KAMPAS: the retrospection of Rimvidas Jankauskas (1957–1993) creation from the museums of Lithuania and private collections
The exhibition “KAMPAS: the retrospection of Rimvidas Jankauskas (1957–1993)“ will open its doors on 12th of January at 5p.m. in M. Žilinskas Art Gallery (Nepriklausomybės Sq. 12, Kaunas).
Over 100 paintings including graphic works from five Lithuanian museums and private collections are shown in the exibition. The works of art have been kindly lent by 23 private persons, galleries and institutions from various cities and towns in Lithuania. The exhibition will contain several works from the collection of Ellex Valiunas: Abstraction, Abstraction, Deconstruction.
I would like to start with an absolute unawareness. And when I shake off all the "taboos", I will be ready to stir up my subconsciousness so that I perceive my nature ... No longer can I fight with an outer space of myself...
These phrases from the artist's notebook became an impelling motive for the exhibition commemorating the 60th birth anniversary of Rimvidas Jankauskas-Kampas – one of the most prominent artistic personalities in Lithuania, a representative of the Generation of the Break and a member of the Angis group. Rimvidas Jankauskas-Kampas was born on December 7, 1957 in Klaipėda. At the age of fourteen he graduated from the Klaipėda evening art school and without having informed parents entered the Stepas Žukas School of the Applied Art in Kaunas. At that time he was already known by a nickname Bekampis (homeless). The prefix "be" later naturally disappeared. Soon he was expelled from the school for non-compliance with the Soviet ideological standards. In 1980, having returned from the Soviet Army Rimvidas finished his art studies. From 1981 to 1987 he studied at the State Institute of Art at prof. Vincentas Gečas’ course. A professional painter has chosen the mode of an unrestricted artist, lived and worked in Kaunas, continued the ARS tradition, and his primary teachers were Antinis (senior), Alfonsas Vilpišauskas, and ... Giorgio de Chirico. R. Jankauskas-Kampas died on October 7, 1993 in Klaipėda.
In Kaunas, the painter's creation is presented after a 24-year break, while paintings and drawings from his study period are shown for the first time. As a professional artist, a graduate of the Vilnius Art Institute Kampas was active, all in all, only for six years. So the number of mature works from the Kaunas period is not relatively large. He lived without sparing neither his energy, nor his works of art. With his paintings he used to pay bills in pubs or return his debts. The most essential matter for him was a creative process. This is why even an approximate number of works remains unknown, and a certain part of paintings is just lost. With apt remarks Raminta Jurėnaitė has described the period of his creation at its apogee: Pain and hedonism on his way kept balance to such an extent that is exceptionally characteristic of Vienna's cultural tradition, but not that of Kaunas. Both states were the extremes for him and reached the bottom too fast (Jurėnaitė R. Neatsargi tapyba. In: Rimvidas Jankauskas-Kampas. Sud.: Rasa Andriušytė, Kęstutis Grigaliūnas, Rymantas Penkauskas).
Alongside, as a supplement to Kampas' mature creation this retrospection combines works from the period at the Institute of Art, which disclose the artist's creative development in the authoritarian system, as well as pictures created at S. Žukas School of the Applied Art, which illustrate the painter's initial path. The exhibition also displays costume sketches and a poster for the performance of the Lithuanian National Drama Theatre Vilkų medžioklė and the the poster project for the performance of Panevėžys Drama Theatre Grasos namai. Both, the artist’s letters to his relatives and diary notes deny the established myth as if Kampas was a spontaneous artist. Going deeper into the painter’s reflections we discover Rimvidas as a systematic creator strictly analysing his formal palette and plastic expression, and as an extremely critical artist. Alongside with "large" works their sketches are on the display, as well. Self-reflections, considerations, analysis of the creative process have turned to the idea of disclosing the painter’s oeuvre at a glance of the artist himself.
The outburst of Kampas’ painterly activity has synchronously coincided with the start of the Restoration of the State’s Independence. Its worth mentioning that the liberation from the system known for the ineffective management and ideological restrictions was consistent with the denial of realistic principles in the pictorial tradition. Protests against formal official norms under the underground conditions in late soviet years has acquired various forms of artistic expression.
Curator Genovaitė Vertelkaitė-Bartulienė
Organiser Nacionalinis M. K. Čiurlionio dailės muziejus
Partner Mo Muziejus
Supporter Ellex Valiunas group
Exhibition works 2018 01 12–2018 03 04
Photo G.Zinkevičiaus
The exhibition “KAMPAS: the retrospection of Rimvidas Jankauskas (1957–1993)“ will open its doors on 12th of January at 5p.m. in M. Žilinskas Art Gallery (Nepriklausomybės Sq. 12, Kaunas).
Over 100 paintings including graphic works from five Lithuanian museums and private collections are shown in the exibition. The works of art have been kindly lent by 23 private persons, galleries and institutions from various cities and towns in Lithuania. The exhibition will contain several works from the collection of Ellex Valiunas: Abstraction, Abstraction, Deconstruction.
I would like to start with an absolute unawareness. And when I shake off all the "taboos", I will be ready to stir up my subconsciousness so that I perceive my nature ... No longer can I fight with an outer space of myself...
These phrases from the artist's notebook became an impelling motive for the exhibition commemorating the 60th birth anniversary of Rimvidas Jankauskas-Kampas – one of the most prominent artistic personalities in Lithuania, a representative of the Generation of the Break and a member of the Angis group. Rimvidas Jankauskas-Kampas was born on December 7, 1957 in Klaipėda. At the age of fourteen he graduated from the Klaipėda evening art school and without having informed parents entered the Stepas Žukas School of the Applied Art in Kaunas. At that time he was already known by a nickname Bekampis (homeless). The prefix "be" later naturally disappeared. Soon he was expelled from the school for non-compliance with the Soviet ideological standards. In 1980, having returned from the Soviet Army Rimvidas finished his art studies. From 1981 to 1987 he studied at the State Institute of Art at prof. Vincentas Gečas’ course. A professional painter has chosen the mode of an unrestricted artist, lived and worked in Kaunas, continued the ARS tradition, and his primary teachers were Antinis (senior), Alfonsas Vilpišauskas, and ... Giorgio de Chirico. R. Jankauskas-Kampas died on October 7, 1993 in Klaipėda.
In Kaunas, the painter's creation is presented after a 24-year break, while paintings and drawings from his study period are shown for the first time. As a professional artist, a graduate of the Vilnius Art Institute Kampas was active, all in all, only for six years. So the number of mature works from the Kaunas period is not relatively large. He lived without sparing neither his energy, nor his works of art. With his paintings he used to pay bills in pubs or return his debts. The most essential matter for him was a creative process. This is why even an approximate number of works remains unknown, and a certain part of paintings is just lost. With apt remarks Raminta Jurėnaitė has described the period of his creation at its apogee: Pain and hedonism on his way kept balance to such an extent that is exceptionally characteristic of Vienna's cultural tradition, but not that of Kaunas. Both states were the extremes for him and reached the bottom too fast (Jurėnaitė R. Neatsargi tapyba. In: Rimvidas Jankauskas-Kampas. Sud.: Rasa Andriušytė, Kęstutis Grigaliūnas, Rymantas Penkauskas).
Alongside, as a supplement to Kampas' mature creation this retrospection combines works from the period at the Institute of Art, which disclose the artist's creative development in the authoritarian system, as well as pictures created at S. Žukas School of the Applied Art, which illustrate the painter's initial path. The exhibition also displays costume sketches and a poster for the performance of the Lithuanian National Drama Theatre Vilkų medžioklė and the the poster project for the performance of Panevėžys Drama Theatre Grasos namai. Both, the artist’s letters to his relatives and diary notes deny the established myth as if Kampas was a spontaneous artist. Going deeper into the painter’s reflections we discover Rimvidas as a systematic creator strictly analysing his formal palette and plastic expression, and as an extremely critical artist. Alongside with "large" works their sketches are on the display, as well. Self-reflections, considerations, analysis of the creative process have turned to the idea of disclosing the painter’s oeuvre at a glance of the artist himself.
The outburst of Kampas’ painterly activity has synchronously coincided with the start of the Restoration of the State’s Independence. Its worth mentioning that the liberation from the system known for the ineffective management and ideological restrictions was consistent with the denial of realistic principles in the pictorial tradition. Protests against formal official norms under the underground conditions in late soviet years has acquired various forms of artistic expression.
Curator Genovaitė Vertelkaitė-Bartulienė
Organiser Nacionalinis M. K. Čiurlionio dailės muziejus
Partner Mo Muziejus
Supporter Ellex Valiunas group
Exhibition works 2018 01 12–2018 03 04
Photo G.Zinkevičiaus
