Downtown Peekskill Artist Audrius Naujokaitis Master Work Completed

Downtown Peekskill Artist Audrius Naujokaitis has just completed a 15 month master work, a 11'X6' mosaic in his studio at the Art Lofts on Central Ave. This is another grand accomplishment in his multi faceted artistic endeavors. "My latest mural "IN VIVO" is dedicated to the recent Gulf of Mexico Oil disaster. It’s a memorial to people who suffered and to their efforts to rescue dying animals and species. IN VIVO is a Latin phrase that means ‘within the living’, and its direct translation would be the term used to describe biological reactions taking place inside living organisms, but literally is simple: “IN LIFE.” I always listen to the music when I work on my art projects. But in this particular case, I noticed that while working on “"IN VIVO," I mostly wanted to listen to the classical music – beginning with Italian medieval composer Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina and ending with the contemporary Estonian composer Arvo Pärt. In my mind I wanted to create a harmonious mosaic monument that would be a symphony of rhythm, form and color. I wanted to dedicate that mural to living creatures. I knew that it wouldn't be just enough to make a turtle or a fish and place it on the wall similar to the murals of the New York City subway – animal figures are built-in on the background of white tiles there, but I knew that my goal would be different. My animals had to become dramatic characters placed in the three dimensional space. I also wanted to emphasize the idea by adding a phrase “In Vivo”. I always admired the combination of texts and images in old roman, byzantine or renaissance mosaics. For the mosaic mural “IN VIVO” I used about 120 pounds of Italian Vitreo glass and Orsoni smalti as well as transparent and not transparent stain glass. The size of the mural is 6 ft. x 11 ft. My main point was to make all fragments of the mosaic subordinate in favor of micro and macro structures, so the viewer can enjoy small details as “small abstractions” in near distance and full composition of the mural from far."