Rima Leipuvienė (ceramic) / Tomas Kiauka (painting)
December 15, 2023 / January 24, 2024
SHIFTS / EAST PRUSSIANS SKY
"I choose quite typical, often "postcard" images for motifs: churches, bridges, railway stations, sea or lagoon landscapes. What was and still is recognizable as the topography of Klaipėda region. Worn out? Banal? Aren't cafes and other public places covered with postcards that have become popular in the last decade? Do they contain the real, authentic soul of the place? Is there such a thing as a "soul of a place"? And what does it say to those looking at those images, when those looking have no personal experience with those past images? Things that are exploited too much often become invisible, consume themselves, lose their life... And am I not, by painting those consumed images, also contributing to their destruction? I am not given the answer to that... When I paint, I engage in topopsychography: I dematerialize objects - as buildings lose the weight of masonry, becoming abodes of the memory of consciousness, I look through their windows into that world of the past and see them, those painted houses, stations, churches, bridges - like souls from the past, wandering and searching for their place under the eternal sky of the present. And I hope that those souls will find refuge in the light of the eyes that look at them." /Tomas Kiauka/
“Shifts - unexpected changes, visible and invisible movements, transformations revealed inceramics and occurring naturally in nature and human life. Constant change, the uncontrollable flow of time, the elusiveness of the moment, these are things that excite and attract my attention. With works that reflect geological forms and natural formations, I try to reveal not only the beauty of clay, but obviously unexpressed, deeper meanings through texture marks, incisions and cracks.
I feel that in recent years, not only natural cycles or shifts, but also tectonic fractures have been taking place in the world... The exhibition presents works reflecting the traditions, aesthetics and technologies of Eastern ceramics from the series One Year (2020-2021), Other Times (2022) and the new pieces from 2023. Sculptural ceramics will attract attention with unexpected shapes, primordiality and naturalness highlighted in chamotte clay material“./Rima Leipuvienė/