Alonas Štelmanas, Between Reality. 02 22- 04 22 2021

Target, 2005 - a characteristic work of that time, later varied many times by the artist. The dark color, the light bulb hanging over the water on the bare wires, the menacing silhouette of the city on the horizon is like a target-shadowing shadow of the past haunting the authors. By emphasizing the banal detail of everyday life, with minimal means of expression, laconic composition, the artist creates an image with several expressive strokes, which each viewer can read in their own way. Shovels, buckets, enemas are objects that tell people's stories, but the main characters of A. Štelmanas`s works remain only intuition, located somewhere nearby, outside the picture. According to Algis Uždavinys, in these early works the artist deliberately tried to pretend to be a destroyer of classical beauty, to unfold the curtains of everyday life in the heat of youthful maximalism, to expose the brutal reality of everyday life, using pastoral paintings of dark colors. In the exhibition “Night Painting” organized at the Kauno Langas Art Gallery in 2005, the author's changing creative expression is felt: infantile, childish stylization of the drawing, many purple colors, the plane of the picture constructed with local color spots and a unique: lunar people exploring the sky with telescopes, intellectuals, bohemians, turned into bottles, elegantly tied ties, hearty people who love and suffer while living among us. Gradually, the artist's palette becomes clearer, the works are limited to only a few contrasting colors (green, black, purple, blue), which form the compositional structure of the painting. The circle of topics is also changing: the cozy windows of houses shining in the dark, lovers with their hands clasped on the bridge - it is a search for warmth, love, friendship in order to escape from loneliness. The tragedy of the compatriots affected by the Holocaust is another topic of the author to which he constantly returns. Interestingly, in the path of these life-like, painful experiences, Štelmanas heroes usually travel in two. In the painting "Two Brothers", 2018, obeying the scrolls of a continuous stroke creates streams of tears flowing from the eyes that help the author achieve maximum emotional persuasion in the image.

Art Gallery Kauno Langas has accumulated a large collection of works by A. Štelmanas, from works of the early period to the latest canvases. In this exhibition we want to present Štelmanas's pastels. The author creates a series of works that seem to complement each other, but each of them can exist independently. In the pastel cycle "Journey of the Heart" there is Alonas favorite character Heartmen, who travels the world alone, with an open, but at the same time such a vulnerable heart. The pastels, as well as the paintings, reveal the artist's ability to create an emotionally compelling narrative with several expressive strokes, to evoke the viewer's imagination with a laconic minimalist composition, forcing him to continue the journey of thought and feel the author's unique artistic expression.

Art critic Algė Gylienė