Lithuanian artist comes to Yogyakarta

Lithuanian artist comes to Yogyakarta

By Sri Wahyuni

YOGYAKARTA (JP): During the election, people associated
specific colors such as blue, red and yellow with different
political parties. But this is not the case for Lithuanian visual
artist Sigitas Staniunas, who is holding an installation art
exhibition here at Cemeti Art House from Dec. 4 to Dec. 17. Blue,
red and yellow are dominant colors in his mostly monochromatic
art work.

"Color is indeed very important in my painting and has
symbolic meaning. Color has universal meaning," Staniunas told
The Jakarta Post. "I believe art has something to do with nature,
culture, religion and spiritual elements, but not with politics."

Blue, for example, is often directly associated with the sky
and water. It is also a symbol of spirituality in old cultures
and the main decorative color in the Middle East. In Christian
iconography, blue is a symbol of virginity and honor. This factor
explains why Staniunas' paintings are often monochromatic and
contain variations of the same color. "It allows me to achieve
more powerful expression in my work," he said.

For example, the 3 meter by 4 meter The Battle at the Angiare,
a copy of a fresco by Leonardo da Vinci that was destroyed during
World War I, is dominated by blue. On the other hand, The Tower
of Babel, The Tower of Babel -- Gate of Stars and Yellow Moon --
Homage to Van Gogh have yellow as the dominant color. While
Vortex -- Red Kiss, Sisyphus -- Man and Stone and Unsent Letters
are dominated by red.

The three colors -- red, blue and yellow, therefore, compose
the essence of Staniunas' paintings, which are mostly in a huge
or large-scale format. Other elements, including plastic art such
as sculpture, graphics and architecture, are also used in the
works.

In Burned Secrets, Staniunas uses black charcoal to form a
hollow architectural structure with a piece of transparent glass
as the upper cover so that the viewers can look through the room
inside the structure. Small beads including marbles, coral,
chains and a piece of old and rusted iron are placed in the
reddish room. Little red blinking lamps are used to illuminate
the room, giving an impression of burned space.

Born on April 30, 1965, in Vilnius, the capital city of
Lithuania on the Baltic Sea, Staniunas mostly chooses painting as
the main media to express his ideas. But he is also a site-
specific installation and performance artist. "My choice of
painting as the main medium to express my ideas was determined by
the fact that painting is the oldest and most profound artistic
tradition in the history of culture," Staniunas said, adding that
even Leonardo da Vinci called painting "The Queen of All Arts".

In seeking to explore the nature of painting, he uses both
modern technologies and traditional methods. In this way his
painting is usually combined with elements of graphics and
sculpture. Various art objects as well as sound installations are
sometimes exhibited at the same time to emphasize the ideas in
his paintings.

The study of Oriental architecture and culture has also
determined his preference for the large format of his artwork.
"The purpose of using large formats is to expand the function of
today's art, which has a tendency to become merely a home
decoration," said Staniunas.

He developed an interest in site-specific installations when
he was searching for allegorical contexts. In 1991, he joined SEL
(super ex libris), which has specific interest in site-specific
installations. The sites are specific because they usually use
ones which have cultural values, especially because of their
historical value. The sites include monasteries, military forts,
artillery fortifications and observatories.

"I believe that art exhibitions should take place not only in
traditional gallery spaces but also at sites associated with
other social activities," he said.

Performances are also used as a means to express his views
about the relationship between existence and creativity to
emphasize the impacts of extreme situations on daily life, to
consider existential issues and to draw a parallel between post-
industrial pragmatism and poetry.

To achieve this end Staniunas uses all kinds of art objects --
including various symbols, combinations of light and darkness,
plastic movements and live music -- in his performances. When he
officially opened his exhibition at Cemeti Art House he held a
performance in which he used fire, light, darkness, water and
live drum music to perform the "digging and burial ritual".

The works in Staniunas' current exhibition were painted at the
art house, but the concepts were prepared back home. "But I
believe, my being here for several days has also influenced my
work. I cannot tell how far the influence is, but it is surely
there," he added.

Staniunas' exhibition is a cooperation between UNESCO's
International Fund for the Promotion of Culture and Cemeti Art
Foundation. He was selected from about 60 international artists
who registered themselves for the project. The project gives the
winner a chance to be a resident artist at Cemeti for two-and-a-
half months.

Staniunas -- who is also a stage designer -- was a graduate of
the Kaunas Art School in Lithuania, where he studied painting for
seven years (1978 to 1985). He gained his Master of Fine Arts
after completing his education at the School of Visual Arts,
Painting and Installations at Vilnius Art Academy (1985 to 1991).

He began exhibiting in 1989, taking part in individual and
joint exhibitions with Lithuanian and overseas artists. His work
has been shown at the Needle site-specific installation (Chicago,
U.S., April 1995), The Bath House site-specific installation
(Chicago, May 1995), the Mediawave international visual art
festival (Gyor, Hungary, May 1998) and Time and Space Movement
international performance festival (Paide, Estonia, May 1999).