Šarūnas Sauka
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Šarūnas Sauka (born 1958 in
Vilnius Vilnius ( , ; see also other names) is the capital and largest city of Lithuania, with a population of 592,389 (according to the state register) or 625,107 (according to the municipality of Vilnius). The population of Vilnius's functional urb ...
,
Lithuania Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...
) is a postmodern painter. His father is an eminent Lithuanian philologist Donatas Sauka. In 1989, he was awarded the
Lithuanian National Prize The Lithuanian National Prize ( lt, Nacionalinė kultūros ir meno premija), established in 1989, is an award granted for achievements in culture and the arts. It has been awarded annually in six categories since 2006 (between 1989 and 2006 there w ...
.


Life & work

Šarūnas Sauka was born in 1958, in the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius. From 1976 to 1983, he studied at the National Institute of Lithuania, Vilnius Art Academy. In 1989, the artist was nominated for the Lithuanian National Prize for the diptych "Žalgirio mūšis" (English: ''
Battle of Grunwald The Battle of Grunwald, Battle of Žalgiris or First Battle of Tannenberg was fought on 15 July 1410 during the Polish–Lithuanian–Teutonic War. The alliance of the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, led respec ...
''). His monumental painting "A Thousand Years for Lithuania" (2008-2012) is displayed in the Lithuanian Presidential Palace. Sauka now lives in
Dusetos Dusetos () ( pl, Dusiaty) is a city in Zarasai district municipality, northeastern Lithuania, west of Zarasai, near Lake Sartai. History According to the 1923 census, 704 Jews were living in the town. As a result of out-migration in the 1920s ...
, a small and remote village among numerous lakes and forests. He has two children, Monika Saukaitė, a painter, and Mykolas Sauka, a sculptor and writer. Šarūnas' work, by both critics and laymen, is often referred to as "different". However, the "difference" in Sauka's paintings is quite consistent. Sauka's imagery is rich with religious symbolism, sharp contrasts of colour, characters and objects in a state of decay. The images of blood, organs, severed body parts and butchery are often found in his paintings. This literal dissection or deformation of the human form is possibly an expression of the author's belief that the human must be stripped from conventional chains in order to contemplate the true condition of its body and soul. In many of his paintings, he uses his own face, sometimes faces of his family members or relatives; the victim and aggressor usually both have the same face.Alfonsas Andriuškevičius et al.
Šarūno Saukos postmodernizmas
Meno Lietuva (Art Lithuania), Skaitmeninio Vaizdo Ložė. Accessed August 13, 2006.
A full appreciation of his artwork requires an understanding of the extent and cruelty of the
communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...
terror in Lithuania and other countries of
Eastern Europe Eastern Europe is a subregion of the Europe, European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural, and socio-economic connotations. The vast majority of the region is covered by Russ ...
and a grasp of some of the underlying metaphysical and archetypal ideas that are basic to his world view and sensibility.Rimantas Dichavičius, Šarūnas Sauka: lbum Galerija Maldis, 2001. :"The scope of Sauka's imagination includes various manifestations of corruption, rotting, and deterioration, usually connected with human corporeality understood as the antithesis to the Christian ideal of redemption and that of corporeal resurrection. Here we meet horror—struck Gnoticism ic?mixed with Postmodern irony. The artist's world is not a theophany, but a place of Gnostic terror, abandonment and submission to malign forces. However, the labyrinth of material darkness is also a vessel where alchemical work can be done, while supported by the creative imagination. Hence, pathology is inherently mythologized, just as all mythology is pathologized. Sauka stands against both the dematerialization and the spiritualization of reality. He partly follows the tradition of classical European painting, especially as regards various techniques and principles of expression, though creating quite a different context where any traces of Aristotelian logic vanish and the forces of evil become permanent and irrefutable. In a sense, Sauka not only symbolizes the gloomy end of Christian civilization and its , but also reveals the foolish face of the 20th century, which appears when the masks of rationality and seeming wisdom are stripped away." (Algis Uždavinys, Dr. of Philosophy)


Personality

Šarūnas is known for his somewhat isolated lifestyle (living and working in the remote village of
Dusetos Dusetos () ( pl, Dusiaty) is a city in Zarasai district municipality, northeastern Lithuania, west of Zarasai, near Lake Sartai. History According to the 1923 census, 704 Jews were living in the town. As a result of out-migration in the 1920s ...
), reluctance to speak about his work or give interviews. He is extremely diligent, evident from his portfolio of hundreds of paintings.


See also

* List of Lithuanian artists


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sauka, Sarunas 1958 births Living people Recipients of the Lithuanian National Prize Artists from Vilnius Vilnius Academy of Arts alumni Lithuanian painters