PROF. DR. REMIGIJUS VENCKUS
COLOR AND LIGHT
From the painting exhibition cycle Freedom and Randomness

Exhibition curator: prof. dr. Rimantas Plungė

The 13th of December 2025 is recognised as St. Lucy's Day, a celebration that symbolises the anticipation of the return of light. In celebration of this momentous occasion, from 11 December to 1 February, Professor Dr. Remigijus Venckus, a media artist and professor at Vilnius Gediminas Technical University, will be presenting his exhibition, entitled "Colour and Light". The paintings can be viewed at the Art, Culture and Leisure Tower of the Trakai History Museum (Kęstučio g. 4, Trakai). On 17 December at 5 p.m., a public lecture on abstract art by the exhibition's author will take place in the exhibition space.

Remigijus Venckus is recognised as an interdisciplinary artist. His artistic inclinations encompass a diverse array of media, including video art, experimental photography, computer graphics and design, and painting with acrylics and digital tools. The artist's extensive experience has informed his distinctive approach to painting. The artist perceives the process of forming a painting as analogous to media art practice, wherein experimental colour editing on the surface of the canvas, layering of brushstrokes, and connection with graphic lines are clearly visible. In this instance, the artist approaches painting as a medium for montage.

It is reasonable to conclude that the viewer experiences a positive emotional response to the paintings, which can be attributed to the vivid colour contrasts of the canvases. The paintings thus become a reference point in a visual field of darkness (uncertainty and randomness), while light is employed as a metaphor for freedom, improvisation, a new perspective, and a hopeful future.

The curator of the exhibition Prof. Dr. Rimantas Plungė posits that the juxtaposition of colour fields in paintings engenders both conflict and dialogue, whereby large, evenly painted flat surfaces engage in communication with small graphic details. The viewer's gaze is immediately drawn from the laconic to the contrasting. The form necessitates a thorough examination of the canvas, an experience that is described as the "pleasure of the gaze". Furthermore, Venckus's painting process is characterised as a mechanism of pleasure that seamlessly integrates intimate experience and meditation.

The expression provokes the viewer, and in turn, the viewer's gaze is drawn to the surface of the canvas, where fields of colour are divided into two camps. The initial camp is characterised by the presence of distinct, contrasting, and cohesive regions of vivid colouration. The second camp consists of shadow planes, which are characterised by denser brushstrokes and graphic drawing elements. The shadow planes are characterised by a rebellious brush, which, by intensifying the semantic tension, transforms light into a phenomenon that is both colouristic and conceptual.