Flirtas su popartu

LTLietuvoje grafikai neturėjo aiškiai artikuliuoto siekio kurti būtent popartą, nesuformavo vieningos grupės ir nerengė bendrų šios krypties parodų. Jų santykį su popartu veikiau būtų galima prilyginti flirtui - tai buvo 7-8-ojo dešimtmečių kultūrinio konteksto paskatintas ilgiau ar trumpiau trukęs susižavėjimas madingomis formomis. Žvelgiant iš šių dienų perspektyvos atrodo, kad popartiškos formos padėdavo dailininkams pasijusti pasaulio dalimi, įsilieti į bendras vizualiųjų menų sroves, o retesniais atvejais ir perteikti kritišką žvilgsnį į sovietinę realybę. Visgi pavieniai grafikų eksperimentai susidėliojo į didelę estampų, iliustracijų, knygų viršelių ir plokštelių vokų bei plakatų visumą, kurią analizuojant galima išryškinti būdingiausias lietuviško poparto temas ir išraiškos priemones. Tad kas buvo tie popartu domėjęsi grafikai? Kokioje aplinkoje formavosi jų kūrybinis stilius, kokios temos dominavo jų darbuose? Popartu susidomėjusius Lietuvos grafikus galima skirti į dvi kartas. Pirmoji - mokytojų karta, studijas baigusi atšilimo pradžioje, 1956-1964 m., ir netrukus po to ėmusi mokytojauti Vilniaus M. K. Čiurlionio vidurinėje meno mokykloje ar dėstyti LSSR valstybiniame dailės institute. Antroji karta - mokiniai, kuriems Čiurlionio mokykloje ar Dailės institute dėstė pirmoji karta. Dauguma mokinių savo karjerą susiejo su grafiniu dizainu, dirbo Eksperimentinio meninio konstravimo biure (EMKB) arba leidyklose. [Iš straipsnio, p. 11]Reikšminiai žodžiai: Popartas; Grafika; Dailininkai; Pop art; Graphics; Artists.

ENLithuanian graphic artists did not have a clearly articulated desire to create Pop art, neither did they form a unified group or organize joint exhibitions. Rather, one could call their relationship with Pop art a certain flirtation. It was a fascination with fashionable forms lasting for a longer or shorter period that was fuelled by the cultural context of the 1960s and 1970s. Pop art forms allowed artists to join the global trends of visual arts and, in rarer cases, convey a critical, relationship with the Soviet reality. It was rare for graphic artists to obtain information about art phenomena happening around the world directly, through travelling to foreign countries. More often, art news would come from art albums sent by relatives living abroad or through subscriptions to art publications from other socialist countries. The first publicly available source in Lithuania to provide information on Western art trends was the book by Lionginas Šepetys "Outlines of Modernism" (Vilnius: Vaga, 1967), which also presented trends in Pop art in some detail. Lithuanian graphic artists interested in Pop art can be divided into two generations. The first one is that of teachers who graduated at the beginning of detente period (1956-1964) and soon afterwards began teaching at the National M. K. Čiurlionis School of Art or the LSSR State Art Institute. Included in this generation are Juozas Galkus, Rimtautas Vincentas Gibavičius, Jonas Gudmonas, Arvydas Každailis, Vincas Kisarauskas, Vladislovas Žilius, Birutė Žilytė and others. The teachers' generation began their creative path with stylisation of folk art and, using it as a stepping stone, continued to look for new modern ways of artistic expression. Pop art-inspired stylisation, decorativity and range of colours were some of the most evident features in their work; they also adopted the motif of a target, common in American Pop art.The second generation is that of students who were taught by the first generation either at the Čiurlionis School or the Art Institute: Mikalojus Povilas Vilutis, Vytautas Jurkūnas Jr., Vilius Jurkūnas, Giedrė Bulotaitė-Jurkūnienė, Gerardas Šlektavičius, Miroslavas Znamerovskis and others, who started their careers in the early 1970s. Most of them linked their careers to graphic design, working either at the Experimental Art Design Bureau or in publishing houses. In their works, they begin to depict urban life, their environment and loved ones, as well as the habits of bohemian life. The visual language they created is more concise, and it is the first generation to create silkscreens. The works by Každailis, who technically belonged to the generation of teachers, are also thematically closer to the works of the younger generation. He was one of the most consistent graphic artists who developed Pop art ideas, creating war-themed prints, a subject that is rare in Lithuanian fine arts. Towards the end of the 1960s, Lithuanian graphics were influenced by a new trend in Western art, psychedelia. Graphic experiments inspired by both Pop art and psychedelic art were generally close to their Western analogues, but Lithuanian graphic artists also used Pop art style to convey new themes that were less usual in the West. One of them was machinery and various devices. Besides, ethnic Pop art can be considered a unique Lithuanian contribution to the Pop art movement. Likewise distant from Western analogues was Lithuanian socialist Pop art, featured in posters and illustrations. In them, graphic artists focused mainly on composition and colour, that is, created "formalism" that was officially criticized. However, there was no negative response from the authorities in the end, as it was beneficial for the system to appear somewhat liberal.Although Lithuanian graphic artists created their most prominent Pop art works in the late 1960s and early 1970s, Lithuanian Pop art should not be considered a belated phenomenon. Like every style, Western Pop art was radical at first, eventually becoming more decorative. It was then that Pop art stylistics, coupled with certain features of psychedelic art, began their global dominance in the areas of design and the applied arts. Lithuanian artists adopted this late Pop art style, so wide-spread in visual culture at the time, and began to successfully apply collage and silkscreen techniques, create serial compositions and use poster-like flattened stylisation. In this way, they created a unique variety of Lithuanian Pop art, which combined themes developed in the West with a unique folk culture or even socialist motives. [From the publication]