Innsbruck, Austria
Gallery Vartai exhibition, South German House, Brussels, Belgium
Lithuanian Art, Gallery Vartai, David S. Gordon & Margaret M. Gorgon Gallery, London, England
Fashion Infection, Contemporary Art Centre, Vilnius, Lithuania
Lineart Gent 2001, Gallery Vartai, Ghent, Belgium
2002 Re/form, Contemporary Lithuanian Art. Gallery Vartai, United Nations Office in Geneva, Switzerland
2003 Art Ejection Kaunas, Lithuania
Vilnius Days in Moscow, Lithuanian Art Exhibition. Central Exhibition Hall, Moscow, Russia
2020 ARTVILNIUS`20, Vilnius, Lthuania
2021 ARTVILNIUS`21, Vilnius, Lithiania
PERFORMANCES - PERFORMANCES
1999 Bodypainting performance at the German Residence in Turniskes, Vilnius
2000 Bodypainting performance, International Youth Theatre Festival - INSTANT ACTS, Berlin, Germany
2001 International Dance Festival Dance Printing House with J. Velickaite body - art and modern dance performance, Vilnius
International Dance Festival Dance Printing House, modern dance performance Match with the Earth's Gravity, Vilnius
VI International Contemporary Dance Festival Dance Evenings, modern dance performance Match with the Earth's Gravity, Contemporary Dance Information Centre, Lithuania.
Modern dance performance with live jazz music Different Colours, Savickai Picture Gallery, Lithuania, Palanga
Modern dance performance with live jazz music Different Colours, Savickai Picture Gallery, Lithuania, Vilnius
Modern dance performance Match with the Earth's Gravity, Vilnius University Theatre, Lithuania, Vilnius
Modern dance performance Match with the Earth's Gravity, UNIDRAM Theatre Festival, Germany, Berlin
2002 Modern dance performance Match with the Earth's Gravity, OFF BEATS Theatre Festival, Germany, Berlin
2003 Performance Tabula Rasa, OFF BEATS Theatre Festival, Germany, Berlin
AWARDS, SCHOLARSHIPS
1998 Diploma of Factum Agency and the Lithuanian Book of Records for the largest graphic work Labyrinth (311 x 449 cm)
1999 State Scholarship of the Republic of Lithuania for young artists
WORKSHOPS
1999 Atelje Klasen, Vastervik (Sweden)
1999 The Frans Masereel Center, Kasterlee (Belgium)
2000 International Art Camp at Vilkenai Mill, Sveksna, (Lithuania)
2000 The Frans Masereel Center, Kasterlee (Belgium)
MEMBERSHIPS
1999 International Centre for Graphic Arts Grafikens Hus, Mariefred (Sweden)
1999 Member of the Lithuanian Artists' Union
2000 The Frans Masereel Center, Kasterlee (Belgium)
COLLECTIONS
2003 Lithuanian Museum of Art
2020 MO museum (Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Vilnius)
2021 MO museum (Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Vilnius)
AGENCIES OF CREATIVITY
2003 Creating advertising solutions. Advertising agency Garage 4x4
Mediahuse creativity consultant
Director of Creativity. Advertising agency Exto Marketing
2004 Director of Creativity. Advertising agency Exto Marketing
DESIGN, OTHER ACTIVITIES
2003 Director and scenographer of the LTV show A WORD, PLEASE
2004 Founder and Director of TV TEAM PE
Director and scenographer of the LTV show LOOKING FOR A JOB
2005 Director of the BTV show WHAT IF
Producer, director and scenographer of the BTV show ASK
Producer, director and scenographer of the BTV show BEN‘S DOG
Producer, director, scenographer, producer of the BTV show THE FOURTH ESTATE
Producer, director, scenographer of the 5 KANALAS show KARAOKE
Scenographer, lighting designer of the TV3 show THE SKY
2008 Scenographer of the LTV show PEKIN‘S STUDIO
Scenographer of the LTV show EDITORSHIP
Scenographer of the LTV show VERSIONS
Scenographer of the LTV show THE RIGHT TO KNOW
Scenographer of the LTV show NPT
Scenographer of the LTV show CULTURE
Scenographer of the LTV 2 show SOUNDS OF THE CLASSICS
Scenographer of the LTV show LITHUANIAN VOICES
Scenographer of the LTV Award Ceremony MORE SUN MORE LIGHT
Scenographer of the LTV show SONG OF SONGS
Scenographer of the LTV show CHILDREN OF THE MILLENNIUM
Scenographer of the LTV information shows
2009 Scenographer of the TV3 show PANORAMA STUDIO
Scenographer of the TV3 OPENING OF THE SEASON
Scenographer of the TV3 entertainment show THESPELL OF ROSES
Scenographer of the TV3 entertainment show THE MUSICAL CAROUSEL
Scenographer of the TV3 FULFILLMENT PROMOTION
Scenographer of the TV3 WOMAN AWARDS
Scenography project TV3 LITHUANIA‘S GOT TALENT
Host of the LTV culture ARTOTLON
Scenographer of the LNK concert ANNIVERSARY EVENGING ON I. STAROSAITE
2011 Producer, scenographer of the BTV show Friday Fiesta
Producer, director, scenographer of LRT children's talent contest Wunderkinds
Producer, scenographer of the LRT show In the middle of Europe
Producer, scenographer of the LRT show "Eurovision Song Contest
Producer of Rock Opera Notre-Dame de Paris. Commissioned by the Ministry of Culture of Azarbaijan. Baku Producer, director, scenographer of the World Forum Intercultural Dialogue, performance The Wind. Commissioned by the Ministry of Culture of Azarbaijan. Baku
2012 Producer, director, scenographer of LRT children's talent contest Wunderkinds
Producer and scenographer of the LRT show In the middle of Europe
LRT's new style - the creation of vignettes.
2013 Producer, director and scenographer of the social project, performance Bright Life. Commissioned by the Ministry of Youth and Sports of Azarbaijan. Baku
2014 Founder and director of SL YOU AND THE FUTURE (in the Events area) Canary Islands.
2017 Scenographer of the LRT information shows
Author, director and producer of LRT's vignettes
Author, director and producer of the vignette idea in the LRT all channels group's new style
General style maintenance, consultancy of the LRT all channel group
2018 Director and producer of the LRT initiative, the documentary film series I Raise the Flag
General style maintenance, consultancy of the LRT all channel group
Scenographer of the 15Min information shows
2019 Executive Producer of the LNK Reality Show The Island in the Canary Islands, author of the partial script
Producer and editing director of the LNK show Catch time
2020 Scenographer of the LRT show Cooked by children
Scenographer of the Alfa channel information shows
Consultant for information shows of Lietuvos rytas
2021 TV Zaidimai PLK, Art director.
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