There is probably no subject that hasn't been in the crosshairs of Vytas Karatiejas' camera. The author is often described as a chronicler of the city, and I have to agree with that: the author's focus is on the port city's festivals, cultural events, everyday life, architecture, still life, nature and advertising photography. Vytas does not seem to choose a suitable or likeable object, he "appropriates" any visual section of the world with the passion of a hunter.
But one theme can be found, which undoubtedly dominates the archive of the photographer's works. "...nowadays I like natural things more than the city, and even more than man", says Vytas. Seascapes have taken a prime place on the trophy shelf of the seasoned image hunter - it's not for nothing that they say you never get tired of looking at the sea horizon and fire. Apparently, this Western form of meditation is encoded somewhere deeper than the power of logical solutions. The need to immerse oneself in primordial existence is inherent in all of humanity, but the photographer also feels an unquenchable thirst to imprison these images in his chemical or digital media.
In the works selected for the exhibition, the artist still leaves some trace of human existence. The rhythmically pulsating railings around the mouth of the Danube, the former warehouse buildings distorting the horizontality of the shore, and the receding ferry disappear in a dense fog. The barely tangible trappings of civilisation only mark the way to the main hunting grounds, indicating that all the worries of today have been left behind. Wind, water and the boundary where land meets sea are the main protagonists of the colour prints. And there is the long wait, the search for the right light, the position for the best angle. Vytas persistently searches for a new configuration of the seascape, as if by suspending that unique positioning of the forces of nature, he would force it to exist forever.