Timeless things only at Marius Jonutis’ exhibition at Meno Niša gallery
The fourteenth personal exhibition of the Lithuanian artist Marius Jonutis is opening at the gallery Meno Niša on May 3. In keeping with a years-long tradition, the artist invites visitors of the gallery to see his latest works every spring.
These annual exhibitions are more important to Mr. Jonutis than the big holidays, he says: “I want to and I must do it, despite any obstacles that might be in my way, when it seems that I have absolutely no time for that, but I try to move things around and find some break in between commissioned work, because otherwise what would become of me… I’d like to think I am not what I eat, but what I make.”
In this year’s exhibition entitled “Myliu” (“I love”), the artist says visitors will see a continuation of his previous work rather than something radically new. “Two years ago, I was telling fairy tales; last year, I was a gardener, I may have sowed some seeds; and this year I love,” Jonutis says about the show.
He recalls coming across a question in the vast folklore of the internet: “Think about what you do – perhaps you allow yourself too little?” His response was: “I allowed myself to be happy. The sharp ones will know that, in a show named like this, the works exhibited will be about love. Love as meaning, as home, as religion. There’s no point in looking for revolutionary ideas, for contemporary art, because there is nothing contemporary here, just timeless things. Rustic idol carving: I’m making portraits of my saint, sketching scenes from lives of the saints. I’d love to carve out an entire church, but I’ve got but two hands, and my time, all plundered and flowing like a mountain river, leaves just enough for perhaps a rustic chapel of a dozen pictures.”
Mr. Jonutis’ exhibition “Myliu” opens on May 3, 6 PM, and will run until May 24.
The gallery Meno Niša welcomes visitors 12 – 6 PM Tuesdays to Fridays and 12 – 4 PM on Saturdays.