Andrius Zakarauskas | Stroke the message, 2023 | Oil, enamel, plywood, bolts on aluminium panel, 68,6x51,2 (77x60)

Sign.: Andrius Zakarauskas 2023  - Stroke the message -  (reverse)

Andrius Zakarauskas was born in 1982 in Kaunas. From 2005 to 2010, he studied painting at the Vilnius Academy of Arts. Since 2004, he has participated in group exhibitions in Europe, China, and the USA. In 2005, he held his first solo exhibitions in Lithuania. In 2009, A. Zakarauskas won the first "Young Painter Prize" competition. The artist's works are part of the collections of the National Gallery of Art, the MO Museum, the Noewe Foundation, Ole Faarup, the Church of All Saints in Vilnius, and the Elektrėnai Church of Virgin Mary the Queen of Martyrs as well as in private collections in Lithuania and abroad.

Zakarauskas focuses primarily on the relationship between the painter and painting. His works, which often feature portraits and multifaceted compositions, combine documentary fragments of nature, landscapes, and cityscapes with imaginary and abstract segments, creating multi-layered spaces and diachronic narratives.

The painter often becomes the main character. A figure resembling the painter appears as his alter ego; the artist's presence is felt even when his image is not on the canvas. The painter is both the creator and the object of creation simultaneously, personifying the brushstroke. The narrative is often shaped by the painter's relationship with the canvas surface, his constant struggle to transcend, break through, and pierce the plane. The painter is a demiurge, organizing the visual space around him, giving form and meaning.

In his latest paintings, religious themes emerge, with Bible stories serving as the starting point for his works. Besides the male painter, a female figure often appears, embodying the emotional and romantic aspects of the theme, balancing the drama and monumentality of the scenes with lyricism and intimacy.