Opening of Ričardas Garbačiauskas’ Painting Exhibition “The Matter of Passion”

On 9 October at 6:30 PM, the painting exhibition “The Matter of Passion” by Ričardas Garbačiauskas will open at the Šiauliai Cultural Centre Gallery “Laiptai”.

The exhibition features works created over the past few years, revealing the artist’s explorations in the field of abstract painting. The exhibition guides viewers through the development of the artist’s visual expression, marked by a gradual pursuit of simplicity in form and colour, more localised colour fields, and minimalism of expression. The compositions draw on natural forms and expressive silhouettes of plants, often creating contrasts between the main elements and their backgrounds, as well as exploring their chromatic relationships. The painter devotes considerable attention to subtle tonal variations and the painterly richness of background surfaces. Throughout the creative process, the artist addresses a range of challenges simultaneously: developing compositions, refining drawing, balancing nuances of colour, and exploring the relationship between large forms and details. Yet the primary goal remains to preserve a distinctive and recognisable artistic identity and to draw the viewer’s attention through the unique colour language of his works.

“Ričardas Garbačiauskas’ artistic career, spanning four decades of intensive work, has evolved from figurative painting towards abstraction. Yet the stages he has passed through have not disappeared without a trace – the artist occasionally returns to the human figure, incorporating it into painterly miniatures or transforming it into a decorative element intertwined with abstract forms.

Over the past decade, however, Garbačiauskas’ work has acquired such painterly freedom that the human figure could perhaps no longer contain it: only a line can twist, stretch, turn over, jerk, thicken and fade in such a way. I do not think I would be mistaken in saying that the painterly brushstroke, transformed into a line that creates the tension and mood of his paintings, has become one of Garbačiauskas’ principal means of expression. (...) At times seemingly accidental, yet aesthetically pure and clear, the composition is shaped entirely through rhythm. Growing denser and sparser, suddenly falling silent and then bursting noisily back into the pictorial space, the rhythm of all the elements of the work can at times become painfully distorted, even perverse, and therefore emotionally compelling,” says art historian Dalia Karatajienė.

Painter Ričardas Garbačiauskas was born in Vilnius in 1956. In 1980, he graduated in painting from the Vilnius Art Institute and began working at the then Šiauliai Pedagogical Institute (later Šiauliai University), where he served as Dean of the Faculty of Arts, Head of the Department of Painting, and Professor. In recent years, the artist has actively participated in international exhibitions, biennials, plein-air events, and symposia. Garbačiauskas’ works have been exhibited in Germany, Poland, Finland and Latvia, as well as in galleries in Vilnius and Kaunas. The artist works with oil and acrylic paints as well as ink.

The exhibition will be open until 14 November 2026.

Organised by the Šiauliai Cultural Centre.

Dear visitors, by attending the event, you consent to being filmed or photographed and to photographs featuring you being published on the Šiauliai Cultural Centre website, in the media, or on social media.