You are invited to the painting exhibition by Tomas Viktoras Kiauka, titled “The Sky of East Prussia,” from June 5th to 29th!
Opening of the exhibition: June 5th, 5:00 PM.
The artist about the exhibition:
“Why ‘The Sky of East Prussia’?
The world to us is an external place where we often feel alien and insecure. This leads to a desire to turn that foreign space into our home. East Prussia is my historical homeland, which no longer exists; all that remains is the same sky and a few memory artifacts. By painting the natural and cultural motifs of East Prussia, I symbolically ‘reclaim’ them and transform them into a metaphysical home, grounding myself under that same sky. However, geography and history are not the primary concerns here. What matters is the relationship, the gaze, the becoming. It’s important to establish a connection with the environment, to feel it and give it a visible expression, and to try to resist the entropy of time.”*
Tomas Viktoras Kiauka was born in 1968 in Šilutė and grew up in Vilnius. He completed his studies at the J. Vienožinskis Art School and later studied painting and drawing privately. He studied theology and philosophy in Germany and earned his PhD at Heidelberg University.
He teaches philosophy and art theory at the Vilnius Academy of Arts and writes articles and essays on theology, philosophy, and art. He is a member of the Lithuanian PEN Center. Together with pianist and painter Viktoras Paukštelis, he has held painting exhibitions in Klaipėda (2011), Vilnius (2012), and Kėdainiai (2014); he has also had solo exhibitions at the Baroti Gallery in Klaipėda (2018 and 2023) and at the M. Valančius Public Library in Kretinga (2019). He has participated in creative plein air workshops at Paliesius Manor.
Since 2018, he has been a member of the Klaipėda Regional Artists’ Association.
The exhibition is supported by the Vilnius Academy of Arts and the Klaipėda City Municipality.
