Audrius Puipa: gyvenimo ir meno virtuozas

LTKnygos pradžioje publikuojami svarbiausi Audriaus Puipos kūriniai - akvarelės. Akvareliniais dažais jis kūrė labai nelengvai - ilgai ir kruopščiai. Tačiau ne visos dailininko akvarelės reprodukuojamos knygoje -pora puikių ankstyvųjų akvarelių dingo be pėdsakų, kai buvo nufotografuotos apžvalginei Vilniaus dailės akademijos studentų darbų knygai... [...] Po svarbiausių Audriaus Puipos kūrinių, atliktų akvarelės technika, reprodukuojami akvarelių "antrininkai" - litografijos, ofortai, serigrafijos. Ši vaizdinė medžiaga gausiai papildoma pagalbinėmis modelių, kitokios natūros fotografijomis, kad skaitytojas suvoktų, kaip gimė vienas ar kitas kūrinys. Reprodukuotus grafikos kūrinius, pakartojančius ir tiražuojančius akvareles, kartais net sunku atskirti. Akis pripranta prie to paties motyvo, spalvų ir tik gerai įsižiūrėjus pastebi, kad jos nėra identiškos - kitaip sukadruota kompozicija (lakšto kraštuose), mažiau palikta "kulisų", baltų vietų. Arba tiesiog tai veidrodinis akvarelės atspaudas. Kūrybinga Audriaus Puipos asmenybė apglėbdavo viską - jis net meistravo kažkaip kitoniškai, puipiškai. Knygoje stengiausi surinkti kuo daugiau jo sumeistrautų artefaktų, taip pat laiškų, dienoraščių, piešinukų, kad skaitytojas susidarytų kuo išsamesnį vaizdą apie šį neeilinį menininką. Tam talkina knygos prieduose skelbiami dailininko laiškai, kai kur prie kūrinių cituojamos jų ištraukos.[...] Knygos prieduose publikuojamas ir mokinio Audriaus Puipos dienoraštis, kuris svarbus keliais požiūriais: rašytas dvejus metus puipišku stiliumi, kai tikri dalykai, įvykiai, poelgiai susipynę su pusiau ar visiškai išgalvotais. Visi jo gyvenimo periodai yra įsimintini, turiningi. Ir tik menininkui Audriui Puipai taip tegalėjo nutikti. O toliau knygoje - tai, ką dailininkas be galo mylėjo - jo šeima, draugai, gyvieji paveikslai, na, ir žinoma, parodų bei kurinių sąrašas, svarbiausios gyvenimo datos tiems, kuriems to prireiks [Iš Pratarmės].

ENThis book is homonymous with the 2007 exhibition of the artist's work, which toured different towns of Lithuania. It used to be the artist's dream. One of his childhood pictures shows little Audrius, composed in a non-childlike manner, drawing with his finger on a foggy window pane. As a mature artist, he put himself to work with the same seriousness to create realistic fantasy worlds on a sheet of paper. It is not an oxymoron, but unique harmony of the opposites characterizing his world vision. This mischievous jester is sometimes captured by the camera with such a sad look, appearing so tired, so serious, so melancholic, as if he were a different person, known to just a few. And it was just one of the many enigmas of Audrius Puipa. A respectful reader may be astonished that in a short artist's biography, not only his art studies at Vilnius Art Institute, his brief period of teaching in Šešuoliai, but also his schooling years have been allocated a place of honour. But his drawing in pastels A Countryside Store made at the age of sixteen displays all the features of his mature art, while his notes in his paintings read similar to his school essays, which he relished reading aloud. Therefore the book includes Audrius'diary from his school years. He kept it for two years, writing in his characteristic style and recording the real things, events and actions, interwoven with fable or half-fable. It is a Soviet-area document written by a revolting youth. The studies at the Institute of Art brought together a company of inseparable friends: Audrius Puipa, Vytenis Jankūnas, Konstantinas Bogdanas, Ray (Rimvydas) Bartkus, Audrius Klimas, Rimvydas Kepežinskas. His close companions were Giedrius Jonaitis, and Rytis Valantinas. Audrius was a real genius of socializing - no wonder that a circle of his friends was so large.Somewhat later it was joined by Ernestas Parulskis and Saulius Pilinkus - the ingenious directors of life who master-minded plentiful exciting artistic actions. In the words of one of the characters of Audrius Puipa, "all of us were cucumbers pickled in the same jar". We should also include a large group of friends from his childhood years, his classmates, his acquaintances and neighbors - all of them have written their reminiscences about the artist who left us prematurely. This huge company can be called "a club of Audrius Puipa". No matter what he would say, what jokes he would crack, his heart belonged to his family - his wife Lily and his daughter Marija. When Marija was born, he immediately resolved that all of his watercolours - painted so painstakingly and slowly - will go to her as a dowry. He was barely thirty, and everybody was surprised at the seriousness and firmness with which he performed father's role. The process of painting in watercolours was slow and meticulous. The dry watercolour technique which he favoured is time and work consuming. Otherwise lively and energetic, Audrius committed himself to drawing and colours without any fuss, quiet and composed. He understood that working in this technique he would be able to keep the wolves away from his doorstep. What should be done then? As an artist Puipa followed the suit of William Hogarth in the 18th century. The British artist sought independence from his art patrons and their commissions, yet he also realized that it would not be impossible to make a living on painting and resorted to printing cycles of engravings with a satirical, moralizing bend (in order to support himself and his peaceful process of painting, he sold prints of his paintings). Audrius Puipa did the same. [...].The book includes multiple artefacts created by Puipa, as well as his diaries, letters, sketches. Audrius took great fancy in writing letters. When hiking in the mountains or some remote villages, he looked for a post box, so that his inspiring stories would reach his friends and relatives ahead of him. Audrius liked drawing from life, and his students usually contracted the virus from their teacher,; He did not teach long at Vilnius Academy of Art, but his students, as Žygimantas Augustinas, Jonas Čepas, Egmontas Bžeskas, Asta Rakauskaitė and Miglė Datkūnaitė recall him with great love. The teacher would spare no time to arrange curious compositions, still lifes: he liked telling stories about their models. Inspired by his love of drawing, he staged the figure and nude compositions with such inventiveness that each motif had a unique mood and beauty. He selected the sitters with great care seeking their similarity with Velazquez's Christ in the House of Martha and Mary, Edgar Degas' Bathing Woman, Jusepe de Ribera's St. Jerome and the Muses of Pierre Puvis de Chavannes. This experience of his has naturally grown into a cycle of tableaux vivant. Thus this book undertakes a risky task - to create a likeness of Audrius Puipa stripped of all romanticism. It is a real portrait of an exceptionally talented person, who marched, without hesitation, where more secrets could be found and contributed to the creation of them with a lot of pathos.