Composition 1923

Vytautas Kairiukstis made this painting “Composition” in Lithuania with oil on canvas. I see a figure emerging from a gray-white form, with the painting's geometry creating a really interesting tension. There’s a feeling of shifting and emerging, trial and error, and intuition, which I totally relate to. It’s like he’s feeling his way through the painting, one brushstroke at a time. I wonder what Kairiukstis was thinking about while making this piece. Was he thinking of Kazimir Malevich and his abstract geometry? There’s a sense of the body in relation to these blocky, geometric shapes and a limited but lively colour palette. The way he’s laid down those colours, the physicality of the medium—it all contributes to the emotional and intellectual weight of the work. It's as though he's capturing a feeling, an intention, a meaning that's bigger than any one of us. And that's what painting is all about, right? An ongoing conversation across time and space.