Ricardas Blazukas – ‘Geometry of Colour’ exhibition at Almakan in Kuwait City opened on 11th May 2015 and continued until 4th June 2015.
Photographs by Jassim Al Nashmi.
Photographs of the gallery can be found on my next blog post here.
Description of the exhibition
‘Geometry of Colour’ is a selection of Ricardas Blazukas’ abstract paintings, hand sketches, cast sculptures and a neon installation – all exploring the relationship of simple form and colour. The exhibited series of work is only a small number of carefully chosen artwork from various collections, which Ricardas produced in his artistic career: ‘Intuitive Geometry’ (2014-2015), ‘Notational Alphabet’ (2013-2015), ‘I Ching Chance Compositions’ (2013-2015) and ‘Pyramid Sculptures’ (2012-2015). This collection of work summarizes the two subjects that Ricardas is most passionate about – geometry and colour. Each collection is highly influenced by Ricardas’ love for typography, graffiti, architecture and sculptural form. Combining these elements together with various art techniques Ricardas was able to create a visual collection of work, which is open to viewers interpretation.
‘Intuitive Geometry’ 2014-2015
‘Intuitive Geometry’ is Ricardas’ most recent body of work consisting of paintings, which he started and developed after his move to Kuwait in 2014. ‘Intuitive Geometry’ was mostly inspired by his earlier set of ‘I Ching’ chance experiments and their results, which Ricardas interpreted to establish geometry, scale and colour combinations for his new series. Ricardas’ extensive development of hand sketched elements produced in ‘I Ching’ compositions led him to a series of variously scaled, simple geometries complemented by unexpected and instinctive colour choices.
‘Notational Alphabet’ 2013-2015
‘Notational Alphabet’ is a set of 24 geometry compositions represented through three-dimensional form, letters and symbols in an attempt to create a notational system / symbolic alphabet. The alphabet was developed digitally by using four basic geometrical shapes: a square, a circle, a triangle and a rectangle, in order to create a variety of combinations complemented by colour. The study was then transformed into a series of handwritten letters, graphic symbols and sculptures. Through paintings and sculpture of the alphabet Ricardas aims to focus on each symbol individually in order to emphasize the presence of a simple form.
‘I Ching Chance Compositions’ 2013-2015
‘I Ching’ also known as the ‘Book of Changes’ is an ancient book of chance – the oldest of the Chinese classics, which provides 64 answers / hexagrams to any given question. Inspired by John Cage and his use of ‘I Ching’ in the ‘Music of Changes’, Ricardas created four composition charts consisting of 64 geometrical shapes, quantities, scale types and colours. Each of 64 I Ching hexagrams were assigned to the composition charts. Using ‘I Ching’ as an oracle Ricardas asked questions:
How many shapes to use in the composition? What is each shape?
What is the colour of each shape?
What is the scale of each shape?
This process of uncontrollable selection enabled Ricardas to create a series of chance compositions, which were then reproduced into a series of large and small scale paintings.
‘Pyramid Sculptures’ 2012-2015
Ricardas created his first ‘Pyramid Sculptures’ during his Masters of Architecture degree in London in 2012. Inspired by Roman Baroque Architect Francesco Borromini’s use of geometry and symmetry, Ricardas designed geometrical compositions in two dimensions, which were then transformed into three-dimensional objects and architectural spaces. During this development process Ricardas created triangular sculptures of various scales, shapes and materials. Amongst all produced pieces, the most notable are colourful ‘Pyramid Tiles’, which received attention from Saatchi Art curators and were consecutively featured on Saatchi Art Online Collections, such as: ‘Spotlight on the UK for Frieze Week’, ‘Art Objects’ and ‘Radical Geometry’.
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