The exhibition “Metaphysics of the frame. A Retrospective of Photographs by Audrius Kemežys” presents a retrospective of the early work of the Lithuanian cinematographer Audrius Kemežys (1973-2018).
The title of the exhibition is not accidental. “A metaphysics of the frame born at the intersection of truth and beauty” is a quote from film director Giedrė Beinoriūtė’s conversation with Audrius Stonis about Kemežys’ unadorned sense of harmony between reality and the beauty of the moment in her book “Cinematographer Audrius Kemežys. A Moment to Adjust Colours” (Kino operatorius Audrius Kemežys. Akimirksnis spalvoms suderinti) (Monoklis, 2022).
This description is also fitting for the photographs in the exhibition – Kemežys’ early attempts from 1985, when he started attending the photography club at the Birštonas Culture Centre, during the first years of Lithuanian independence, when he worked as a photographer at the Centre for Contemporary Art, and until around 1998, when he graduated from the Film and Television Department of the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre, where he studied cinematography. Kemežys is considered one of the most unique cinematographers of his generation and a filmmaker of enormous creative potential, who has impressively conveyed a sense of universality in his cinematography.
The works selected for the exhibition, which stand out for their conceptual experiments, vividly convey the beginnings of the artist’s creative style – a particular attention to light, subtlety and attentiveness to the most delicate moments of everyday life – which we can recognise in the experimental video art, documentaries and feature films that have preserved his later work as a cinematographer.
Waving tree branches, rooms lined with the fragments of index cards or an old man’s step by the seaside depicted in the monochrome photographs, as well as other images of everyday life exhibited in the retrospective of A. Kemežys’ work, can be perceived as moments of real, felt life, highlighted by the artist’s gaze and meticulously woven into the narrative of the meaning of our existence.
The exhibition will run till 11 May 2023 at the 5th floor atrium of the National Library.
The initiator of the exhibition: Aušra Trakšelytė
Curator: Elita Užuotaitė
Exhibition architect: Gediminas G. Akstinas
Designer: Emilija Dobrovolskienė
Organiser : National Library of Lithuania
Thanks to Povilas Veteris for loaning artworks.
Photography: Vygaudas Juozaitis
