TOMAS KIAUKA
November 16, 2018 / December 6, 2018
N-ever-seen
In Vilnius, I graduated from J. Vienožinskis (then known as "Konarskinė") art school, later I studied painting and drawing privately. I studied theology and philosophy in Germany, defended my doctoral thesis at the University of Heidelberg. At the Vilnius Academy of Arts, I teach philosophy and art theory, write articles and essays on theology, philosophy and art topics. I belong to the Lithuanian PEN club. Together with the pianist and painter Viktoras Paukštelis, we organized exhibitions of paintings in Klaipėda (2011), Vilnius (2012) and Kėdainai (2014). I am involved in social and cultural activities, also a member and chairman of the association "Klaipėdas kūlūtų kamunų". I remember Ričardas Vaitiekūnas, Arvydas Šaltenis, Jonas Gasiūnas, and Vytautas Šerys as good teachers. However, the greatest authorities and inspirations are the light of Rembrandt's painting, the vibrations of Vermeer's space, De Chirico's space-time metaphysics and Magritte's deconstructions of consciousness. I saw in them what is not visible to the naked eye. Naturally, I was also influenced by the context of modernity: the impressionists' discovery of the moment, the post-impressionists' passion for being, the fauvists' voluptuousness of color, the abstractionists' disdain for objectivity, etc. All this forms the alphabet of painting, from which I add "my" meanings. There is nothing unseen, just as there is nothing unspoken (if you don't believe me, come up with at least one idea of your own that no one has said before). What seems new today will be old tomorrow. The novelty is a well-disguised old illusion we call "progress". In the face of such progress, what excites me is what "progress" does not destroy, what is real, what affects, what is sustainable. Who can stand against the tyranny of Chrono, the god of time. Therefore, in the seen I look for that which is N-Ever-Seen. Not just with the eyes, but a kind of metaphysical sight and hearing. And nothing more. Everything else is up to the viewer. -Tomas Kiauka
