Rituals of a white day, Meno Niša, Vilnius, Lithuania

Light is the main subject of the young painter Paulius Šliaupa’s (born 1990) works. How could one could describe it? Vibrant, glaring, infinite, rebellious and constantly changing but perhaps the most accurate word would be casual. Constantly springing the light does not repeat itself or freeze but rather spreads with the unceasingly changing environment. Thick, multilayered brushstrokes which are coiling on the surface of the canvas slope down the eye and the only thing left to do is to surrender yourself, relax and just watch. To observe, to look, to find and to commit yourself to this for a long time – until you feel that observation is a ritual.

The observation, likewise painting, can also be called a ritual. The everyday details merge, fade away leaving only a few unforgettable infinitely recurring motifs which you are obsessed with. A few fragments from the reality can be found in the canvases that are on display. Some of them are really abstract, blurry, some more detailed. The cold bluish, greyish and yellowish tones overflow one another, creating a game of the light on the surface of the canvas.

Having finished Vilnius Academy of Arts a few years ago P. Šliaupa is actively creating and surprising with original elements of the painting expression while becoming one of the most interesting painters of the young generation in Lithuania. Furthermore, he is taking photographs, drawing with dry pastels and creating video works while always paying attention to the everyday life, and notcing that, which seems too ordinary for the most to be interested in.
The noise, the continuous streams of information, the nature, the movement become the most important themes of P. Šliaupa’s creations. The pieces in his oeuvre are not merely the surfaces representing one or another fragment of reality. His works are like solid objects which altogether produce a dialogue with the environment and the viewer, changing as the light itself.

Art Critic Ieva Baublyte