Suicide 1995

Sarunas Sauka made this densely populated painting called 'Suicide' with what looks like oil paint on canvas, though I can’t be sure. The artist has built up a disturbing and surreal scene from many layers of small brushstrokes. I imagine him moving the paint around, pushing and pulling it until these surreal figures emerge from the surface of the canvas. I can see all these bodies, naked and vulnerable, clumped together in what feels like a garden of earthly delights gone wrong! The colors are muted, like sickly flesh, all pale yellows and pinks, with the odd spot of bright red drawing your eye. There is also a strange blue figure, standing with its arm raised as if ushering in more chaos. What I love here is Sauka’s commitment to this vision and how it relates to other figurative painters, like Otto Dix and Francis Bacon, all locked into this strange, historical conversation. Ultimately, for me, this painting makes ambiguity strangely palpable and strangely beautiful.