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 showcases an abstract landscape composed in a palette of primarily muted grays with bold streaks of red and hints of blue, green, and black. It features fragmented and elongated forms that resemble buildings or various structures, densely clustered in the center, perhaps suggesting a bustling urban scene. The background is executed with horizontal brushstrokes, creating a sense of expansive, overcast sky that looms over the scene. The use of bright red either in the upper portion suggests either a setting sun or perhaps another vivid element that breaks the monochrome coolness, introducing a dynamic contrast. The texture is thick, rich with layers of paint that add a tactile quality and depth, giving the viewer a feel of the rugged surface that further emphasizes the chaotic, yet structured forms depicted. Overall, the composition evokes a feeling of a constructed disarray, typical of cityscapes viewed through a subjective, interpretive lens.
