Algimantas Kezys

(1928 - 2015)

Biography

Algimantas Kezys was born in Lithuania in 1928. Fleeing to the West prior to the Soviet occupation of his native country, Kezys came to the United States in 1950 to study and eventually to be ordained as a Jesuit priest. In 1956 he received an M.A. in Philosophy from Loyola University in Chicago. Assigned to the Lithuanian province of the Jesuit Fathers he served his countrymen in Chicago and other cities in the United States. He founded Lithuanian Photo Library and has served as its president since 1966. He also founded the Lithuanian Library Press in Chicago. From 1974 to 1977 he directed the Lithuanian Youth Center in Chicago. Kezys fostered his own artistic inclinations by immersing himself in the art of photography, and, in 1965 his artistic talent was recognized with his first exhibition at the Art Institute of Chicago. He kas since exhibited in a number of American and European museums and his work has appeared in magazines and books on both sides of the Atlantic. Later a former Jesuit, Kezys operated a small gallery in Stichney, Illinois, that represented Lithuanian artists worldwide and published reviews, catalogs, and books an art and religion.

Style

"The world is so full of beauty and meaning that there is enough of it for everybody - to explore, to relish and to transform, each in his own way. My way is that of photographer who gets excited (in a tourist fashion) by sunsets, shadows, reflections and sometimes by faces. There is nothing to prove, nothing to boast about, except the plain fact that a spark of beauty has been found in some remote corner of the globe" - Algimatas Kezys described his creation.

Artworks

Lake Point Tower. Chicago

Sun Streaks on a Steel Wall, Gateway to the West Arch, St. Louis, Missouri

Preston Bradley Hall, Chicago Cultural Center

Marina Towers and IBM Building. Chicago

Reflections of the Chicago Structures in the Merchandise Window, Chicago