The Art of Leonas Pabedinskas - Reviewd by Algimantas Kezys

LITUANUS

LITHUANIAN QUARTERLY JOURNAL OF ARTS AND SCIENCES

Volume 40, No.3 - Fall 1994
Editor of this issue: Antanas Klimas, University of Rochester

ISSN 0024-5089
Copyright © 1994 LITUANUS Foundation, Inc.

THE ART OF LEONAS PABEDINSKAS

"There are several important steps in creating these (cf. reproductions) computer-assisted graphics," says architect-turned-graphic artist Leonas Pabedinskas: "1) making a sketch of his concept on paper; 2) using his own computer software program to recreate the image on the computer in a small size, not larger than 2"x 2½; 3) enlarging the image while printing until the size attained is 12"x 9" and until the black areas fade producing a checkered effect; 4) additional shading by hand using India ink; 5) enlarging the touched up print to the size of 30"x 24"; 6) touching up again by adding or subtracting elements by hand; 7) final printing in black and white; 8) coloring the print by hand using acrylic, oil, gouache, or watercolor. The result is a hand-colored, mixed-media mono print, ready for matting and framing."

Leonas Pabedinskas was born in 1931 in Plunge, Lithuania. His high school studies were interrupted several times due to the upheavals of World War II. He started high school in Plungė, Lithuania, continued studies in Kempten, West Germany, and later in Casablanca, Morocco. From 1950 to 1958 he studied architecture and art at the École Nationale Superieure des Beaux Arts (School of Architecture) and at the Urban Planning Institute in Paris. From 1958 to 1961 he worked with A. Vincent and P. Tabon, official architects of the city of Paris where he was chief designer on varied projects such as the Psychiatric Hospital (600 beds), the 10 story Educational Institute for the blind, multiple apartment complexes, commercial and institutional buildings. While in Paris Pabedinskas associated himself with the Lithuanian artists residing there including Vytautas Kasiulis, Antanas Mončys, Pranas Gailius, George Račkus, Juozas Bakis, and such international notables as Cesar, Garant, Lormier, Ambille, Fonta, and others.

In 1961 he came to the United States settling in Chicago. He first worked with Bartolemeo Architects in Chicago designing schools, churches and others projects. A year later he took over his family construction company Danga. In 1974 he established his own construction firm and worked on residential and commercial buildings until 1991.

Pabedinskas started drawing while in high school, a practice he kept up during all of his professional life. But it was only in 1991 that he began exhibiting his pictures publicly.

In 1992 Pabedinskas took part in the 40th annual juried show CFS, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada. In 1993 he exhibited his works in the annual Lithuanian Art show "Dailė '93" in Chicago, and in the open 41st juried show CFS, in Etobecoke, Ontario, Canada. In the same year he had a one person exhibition at the Artists' Palace and at the Lithuanian Architects' Association gallery in Vilnius, Lithuania. In 1994 he exhibited his latest work at the DuPage Art League in Wheaton, Illinois winning a Merit Award there.

Pabedinskas' work is included in the collections of the Lithuanian National Art Museum in Vilnius, Lithuania; Samogitian National Art Museum in Plungė, Lithuania, and in private and corporate collections in England, Canada, United States, France, and Morocco.

Pabedinskas specializes in a mixed-media graphics using the computer as a tool to obtain basic contours, shading, and backgrounds. He then hand-colors the print-outs individually, creating mono prints. For his recent series he has selected themes from the science-fiction of Verne's Jules novels 2.000 Miles under the Sea and Around the World in 80 Days. Pabedinskas' interest lies also in cosmology and astronomy, creating fabulous pictures of the comets, planets, and the earth submerged in the depths of the sea.

Algimantas Kezys

Leonas Pabedinskas, Self-portrait, 1993, drawing by computer mouse.