Romas Orantas

LTRomo Oranto, kaip knygos dailininko, kelią puikiai apibūdina Donaldo Kajoko eilėraštis "Nežinomo viduramžių dailininko piešinys", kuris yra vienoje iš paskutinių dailininko kurtų knygų, pareikalavusių dvasinių ir fizinių jėgų. Orantą galima apibūdinti kaip viduramžių dailininką, puikiai išmaniusį savo amatą ir toli nuo jo nenukrypusį - nuosekliai kūrusį knygas ir knygos meną tobulinusį visą gyvenimą. Epitetą nežinomo galėtume interpretuoti kaip mūsų pačių vis dar iki galo neatrastą, nepakankamai įvertintą ir apibūdintą. Taip pat tokį, kuris tarsi sąmoningai slėpėsi už knygų autorių, nedemonstruodamas savojo "aš". Rašytojas, atrodo, jam buvo svarbiausias - siekdavo jį atskleisti ne vien knygoje suguldytu tekstu, bet ir kitais jos elementais: raštu, parašu, portretiniu atvaizdu. Ir savo kurtomis iliustracijomis. Romo iliustracijos knygose buvo tarsi jo perregėta vizualinė visuma, rašytojo kalbėjimo ženklinę išraiška. Norint apibūdinti Romo Oranto knygos meno ypatumus, jo kūrybinį kelią galima skelti į du laikotarpius: iki Lietuvos nepriklausomybės atkūrimo ir po jo (šie etapai labai ryškūs ir šalies spaudos mene), taip pat galima skirti tris dailininko kūrybos etapus [P. 15].

ENAmong Lithuanian illustrators and book designers, Romas Orantas (1949-2012) stood out through his individual sensibility and his distinct style of graphic art ingeniously applied to the book. Born on 8 June 1949 in Novosibirsk District (Russia), from 1961 through 1967 he received his schooling in art at Kaunas Art School, in 1976 graduated from the Department of Graphics of the Lithuanian State Art Institute. His teachers were the masters of etching Leonas Lagauskas, and the book illustrators, Vytautas Jurkūnas and Antanas Kučas, whose artistic precepts were shaped in pre-war Lithuania. His later influences were by the artists Rimtautas Gibavičius and Algirdas Steponavičius, the latter's concept of the art of the book was especially close to Orantas. The artist started collaboration with the Lithuanian publishers in 1976; he worked with the publishing houses "Mokslas", "Vaga", and was a staff artist of the Lithuanian Writers' Union Publishers for long years. He started exhibiting in 1984 and was active as a participant and organizer of the Lithuanian competitions of the art of the book, a winner of numerous accolades at the national and international competitions. Romas Orantas produced fine graphic prints and book illustrations. Gradually these two areas became inseparable, as his entire life and art was linked with the book. He created illustrations and designed scores of books by Lithuanian and foreign authors. His style found best expression in poetry illustrations where simple motives mostly borrowed from the natural world develop into metaphors, symbols and signs. His characteristic drawing based on harmony of subtle tones with delicate line and nearly pointillist cross-hatching, the intentional incompleteness of the image and a peaceful rhythm of passage of images in a book, lend inimitable distinctness to the books illustrated and designed by the artist.Though best known as an illustrator of unique style, he had an unfaltering sense for the dramaturgy of the book, the potential of its structure and typography. Creatively approached typography could produce a book that was a work of art no second to an illustrated publication. The books created by Orantas' hand show a distinct relationship of type and illustration. According to philosopher Antanas Andrijauskas, Romas Orantas arguably ranks together with Viktoras Petravičius, Žibuntas Mikšys, Algirdas Steponavičius, Birutė Žilytė, Petras Repšys, Stasys Eidrigevičius, Alfonsas Žvilius, Arvydas Každailis, Saulius Chlebinskas as one of the most significant masters of the book.