On Friday, July 17, at 6 p.m., K\u0119stutis Zapkus\u2019s exhibition \u201cPaintings and Drawings\u201d will open at the KADS Baroti Gallery (2 Did\u017eioji Vandens St.\/1 Auk\u0161toji St., Klaip\u0117da).<\/b><\/p>\n
\n\u201cK\u0119stutis Zapkus is one of the most important Lithuanian painters living in the United States and a representative of abstract art. K. Zapkus was born in 1938 in Lithuania; in 1944, he fled westward with his mother, and in 1947, he emigrated to the United States, where he studied at the Art Institute of Chicago, at Syracuse University, and later in Paris. In 1989, he organized the exhibition \u201cChildren of War\u201d at the Contemporary Art Center in Vilnius. In 1992, K\u0119stutis Zapkus came to teach at the Vilnius Academy of Arts. He taught for half a year, but the legend he created lives on to this day. In 2014, he was awarded the title of Honorary Professor of the Vilnius Academy of Arts. <\/p>\n
\nFor decades, K\u0119stutis Zapkus has critically examined painting as a non-hierarchical, semiotic field, emphasizing the structural complexity of the painting, the simultaneity of the concept, and the depth of its experience. The artist\u2019s works have been exhibited at prestigious galleries around the world\u2014the Brooklyn Museum, the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C., the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Carnegie Institute in Pittsburgh. In 2014, a retrospective of his works was held for the first time in Lithuania, at the National Art Gallery (NDG) in Vilnius. In 2023\u20132024, the \u201cMeno Parkas\u201d gallery presented K\u0119stutis Zapkus\u2019s works at the Toru\u0144 Center for Contemporary Art, the Latvian Academy of Art in Riga, the \u201cArtissima\u201d (Turin), \u201cVienna Contemporary\u201d (Vienna), and the 9th World Samogitian Art Exhibition in Plung\u0117. In 2025, the artist\u2019s works were added to the M. K. \u010ciurlionis National Collection. <\/p>\n
\nThroughout his life, the artist has remained strictly committed to abstraction, using a pure visual language devoid of figurative elements, while the structure of his works is more reminiscent of a musical composition. His works draw the viewer into complex layers of color, space, and movement. K\u0119stutis Zapkus\u2019s approach to painting remains highly individual; he refuses to conform to dominant art movements, yet draws inspiration from music, architecture, and historical or cultural events. For K\u0119stutis Zapkus, painting is an intellectual experience that unfolds through an intense interaction with form. <\/p>\n
\nFollowing his previous exhibitions at the \u201cMeno Parkas\u201d Gallery in 2023 and at the Artists\u2019 Union Gallery in 2025, and in light of the ongoing evolution and relevance of his work, we are continuing our collaboration. His more recent works, presented in this exhibition, return to themes that have been central to the artist\u2019s practice for decades. The goal of the \u201cMeno Parkas\u201d Gallery is\u2014both through this exhibition as well as through future exhibitions, to gradually reveal a collection of works, providing an opportunity to become acquainted with K\u0119stutis Zapkus\u2019s latest artistic explorations.\u201d \/ Dovil\u0117 Mork\u016bnait\u0117-\u017dilinsk\u0117 \/<\/p>\n
\nExhibition dates: July 17 \u2013 August 15, 2026<\/b><\/p>\n
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Exhibition organizers: \u201cMeno Parkas\u201d Gallery, Klaip\u0117da County Artists\u2019 Union.<\/b><\/p>\n
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The project is funded by: the Lithuanian Council for Culture and the Klaip\u0117da City Municipality.<\/b><\/p>\n
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Patrons of the KADS Baroti Gallery: UAB \u201cStemma Group,\u201d UAB \u201cVakar\u0173 Medienos Grup\u0117.\u201d<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
On Friday, July 17, at 6 p.m., K\u0119stutis Zapkus\u2019s exhibition \u201cPaintings and Drawings\u201d will open at the KADS Baroti Gallery (2 Did\u017eioji Vandens St.\/1 Auk\u0161toji St., Klaip\u0117da). \u201cK\u0119stutis Zapkus is one of the most important Lithuanian painters living in the United States and a representative of abstract art. K. Zapkus was born in 1938 in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":50013,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","tags":[],"mec_category":[499],"mec_locations":[989],"class_list":["post-50025","mec-events","type-mec-events","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","mec_category-exhibition"],"acf":[],"mec_location":[{"id":989,"name":"Baroti Gallery","slug":"baroti-gallery"}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/klaipedatravel.lt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/mec-events\/50025","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/klaipedatravel.lt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/mec-events"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/klaipedatravel.lt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/mec-events"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klaipedatravel.lt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klaipedatravel.lt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50025"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klaipedatravel.lt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50013"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/klaipedatravel.lt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50025"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klaipedatravel.lt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50025"},{"taxonomy":"mec_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klaipedatravel.lt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/mec_category?post=50025"},{"taxonomy":"mec_location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klaipedatravel.lt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/mec_locations?post=50025"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}