Stasis Eidrigevičius’s exhibition “Traveling Imagination” is coming to Klaipėda | Culture

It exhibits the works created for Vytautė Žilinskaitė’s book “Journey to Tandadrika” (1984), Jose Muriljas’ “My Friend the Owl” (1986) and Rita Repšienė’s “Fairy Tales” (2008). The curator of the exhibition is Lina Albrikienė. The architect of the exhibition is Dalius Baliukevičius. The exhibition will be open until July 7.

Q14 photo/Stasys Eidrigevičius. Collages

Exclusive expository architecture

According to Lina Albrikienė, curator of the exhibition, “the expository architecture of the traveling exhibition is exceptional. The structure of the house was created from the bright colors of “Stasis” and neon lights, which invites the viewer to get acquainted not only with Stasi’s work, but also with his colorful personality.” The architecture for the exhibition was designed by the architect Dalius Baliukevičius.

Julius Kalinskas / 15min photo/Stasys Eidrigevičius

The exhibition opens up a fabulous and otherworldly world of illustrations – “a rainbow woven from bodies; birds bound with wings; a cat, stick and tail catching a frightened snake; a bunny who lost his right ear in a canvas tear; a stamen of a flower holding a miniature dog; scissors cutting a pale face; a child wrapped in tape; babies wrapped in fairy hair; a masked man biting the spindle; a frog firmly holding a rainbow trying to escape… Exhibition curator L. Albrikienė says that, “<...> none of the characters created by S. Eidrigevičius presented in the exhibition can exist as a separate or separated body. They “work” here only when intertwined with other works or objects. Everyone: both characters and various objects are united into an indivisible whole organism. Maybe the artist reflects the natural and human ecosystem, that unbroken chain? Objects and living things support each other. The thread of images intertwined in the drawings reflects indivisible, inseparable friendship, belonging or dependence on each other, and suffering, which is reflected in the motifs of restraint, compression, and binding.”

Stasys Eidrigevičius / Personal album photo.

Entwined as a whole, but not constrained?

According to Lina Albrikienė, “the motif of restraint is very important in Stasius’ work. He also reflects on his childhood in the village, separated from society, culture, children’s “real” entertainment and life under socialist oppression.

However, the title of the exhibition “Travelling Imagination” allows the viewer to break free from the shackles depicted in the illustrations. It enables us to escape, to immerse ourselves in our own fantasy journey, to cross all possible boundaries where mythological, anthropomorphic beings exist. The word “journeys” is also a reference to the biographical aspects of Stasis, when the artist lived in various locations in Lithuania since childhood, until finally in 1980. emigrated to Warsaw, where he still resides.

Lukas Balandis/BNS photo/The Stasios Eidrigevičius Arts Center is under construction in Panevėžys

Of course, these illustrations probably wouldn’t exist without the authors of the books. If you have read at least one book illustrated by Stassi, you must have noticed that the artist does not directly depict what we are reading. According to Stas, before creating illustrations, he always discusses with text authors who, like, for example, V. Žilinskaitė, opened an even wider field for his fantasy, instead of closing or suppressing it”.

Stasis Eidrigevičius’s exhibition “Traveling Imagination”, which is financed by the Lithuanian Culture Council and Panevėžys City Municipality, comes to KKKC from the modern art museum “Stasys Museum” located in Panevėžys (opening on May 31 this year).