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 presents a snapshot of a quaint settlement under a vast sky, possibly near twilight. Houses with dark, almost silhouetted rooftops dominate the foreground, punctuated by lively markings of vibrant colors—reds, yellows, and whites—suggesting human habitation like windows or decor. The scene captures a contrast between the dark structural outlines and these sprinkles of color, enriching the otherwise shadowy depiction of the village. The sky above extends expansive and dynamic, painted in a myriad of blues that swing from deep to pale, touched by whites and greys that sketch out the movements of clouds. The sky's changing tones and textures suggest a dance of light and shade, giving the impression of a fleeting weather transition. A notable use of broad, confident brush strokes fills the sky, adding a turbulent yet open and breathable feel to the setting. The surface in the lower section of the artwork hints at a reflective property, maybe a wet street or water, suggested by the light strokes of blue and white, catching the same colors as the sky, hence mirroring the space above. This visual narrative sends echoes of a serene yet vibrant life in a coastal or lakeside village, managing to bring to life a moment of day-to-day existence beneath a monumental, ever-changing sky.
