The exhibition by Ričardas Zdanavičius opens at Vilnius Town Hall on 7 August at 5:00 PM.
“Silence is not emptiness. It has its own density, rhythm, and memory. It resides in a gaze, in the posture of the body, in the intensity of colour, in the moment before a word is spoken. It is a space in which the inner world of a person becomes visible, while remaining ultimately inexpressible. In this exhibition, painting reveals itself as a surface of silence – a place where the invisible takes form.
The exhibition Surfaces of Silence presents paintings in a variety of formats – from the traditional rectangle to arched and tondo forms. These different formats are not merely formal choices. They shape the rhythm of looking, alter the relationship with space, and invite the viewer to experience the painting not as a closed image, but as a living presence.
At the heart of these paintings lies inner reality. The figures, most often women, are neither specific portraits nor narrators of individual stories. They become embodiments of memory, emotion, and experience, in which individual features fade away, giving way to a universal human experience. Here, the viewer encounters not another person, but reflections of their own inner states.
Bold outlines, saturated fields of colour, and an abstracted visual language reject the illusion of reality. The image does not reproduce the world but creates a reality of its own, in which colour becomes a form of emotional intensity, while the body becomes a site of sensitivity, memory, and thought. Painting here is not merely the creation of an image – it becomes a way of thinking about the human being.
The figures exist in a constant state of transformation. They balance between visibility and invisibility, between social role and inner reality, between what is revealed and what is deliberately left in silence. Identity is not stable here – it is constantly changing, taking shape and redefining its relationship with the self and the world. The creative process begins with a spontaneous gesture of drawing. In painting, intuition meets reflection, and the initial impulse acquires visual structure. Traces of decisions, doubts, and the passage of time remain visible on the surface of the painting. Thus, each work bears witness not only to the final result, but also to the process of becoming itself.
Surfaces of Silence is not a story about silence. It is an attempt to approach what most often remains unspoken. The surface of silence is not empty – it accumulates memories, emotions, gazes, and inner transformations. Here, dialogue takes place between the painting and the viewer, between the visible and the sensed, between the outward image and inner experience. Meaning does not reside within the work itself – it emerges in the encounter with it.
The exhibition does not invite us to seek unequivocal answers. It invites us to slow down our gaze and remain face to face with the image. Perhaps then what usually goes unnoticed becomes visible – the fragile forms of inner life, briefly rising to the surface before returning once again to silence.”
Ričardas Zdanavičius