Lithuanian Avantgarde-Doooooris

Informal artists’ group “Doooooris”, which was active in Klaipeda during 1989-1995 period can be called the discovery of Lithuanian art of the later years. Common art works of the group members were publicly displayed for the first time during International Art Photography Festival IN FOCUS in Vilnius in 2008. High public interest in these works prompted to publish a book representing common work/ creation of the group.

In the group labeled as new avant-garde, there are five members – Audrius Jankauskas, Arvydas Karvelis, Saulius Kanapeckas, Remigijus Treigys ir Raimundas Urbonas (1963 – 1999).

The works of “Doooooris” reflect especially interesting turning point in Lithuanian art and stand out as not our typical style.

Why “Doooooris”? There are several versions of the origin of the name. Back in that time entire Klaipeda listened to “The Doors”, which was extremely popular among bohemians, as well as the members of the group. This is also an allusion to the pronunciation of the word “door” in the Samogitian dialect (the dialect of the region). It is also known that the name to the group was given by famous writer Rolandas Rastauskas, saying that it was Estonian name for a girl. Each letter “o” represents one artist. The name of the group, the number of letters was changing dependently on how many artists were participating in the exposition. The most interesting result of the group’s work is the photographs of Raimundas Urbonas, which were decorated by painters Arvydas Karvelis and Andrius Jankauskas. They used to refine R. Urbonas’ photographs, which were considered as waster by using glue, ink, gouache, gold and silver dust, corrector and pencil.

The works of “Doooooris” reflect especially interesting turning point in Lithuanian art and stand out as not our typical style. Until this day there are only 40 original works left – all of them can be found in the book, together with the manifesto of the group activities, posters of exhibitions, postcards and not only. “This book is an attempt to reveal the phenomenon of this group, and most importantly – the context of its time. It’s only an attempt because there can be more different stories about the group “Doooooris” than there are letters “o” in the name. And none of these stories will be completely “finished” and especially completely “true”. “Doooooris” has become a mystery” – as Egle Deltuvaite, the editor of the book, has said.

It is expected that the publishing of the book will prompt the interest in other little-known Lithuanian artists’ groups.

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