Rolandas Kiaulevicius Dabrukas Biography

I started to draw when I was three and half. Since then it has not mattered where I was, and with whom, I draw all the time. I think that I got this drive from my mother who draws very well. In fact, my whole family is filled with artists; I have four uncles, six aunts and five cousins who are all artists. So my whole life I have been surrounded by love and art.   I think I started to feel like a true artist when I finished art school at seventeen years old. I worked with fashion designs, I did some illustrations for children’s books, and I did some sculptures, drawing, printing, and painting in my native country. Unfortunately, Lithuania is economically depressed so it is almost impossible to make a living as an artist. I traveled to America from Lithuania in order to find new opportunities for my self as an artist and to explore and to embrace a new culture, new models, new patterns, and new approaches to art. In the United States I worked with wonderful American artists like Robert Reynolds and Peter Nuhn. I have also worked with the Russian artist, Alex Golubchik. These artists are role models for me. They help me to find a new way, and a new attitude, to transform myself into a better artist. They helped me to understand the traditions and culture of American artists and art. I have worked for more then two years with Robert Reynolds and it is a pleasure to work with him. His humor and the warmth of his art have surrounded me all these years and have pushed me in good directions. He not only has guided my thinking a great deal, he has let me use his studio, so that I could work on larger pieces. I have done some prints, some paintings and have worked a lot on a sculpture. From Robert I learned how to use computer programs like Corel painter 9, Adobe Photoshop CS5 and other programs as new artistic tools.

I have come to see that art is everywhere and one artist’s work is very different from another. Art is always finding new power in new techniques, new material, new shapes. All new artists must find their own way to creativity. I cannot say that I am working just with one material such as charcoal or pencil. I try to experiment with all different materials and styles to see which is best. Even as I listen for my own artistic voice, my work is quite varied: abstract, surrealist, caricature. I particularly enjoy ornamental motifs and patterns. You can see such decorative ornaments almost everywhere: on buildings, in parks, on the street, on clothes. I employ these a lot because they give my drawing mood and energy.                       

Art for me is powerful and mysterious companion. Art changes my life. Without art I can only imagine what my life would be: black, chaotic, empty. Art changes my thinking, my understanding, my communication, my teaching, even my expressions of love. Once you start thinking about art, you can not stop. It fills you up and consumes like a love affair or a sickness. Yet, I feel lucky to have this beneficial sickness.  My understanding of life, about people and the things surrounding me is forever changed by art. Art is my companion. I work with art; art works with me. I feel my art is like music; mysterious, powerful, at times coming from places deep inside my soul, structured, yet unbounded, permeated with my love, with a sense of awe. Art is total freedom, like a game, where I make the rules. With art I can express my self and communicate my vision, I dance to the music of life in my art.                          

To love art is not easy. Not everyone can do that. I want to learn more about art, to look at in new ways and through new eyes, to be with, to talk about, to make art. I want be a professional artist. This is my unquenchable desire and dream.