In the modern oversaturated visual field, our eyes have become accustomed to moving quickly, scrolling through images almost without pause. Research shows that smartphone users scroll about 90 meters of news feed daily, which is equivalent to the height of the Statue of Liberty. Additionally, around five billion people worldwide spend more than three hours a day in this noisy space.
Abstract painting, by its very nature, refuses to depict "things" and "stories"; its goal is to see the emotions behind them, to reveal rhythm, tension, silence, breath. Simplifying form so that form and color become mood, memory, imprint of experience. It invites us to abandon the immediate need for understanding and to surrender to what arises when we allow our gaze to linger.
In an age of perfectionism, we strive to be right – seeking formula, confidence, certainty. The phrase "it was nice, maybe I’ll delete it later," common on social media, reveals the precarious balance between the desire to share and the fear of judgment. Benediktas Maria Žukas's painting resists this logic. His canvases do not explain or show one clear feeling (response) – they open up a space where ignorance becomes freedom, and contemplation becomes an event. Splashes, strokes, lines – thin and thick, the density of paint or rhythm – like a map that refuses to point the viewer in a clear direction.
What happens when we look at a work of art without trying to find immediate meaning in it? Mother of Pearl becomes a metaphor for such a moment. Contemplation can also become a space of creation – both in the literal sense and in the sense of the inner – a place where transformation occurs, and where each moment of contemplation is a new beginning. It was once said that a work of art that truly speaks to you probably says more about you than about its creator.
Benediktas Maria Žukas (born 1992, Vilnius) represents a new wave of abstraction, focusing on process painting and exploring the affective potential of color, form, and materiality. Žukas obtained a master's degree in painting from the Vilnius Academy of Arts and has exhibited his works in solo exhibitions in Antwerp (Conscience 20 and Gert Voorjans galleries) and Vilnius (Meduza Contemporary Art Gallery and Vlada Vildžiūnas Art Gallery), as well as participating in group exhibitions in Lithuania and Belgium. This is the artist's first solo exhibition in Latvia.
Exhibition hours: Tue-Sat 12:00-18:00
The exhibition is open to visitors until December 20.
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