“After the death of the writer and painter Leonardas Gutauskas (1938-2021), I had to review part of his literary legacy. What could have become books of poetry. Seven folders with titles and the structure of the collections thought out by the author. While reading the poems placed in the largest folder, I started marking those that mention Mardasavas, the surroundings and realities of that village: Merkys, Merkinė, Zervynos, Juozas Aputis who lived there, etc. That’s when the idea came to mind that those poems, not printed in books, should be “shown” somehow. The thought continued, I thought that it would be possible to hug other Mardasavas visitors to Leonard – the artist Povilas Ričardas Vaitiekūnas, well, and myself. It’s funny that all three of us live or at least spend the summer in Mardasavas (I won’t say that Gutauskas is dead) and that the village came naturally to our work.”
Valentinas Sventickas, literary critic, essayist
