On skulls
The skull is my favorite motif of all – rather drastic, but eloquent, having the perfect shape, natural (we all are wearing one). I used the principle of contrast matching the skull with other less deathly or completely un-deathly items, such as flowers, bags, boot-trees, wooden angels, crowns, carved Samogitian metal trees and the like. In Soviet times, I brought home a few human skulls from the basement of St. James’ church in Vilnius (former theatre props warehouse). I disinfected them in our kitchen when my mother was gone to school by boiling them in the laundry pot. I think two of my later paintings from the autumn and winter spent in the woods of Antazavė in Robertas Matulionis’ farmhouse, the two versions of “Wild Boar Skulls and Bags” ( 1980-1981) are quite good. Also about ten paintings with a white cow skull which I drove from Latvian Nida to Alanta and back numerous times: “Cow Skull and Noblewoman’s Bouquet”, “Cow Skull and Wooden Seraph”, “Still Life with a Quarter of a Cow Skull”, “Flowers and a Dog Skull”, “Cow Skull and Embroidered Heart”, “Quarter of a Cow Skull and Sculpture of St. John”, and so on. So, there are the whole skull, a quarter of it, and a dog’s head.
Cow skull and Samogitian palm. 2008 These are the serrated metal palm trees used to decorate Christ’s coffin during Holy Week, found in the parish of Plateliai. In my collection, I have at least a few such palms of different sizes; I have drawn and painted them in various compositions a few dozen times.
