And Everywhere I See a Face

Stasys Eidrigevičius and the Faces That Surround Him 

 The photographs in which artist Stasys Eidrigevičius captured his parents and loved ones during childhood awaken memories, evoke a sense of tradition, and inspire respect. His paintings, by contrast, often provoke laughter, creating a witty and at times subtly grotesque atmosphere. 

 These seemingly contradictory modes of perception converge in the artistic genre Eidrigevičius has been developing in recent years: graphotography. Bringing together the traditionally distinct disciplines of photography and drawing within the digital realm, graphotography may be understood as a form of photographic image transformed through digital intervention. In Eidrigevičius’s work, it serves as yet another means of expressing a unique creative vision of the world around him. 

Eidrigevičius is constantly sketching. Today, his sketchbook has been replaced by a smartphone and tablet, through which he playfully and ironically reprogrammes the views that surround him. “I see a face everywhere,” the artist says. He follows paths shaped by both nature and humans, returns in memory to the countryside, plays with fragments of recollection, and dives deep into reflections on the relationship between past and present, the persistence and transformation of values, creative processes, and the junctions between generations. He mourns and laughs. Symbolically, such contrasting emotions emerge through a combination of traditional artistic methods and contemporary technologies. 

Photographs of architectural motifs that evoke historical memory, elements of the natural and urban landscape, and details of everyday life are later complemented by digital drawings. Within these spaces, Eidrigevičius inserts pairs of small eyes that have become a signature feature of his artistic language, while digitally drawn portrait or profile lines create new images. 

 Japanese audiences were the first to recognise Eidrigevičius’s graphotographic works. More than a decade ago, the artist began collaborating with the renowned Japanese writer and art historian Motoko Nakagawa. Their partnership focused on books in which Nakagawa wrote the texts and Eidrigevičius created colourful, evocative, and highly original illustrations. In 2022, the artist began digitally drawing over photographs and sending the resulting images to Nakagawa. Their usual working method was reversed: the visual narrative emerged first, followed by texts written in response to the images. This collaboration has since resulted in five books published in Japanese. In their most recent publication, the authors explore the relationship between Eidrigevičius’s masks and the realities of the pandemic. 

Eidrigevičius’s graphotography brings together personal and collective experiences, creating a visual dialogue between tradition and innovation. Presented in Lithuania for the first time, these digitally transformed images – accompanied by essays inspired by real people, objects, and events – invite viewers to look more closely at the world around them, to reflect on it, and to embrace the act of creation. 

 Exhibition curator Kristina Liepinaitė