“Time” by Gediminas Pranckevicius
Chances are you’ve never heard of Lithuanian illustrator and concept artist Gediminas Pranckevicius, but you’ll wish you had. I only recently came across his work while scouring the Internet for artists to invite to Other Cool Birds.
One of the most exciting aspects of this project for me is that I’ve spent many late nights journeying all over the world, via the Internet of course, exploring the imagination and prodigious talents of people I had not known existed prior to landing on their websites or coming across their work on places like Pinterest, Behance, 3×3 Magazine, InPrint, DeviantART, as well as numerous museum websites.
“There are painters who transform the sun to a yellow spot,
but there are others who with the help of their art and their intelligence,
transform a yellow spot into sun.” – Pablo Picasso
Though he’s not using a paintbrush, Gediminas Pranckevicius seems quite capable of transforming a yellow spot into a sun.
The first piece I stumbled upon by Gediminas was “Time” (shown above) and I was spellbound. As a photographer, I am drawn to juxtaposed lines and angles and textures and I got a huge dose of that. But as an imaginator, a day-dreamer, a wonderer, I’ve always loved the fantastical and Gediminas provides that in abundance.
“Warrior” by Gediminas Pranckevicius
I was first struck by the shanty-element of “Time” which seems almost like a photograph, except for it being underground. Then add in the physics-defying body of water pressed up against it (and within it) and the boat and the silhouette of the very large fish and I found my mind immediately spinning a story about this incredible world hidden beneath a beautiful blue sky and a magical tree (the leaves of which are heart-shaped).
The concept that often in life there is so much going on beneath the surface of things of which we are often unaware resonates with me.
Go to Gediminas’s website and explore “A Slice Of Life” and “Autumn” and “Hope” and see how many different stories are possible.
Hidden Bird by Gediminas Pranckevicius
After I contacted Gediminas, he kindly sent “Warrior,” which I had requested, and a few others including Kukutis (at the bottom) which was such an delicious surprise. Again, there is juxtaposition (the long beak, the tiny body, the vibrant colors, the eyes, the teeth – it’s a bird with teeth – and those fascinating feet).
His “character” illustrations have a lot of personality, like Mr. Wolf and Dragon, and the flamingo hiding behind the tree.
As a joke, I have spent years pretending to hide and telling people I was working on my stealth, while being rather conspicuous in the process. They think, with good reason, that I’m a bit off. When I saw the Hidden Bird image, I had to laugh.
Gediminas Combines realistic elements in such a way that they become fantastic impossibilities, yet in doing so they have become possible. I love the misfit element to his characters and the fringe feel of the worlds he creates.
Technique: Though he uses a variety of techniques for his art, Gediminas created “Warrior” using Photoshop. For a cool behind the scenes look at how he created “Time” and other projects, click here.
You can click on the images and links found on this page to be transported to some of the other worlds of Gediminas Pranckevicius. I hope you’ll visit his website and enjoy his work as much as I do.
You can also connect with Gediminas Pranckevicius on his blog or on Behance.
“Kukutis” by Gediminas Pranckevicius