The Rooster Gallery cordially invites you to visit the exhibition VANISHING POINT by painter Jonas Motiejus Meškauskas. The opening will take place on August 22, 19:00, in the ‘Borgo’ building , Naugarduko St. 5.

‘In the former building of the Faculty of Economics of Vilnius College, on the second floor, in a space that was probably used for lectures on accounting for management decisions, a Euro-renovation and public procurement aesthetic dominates. Splashed with primer laminated floors, dusty office lamps and plastic windows. The once-white walls are carved with inscriptions, drawings, sketches of Emilis Šeputis’ works and the remains of paintings and traces of those who have been here overnight. In the corner, on top of a mezzanine made of wooden planks, cardboard boxes are piled from the various dumpsters around Naugardukas Street. A large structure holds old, failed or not yet made paintings, leaning against each other like library cards. It is encompassed by objects that are essential to the studio – a DIY workbench, wood and woodworking waste, pallets that have been stolen from the logistical ports of supermarkets, random objects thrown away by people, the remnants of installations from past exhibitions, a collection of out-of-tune guitars, a sculpture of Virgin Mary that has flown through the window and similar trophies and artifacts found in the street, a butchered piano that only makes a ramshackle sound, a leather imitating cream-coloured armchair, trashed in paint and tags, also two tables – one, homemade, for wood-cutting, the other is used for various preparatory and leisure activities. On top, a Macbook Air laptop with an M1 processor and hundreds of image files dedicated to finding motifs on the display. Next to it, any object that has become an ashtray that will not be used for as long as possible into the evening, Stanley Orange tobacco, XL slim filters and OCB papers, a packet of Kubuš juice, a couple of empty glass bottles of Kalnapilis Original with Saaz hops, a can of Redbull and a round-bottomed flask used in chemistry for mixing 600 ml of water with paracetamol, caffeine and codeine and poured over a breakfast previously eaten at home consisting of a diet: vitamin-complex, a coffee, and a glimpse through an oven glass to a Dr. Oetker Feliciana frozen pizza with ham and pesto sauce which has been cooked overnight to a carbon state. On this desk always lies a stainless-steel Leatherman Switch Surge multi-tool, reminding of the need to start the routine that marks the beginning of creation and to complete the scrolling through reels on the iPhone 15, and from there, to transfer randomly discovered motifs to the computer’s folder system, organise them according to the date of discovery, and categorise into two segments, ‘untitled’ and ‘selected’. After changing into Saucony Excursion TR12 work shoes and turning Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas radio K-Dust soundtrack uploaded to Youtube on almost defunct Denon DSB250BT Bluetooth speaker, begins the preparation of the stretching frames for the previously completed works. This is done by using a variety of items – a hammer, tape measure, boxcutter, a level, a set square, also a collection of DeWALT cordless tools, including the DCD800P2T drill and the branded 30-head socket set, as well as the DCH133M1 perforator, the DCG405 angle grinder, the DSC356 oscillating multi-tool (most commonly used as a chisel), and the DCS334 jig saw. This is followed by the subsequent task of preparing the cardboard planes for the following day’s painting, starting with Lukas brand medium primer, of which 2L is diluted with 700ml water. This coating mixture is then rolled on and left to dry. Once the cardboard has been treated in such a method, it is screwed into the wall-mounted pressed-sawdust panel using Haus Halt PH2 drywall screws. The instruments are then prepared: the palette – a tube of Saint Petersburg Master Class oil paint leftover from studies at the Vilnius Academy of Fine Arts is mixed in a clay bowl with a pigment of Lamp Black, the blackest black (the mixture is also usually left overnight to dry); the Rembrandt paintbrushes (sizes 24, 20 and 16), which are characterised by their particularly good strength and durability, good distribution of the paint, are modified by immediately cutting half of the bristles. Spare cardboard is used to cover the studio windows overlooking the headquarters of the Lithuanian Council for Culture, the laptop is connected to an Epson EB-E20 projector, which is then directed onto a white plane, which becomes illuminated with the previously selected motifs, and the callosity causing daily procedure of rubbing the paint begins.’

Curator: Linas Bliškevičius

Sound Artist: Milda Ambrožaitė

Graphic design: Jokūbas Juršėnas

Light designer: Adomas Kaikaris

Exhibition partners / sponsors: UAB ‘Pro Kapital Vilnius Real Estate’

Opening hours: IV–VI 4–7 pm, VII 2–5 pm.