Ugnius Motiejūnas
Ugnius Motiejūnas (b. 1970) is a Lithuanian painter living and working in Kaunas. His painting moves between observation and abstraction. Plants, landscape, ornament and insects become starting points for exploring colour, rhythm, repetition and structure.
He began studying drawing and painting with Rimvydas Jankauskas-Kampas in 1987–1988 and graduated from Kaunas Antanas Martinaitis Art School in 2009. He later studied privately with Arvydas Brazdžiūnas-Dusė, Jonas Maldžiūnas, Gintaras Zubrys and Antanas Obcarskas.
Since 2013 he has been a member of the painters’ group Antaniniai obuoliai. His work has been exhibited in Lithuania and internationally, including France, the United Kingdom and India.
Artist Statement
My painting begins with looking.
I am interested in the point at which something familiar—a plant, a patch of grass, an insect, a landscape—begins to reveal a structure of colours, shapes, rhythms and relationships.
Nature often gives me a starting point. Through painting, forms are simplified, repeated, enlarged, layered or displaced. Sometimes their source remains recognisable; sometimes it almost disappears. The painting gradually develops its own logic between observation and abstraction.
I find rhythm in natural growth, ornament, movement and sequences of colour. It connects different bodies of work, from plants and landscape structures to the patterns on beetles’ backs. The Bugs Back paintings grew from an encounter with beetles during a plein air in Liciškėnai. Looking closely at these small creatures opened up unexpectedly complex arrangements of colour and pattern.
Painting allows me to examine what I see. The longer I look, the less fixed a subject becomes, leaving room for imagination. I would like the viewer to have that same freedom: to look, make connections and arrive at an interpretation of their own.
Selected Exhibitions
Solo and duo exhibitions
- 2026 — BU BA / VA NU — Bugs Back / Vabalo nugara, Kazlų Rūda Cultural Centre, Lithuania.
- 2025 — Bugs Back, Verbliūdas Barn Wall Gallery, Liciškėnai, Lithuania.
- 2024 — Two Eysights / Dviakiratis, duo exhibition with Jolita Lubienė, Menų Kalvė, Druskininkai, Lithuania.
- 2022 — Ornament Roots / Dabinio šaknys, Kaunas National Culture Centre, Lithuania.
- 2019 — White Cover / Baltodanga, Parko Gallery, Kaunas, Lithuania.
- 2018 — In to Density / Tankmėn, Rūtų Gallery, Klaipėda, Lithuania.
- 2016 — A+Rhythmetic, Parko Gallery, Kaunas, Lithuania.
Group exhibitions
- 2026 — Summer in Nemajūnai, concluding plein-air exhibition, Birštonas, Lithuania.
- 2024 — International Art Meet 2024, Mysore, India.
- 2024 — International Art Meet 2024, Bangalore, India.
- 2022 — 4 Antaniniai obuoliai, Embassy of Lithuania in France, Paris.
- 2021 — United by Painting, Parliament of the Republic of Lithuania, Vilnius.
- 2018 — United by Painting, Matthews Yard Gallery, London, United Kingdom.
Selected Plein Airs & Projects
- 2026, 2025, 2024, 2023 — Druskininkėliai, Leipalingis / Druskininkėliai, Lithuania.
- 2026, 2025, 2024, 2023, 2019, 2018, 2015, 2014 — Summer in Nemajūnai, Lithuania.
- 2025, 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020 — Prie Verbliūdo, Liciškėnai, Lithuania.
- 2024 — International Art Meet Mysore 2024, international art meeting and plein air, Mysore and Bangalore, India.