Still life with shadow

Member of the Union of Lithuanian Artists since 1995. The creative biography of Rytas Jurgelis includes almost three dozen personal exhibitions, his works are spread not only in Lithuania, but also beyond its borders.

The two most important features of R. Jurgelis's painting - color and texture - and the long-loved geometric form - the square - give the whole an exceptional variety, without losing the subtle tone of lyricism.

The works reflect not a battle of colors, which comes first, but a synergy. The expression of colors as bearers of emotional states is combined with the suggestiveness of the material substance of oil paints. Materiality is accentuated by the gloss or mattness of paint, textural surface patterns left by painting tools, scratches and the relief of textures, height changes. This is achieved by formally applying layers of paint, which can be seen from the side, sometimes through the front, and sometimes it is enough to sense them.

Layered and colored dermis not only form new variants of painting surfaces and the expressive emotional states they create. They also contain associative connections, say with taste, smell or smell. Thus, storms of feelings are raging in every square plane, dramas or silent agreements are taking place, narratives are emerging, the universality of which allows everyone to accept what is happening in front of their eyes in their own way. The author helps in searches, but in his own way, concisely and minimally.

Art critic Kristina Jokubavičienė