1965-1976 studied at Vilnius A. Vienuolis Secondary School. 1972-1976 - at the Vilnius Four-Year Children's Art School. 1976-1983 studied painting at the Vilnius Art Institute (now the Academy of Arts). Since 1988 - member of the Lithuanian Artists' Union, since 1989 - member of "Grupė 24". Participated in more than 60 group exhibitions in Lithuania and abroad. He has held solo exhibitions. Currently he lives and works in Užtiltė village, Zarasai district.
Š. Sauka is one of the most outstanding contemporary painters. The artist creates a surrealistic, distinctive world that confronts classical aesthetics and ethics, where the opposition of beauty and ugliness disappears. The paintings are strange, sophisticated, provocative, with biblical, literary and personal themes. The works are characterised by an abundance of detail, imitation of naturalistic forms, contrasts, large format. The artist often depicts the human body, it is mutilated, carnal interests are shown. He uses images of himself or his family members and relatives for his characters. His works include "Family Portrait", "Hell", "The Tale of Sigitas Parulskis", "The Station", "The Assumption", "The Family", etc. Sauka's works are in the Lithuanian Art Museum, the Vilnius Academy of Arts Museum, and private collections in Lithuania and abroad. In 2004, he illustrated the children's book "Mykoliuko diena" (Mykoliuko's Day).
In 1998, the Centre for Contemporary Art published the book "Šarūnas Sauka" (Vilnius, 1998). The Maldis Gallery has published a large, ornate album "Šarūnas Sauka". The publication was compiled by artist Rimantas Dichavičius. The introductory word "Šarūnas Sauka and the End of Classical Metaphysics" was written by Algis Uždavinys, Ph.D. in philosophy. The album contains the artist's works (paintings, sculptures, book illustrations) from the years of his studies to his most recent works. In 2017, the album was published, which contains a complete biography of Sauka's work.The book opens with a text by his daughter Monika Saukaitė about her father. It is a kind of introduction to the reader - how to look at the works of Saukos. The publication includes texts by Jūratė Baranová, Agnė Narušytė and Sigitas Parulskis. A very detailed chronological catalogue of the artist's work and an interesting collection of personal photographs are valuable. The album includes unseen paintings, wood sculptures, drawings on glass, interesting texts, but also a little-known area of Sauka's oeuvre - photographic paintings. The album was compiled by art critic Ramutė Rachlevičiūtė.
In 2016, the National Art Gallery hosted a retrospective exhibition of Š. Sauka's paintings, "Man with a Sauka Face". It was organised and curated by the artist's daughter Monika Saukaitė. The exhibition featured more than 100 works created between 1978 and 2015.The exhibition is a retrospective of the paintings of Š. Sauka, revealing the totality of the artist's work and its aspects. The title of the exhibition seems to indicate to the viewer "that this constantly appearing face is not the artist's own constant chatter about himself, but rather a mask worn by different characters" . The Lithuanian Art Museum has published a catalogue of this exhibition, Man with Sauka's face = The man with Sauka's face: Šarūnas Sauka's paintings, 1978-2015 (Vilnius, 2016). "Семья Сауки: [Шарунас Саука, Номеда Саукене, Миколас Саука]. In 1989, the artist was awarded the Lithuanian National Prize. In 1998 he was awarded the Lithuanian Order of Gediminas, in 1990 - the prize of the 8th Vilnius Painting Triennial, in 2013 - the Baltic Assembly Medal.
