JURGIS MIKSEVICIUS: In the Light of the Sun and Shadow of the Moon
December 12 @ 12:00 pm – February 14 @ 12:00 pm
Lithuanian-born Jurgis Miksevicius (1923 – 2014) arrived in Australia aged 25 on the SS Charlton Sovereign with 725 other Baltic displaced emigres on 29 October 1948. Before leaving Germany, Miksevicius had studied at a Bauhaus-style art school in Darmstadt.
On arrival Miksevicius was settled at the Bathurst Migrant Camp but unlike most refugees who were transitioned out of the migrant camp after a few weeks, Miksevicius stayed for nine months. The camp director, William Rees, was aware of Miksevicius’ artistic skills and employed him to decorate the walls of the former army barracks’ recreation hall with caricatures of great Australian sportsmen, including swimmer John Marshall and tennis champion John Bromwich. Miksevicius was also provided with a studio space and encouraged to paint. It was here, in the Bathurst Migrant Camp, that he began to experiment painting with oils and trying to come to terms with the light, the gum trees and the Bathurst landscapes. Essentially, it was here in Bathurst that he began his 70-year career as an artist in Australia.
This exhibition Jurgis Miksevicius: In the light of the sun and shadow of the moon charts his development as a painter: his studies at art school in Germany, his early paintings and murals at the Bathurst Migrant Camp, and then focuses on later landscapes and philosophical ‘moon’ paintings as examples of the many genres he explored throughout his creative life.
A BRAG exhibition
BRAG oening hours: Tuesdays to Fridays 10am – 5pm, Saturdays and Sundays 10am – 2pm. Closed Mondays
Image: JURGIS MIKSEVICIUS Twin Moons (II) 1972, oil on hardboard, 47 x 66 cm framed, image courtesy of the Artist’s Estate.
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