GINTAS KAVOLIUNAS. PHOTOGRAPHY EXHIBITION „NATURE MORTE“

A photography exhibition “Nature Morte”, in which the author presents visual interpretations of life and death in nature, will take place in the Exhibition Hall of Klaipeda Culture Communication Centre (KCCC) (Didzioji Vandens g. 2, Klaipeda) from Friday, 26 February 2021.

In recent years, with the ever-emergence of new, increasingly modern cameras and other photographic technology in the world of photography, allowing images, invisible to the eye, to be captured and reproduced in just a few seconds, more and more photographers appear, who want to return to the beginning, when this media was born. Therefore, they choose to create using archaic methods, which take much longer, but provide a wider range of sensations, and the outcome of creation is never fully predictable. Today it is compared with a meditative process, or shamanism. Gintas Kavoliunas is one of the earliest photographers in Lithuania to start working on this principle. His first solo exhibition, “Nature Morte”, presents a series of photographs from 2012 onwards developed by analogue, cyanotype, wet collodion methods, printed on X-ray plates. Most of them are exhibited for the first time. Several photographs of the first cycle “On the Windowsill” by G. Kavoliunas were exhibited in the port city eight years ago, and in 2019 some of the works in this exhibition were presented at the Kupiskis Ethnographic Museum. In Klaipeda, the photographic works of G. Kavoliunas are presented in detail for the first time.

Gintas Kavoliūnas, „Dancing in the Rain“, since 2019

Nature morte in French – dead, not alive nature. The genre of art, as well as photography is also called by this term (English – still life). In still lifes, the artist depicts dead objects, various items, plants, hunting catches, and so on. And only sometimes – people – who complement the main motifs there, without disturbing the tightly arranged composition, usually directed interrelation of objects and their arrangement in space. In a broad sense, nature is the basis of human existence, not only the space of biological, but also the space of existential developmental processes. The level of knowledge of nature, the ability to observe the transformations taking place in it, in principle determines our relationship with physical, corporeal objects. Not just behaviour, but forms of depiction. Unfortunately, today’s lifestyle, visual habits, and standards of perception often prevent us from penetrating deeper, grasping the essence. To achieve this, some need special conditions, perhaps simulations, while others need a patient, leisurely gaze and understanding of personal experience, interdependently linked to nature. It is in the latter case that the utilitarian, practical aspects begin to fade and it becomes possible to observe everything not from the outside, but as if from the inside. And here it is no longer so important, if we are talking about living or dead nature and what nature morte means in each case – the killing of nature, when the artist inserts it into a two-dimensional plane (canvas or paper) or ways of depicting creatures that have lost their lives in its shelter.

Gintas Kavoliūnas, „On the windowsill“, since 2012

In G. Kavoliunas’ photographs, we find both cases mentioned. The author equally eagerly chooses both: plants in flowerpots, and already less life-filled flowers, cut and put into a vase, or tree seedlings, uprooted and doomed.

The skulls of animals and birds that have lost their lives much earlier, and the remains of frogs dancing macabre dance in the rain, also fall into the field of his attention and creative experiments. In all these cases, the fixation of objects in G. Kavoliunas’ works becomes a shamanic power of the embodiment of nature, magically attracting to its origins, where temporality is obvious, and life voluntarily enters into contract with death. Surprisingly, it does not cause tension; it is not intimidating at all, so it is being taken for granted. The objects chosen for the photographs are simultaneously completely ordinary, and at the same time require the justification of such choice of the author. Not only the circumstances of the placement of these objects in the works are different, but also the reasons that determined such decisions of the author. His images of flowers grown in pots on the windowsill (“On the windowsill”, 2012–) become a kind of means of characterizing the owner of a flat, partly illustrating his perception of the world. Here – only the plant and its location indicated in the name. No more references, just a space for speculations and reflections. Harvested flowers in vases are painted the same blue during the cyanotype process (“The Blue Mood”, 2014), and their different colours can only be found in the notes left by the author, thus gaining the opportunity to “colour” the visible image by oneself. It is a provocation, a way to see different colours in a blue print, to which one willingly surrenders. Another cyanotype series is tree photograms (“Arbaro”, 2016–2019). In creating it, the author engages in a kind of reincarnation – uproots young trees from places unsuitable for them to grow (for example, hay meadows) and gives them symbolic eternity in the print sheets. This is where the visual discussion about temporality and the illusion of survival begins. The photographer brings face to face with the interrupted existence by presenting images of the skulls of animals and birds captured on X-ray plates (“Post-mortem”, 2019). In a way, they are their current, post-mortem portraits, and at the same time a hint of the past as a testimony to a past life. Stories of grotesque dance with death are told on wet collodion records (“Dance in the Rain”, 2019). Here, crushed frogs are recorded on the road surface, more precisely, the dried remains of their bodies. For ages on the move – on the jump, or crawling – frozen expressive poses of the of the frogs, the rough textures of their skin against a purified background, become extremely enigmatic. Detached from the place of the tragic event, having lost the proof of the fact of the end, they become as if independent symbols, signifying, albeit a partial, but eternal probability of survival. Another significative level arises from the realization that the author uses old, rarely used techniques and technologies in the creation of most of these works, which are also travelled to the past and could be considered dead because they are only resurrected in certain cases. And here we have to admit that each end means a certain beginning, just as dead nature, which sends impulses to the creator, gives life to a new form and a meaningful charge – the creation. (Danguole Ruskiene)

Gintas Kavoliūnas, „The Blue Mood“, 2014

Kavoliunas was born in 1976 in Adomyne village (Kupiskis district). Since 2003 lives and works in Vilnius district. 2008 He obtained a professional bachelor’s degree in photography technology at Vilnius College of Technologies and Design. In 2011 graduated from the Lithuanian University of Educational Sciences with a bachelor’s degree in art pedagogy, in 2013 received a master’s degree in art education. Since 2009 – Head of the Public Institution “Open Workshop of Photography”. 2010-2018 taught at Vilnius College of Design, Department of Applied Photography. Since 2018 – Head of the Art and Design Lab, Photography and Media Art Department, Vilnius Academy of Arts. Since 2008 – Member of the Union of Lithuanian Art Photographers, In 2009 granted the status of an artist. Since 2013 – Member of the Lithuanian Analogue Photography Association (LAFA). Has been participating in joint exhibitions and educational projects since 2000, conducting theoretical and practical photography classes, giving lectures. He uses different old photographic techniques and technologies in his work. The works have been acquired by Siauliai Photography Museum, Taurage Region Museum and the National Gallery of Art.

Gintas Kavoliūnas, „Dancing in the Rain“, since 2019

The exhibition is organized by the Public Institution “Open Workshop of Photography”.
Curator – Danguole Ruskiene.
Sponsor – Vilnius Academy of Arts.

The exhibition “Nature Morte” will run until 28 March 2021

Due to quarantine restrictions, the doors of the KKKC Exhibition Hall are still closed, but the ongoing exhibitions can be visited without leaving home – visitors will soon have the opportunity to move to the exhibition spaces of the Exhibition Hall with the help of a virtual tour!