Artwork in the room
Arvydas Kašauskas was born in 1959 in Vilnius. From 1977 to 1982, he studied fresco and mosaic at the Vilnius Academy of Arts.
“The quality of art remains a matter of the author’s ambition and integrity,” says Kašauskas. In simple terms, art is good when the artist cares and stays honest.
Kašauskas was trained in monumental art—a discipline focused on scale, structure, and permanence. This background still shapes his work today. He approaches painting not as simple depiction, but as construction: each piece is built, carrying a sense of weight and space.
After the fall of the Soviet regime, he began working independently, moving from public, state-commissioned frescoes to more intimate canvas works. While the scale changed, his material approach remained.
Paint is not just applied—it is scraped, pressed, and layered, creating dense, tactile surfaces. His work balances control with unpredictability.
Looking back, Kašauskas describes his early artistic drive as a search for “a brighter, more compelling life,” shaped by a time when art held a distinct cultural role.
Today, he sees creativity as something open to everyone—not limited to artists, but available to anyone shaping their life with intention.
Landscape remains a constant in his work. Often painting outdoors, he draws from the energy of place and shared creative experience. Even in abstraction, nature is still present—reduced to rhythm, form, and space.
For Kašauskas, every painting is, ultimately, an abstraction.
About this artwork+
The painting features a vivid and abstract composition with two main figures that dominate the scene. The left figure appears in hues of beige, orange, and blue, ensconced in what looks like a deep helmet or head covering. Its body is loosely sketched, with blocks of color suggesting clothing or armor. On the right, the second figure is more fragmented, rendered in white, black, and splashes of red, seemingly looking toward the other figure or beyond it. Between and around these figures, the canvas bursts with thick, expressive strokes of paint in dark purple, pink, cream, and various shades of green and yellow. Flecks and smears of brighter colors create a sense of chaotic energy. The scene’s background is ambiguous, moving between being interpreted as a skyline or a mere continuation of the chaotic elements seen throughout the work. There is a sense of motion and intensity, as if capturing a moment of dynamic interaction or confrontation within an abstract, perhaps dystopian space.
