Rimantas Plunge

MIMETIC

Karas Gallery

September 2nd – 13th 2015

Opening of the exhibition on 2nd of September at 7pm

This exhibition is composed of new works (created during the last year). It is very close to the author’s most important creative credo: the most important creative challenge is discovering important things. People are very similar, so one man’s discoveries are important for everyone. In this way, the author’s works do not exist as isolated products of the artist, but as a universal insight, which invites the viewer to join the discussion.

The title of MIM is not a coincidence; it creates versatile references, the most important of which is mimesis. It refers to a broad idea of mimesis, described by Plato and Aristotle as the representation of nature. Plato and Aristotle contrast mimesis from diegesis. These philosophers argue that mimesis shows, rather that tells. In this way the author invites discussion through actualized images and by asking what is real.

Medium does not play a defining role for the author: he sees no difference between a drawing, painting or a photograph. In this case the technology and mechanism are not important, it is the author himself what is. In the technological age, the author himself is the resource and mechanism for supervising and interpreting the environment. The author’s position is in the contrast with the nature of human kind and it is asking once again “what are we?“.

Rimantas Plunge once again confirms that photography is one of the cornerstones of strategies used for the interpretation of reality. I dare to state that the artist never tried to represent what is clearly visible and readable without any effort. By specially limiting any linear narrative and through clear perception, R. Plunge invites you keep distance. This distance is dedicated to continuous development and intellectual debate, which takes active positions both in the addressee and the message, as well as in R. Plunge’s distinctive technology. Open to discussion and interpretation, his artworks are a patient and consistent result of research. Each author’s exhibition repeats important questions for the art: what else the image can reveal about the subject, about the place in which we exist, about the identity which is so unstable, and which is never really comprehensive?

Flipped and inverted negatives, multi-layered prints, scratched and torn paper, do not prevent recognizing usual places of Lithuania, but they are worth a deeper reflection. Locations are not only changed, strange, but they also raise a direct question: do you really see the real world, and are all of its records undoubtedly correct and can they not be discussed again and again?

Dr Remigijus Venckus

Rimantas Plunge is an artist and researcher who studied fine arts and later painting at Siauliai University in Lithuania. In 2010 he defended a PhD thesis in Social Sciences. Since 1999 he has been a member of the Lithuanian Artist’s Association. For five years he has been working in the Lithuanian Artist’s Association, as the head of Siauliai branch. During his artistic carrier he took part in more than 60 group exhibitions and organized more than 15 solo exhibitions (Lithuania, Denmark, USA, UK). Since 1996 he has been teaching at the Universities and Academies in Lithuania. Since the year 2000 he has been giving lessons at many Universities in Austria, Portugal, Spain, UK, Denmark, Latvia, Estonia, USA and other countries. Since 2010 he has been the Head of the Department of Contemporary Art and assoc. prof. at Vytautas Magnus University in Kaunas, Lithuania.

The exhibition is financially supported by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic Croatia and by the City Office for Culture, Education and Sports Zagreb.

Karas Gallery

Praška 4, 10000 Zagreb

Working hours: Tuesday to Friday 11 am – 7 pm, Saturday and Sunday 10 am – 2 pm

Monday and holidays – closed