Robert Bluj, born in 1970 in Vilnius in Lithuania. In the years 1992-1997 he studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw, at the Department of Painting. He graduated with a degree of Master of Arts in 2014. He received his PhD in fine arts at the same Academy of Fine Arts in 2014. In 2020 he was awarded the habilitation degree in fine arts in the area of conservation and restoration of plastic arts, at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw.
In 2000 he started a studio of drawing and painting where he has classes with children, young people and adults on drawing, painting, basics of composition and perspective. Each year, the studio organizes workshops for young people and open air painting events. Students who finished a course in Bluj’s school continue their studies at many higher education institutions in Lithuania and other countries of the European Union. Since 2002 he has been member of the Lithuanian Painters’ Association. In 2005 by the decision of the Lithuanian Minister of Culture (No. 2V-520) he was granted the status of creator of art. In 2008 he was a curator of an exhibition of works by painters of Polish origin, members of the Lithuanian Artists’ Association. This exhibition was organized as part of the World Congress of Wilniuki. In 2011 Bluj was member of the jury of the competition for a “Czesław Miłosz Poster” organized by the Polish Institute in Vilnius on the occasion the Miłosz Year. In 2009 he was awarded a Medal of the Union of Lithuanian Poles for his efforts in propagating Polish values in Lithuania and a Medal and an Honorary Diploma on the I International Exhibition of Painting and Graphic Art “Colours of Poland in Rome”, which took place in Cascina Farsetti. In 2013, President of the Republic of Poland Bronisław Komorowski awarded Bluj the Knight Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland for his outstanding contribution to the promotion of Polish culture and his achievement in artistic work.
Individual exhibitions
2000 ”Crossing the river” Gallery „Lietuvos Aido”, Vilnius, Lithuania.
2001 ”Preserved time” Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Vilnius, Lithuania.
2003 ”Between the heavenly and the earthly” Gallery ”Znad Wilii”, Vilnius, Lithuania.
2004 ”A walk around Vilnius ” Dom Kultury Polskiej, Vilnius, Lithuania.
2006 ”Painting” Gallery XX Paneveżis, Lithuania.
2007 ”Robert Bluj Painting” Katarzyna Napiórkowska Gallery, Warsaw, Poland.
2007 ”Vilnius sketches” Dom Kultury Polskiej , Vilnius, Lithuania.
2008 ”Robert Bluj Painting” Galeria na piętrze, Toruń, Poland.
2010 “Robert Bluj. Painting”, Ratusz, Vilnius, Lithuania.
2012 My Vilnius”, Dom Polonii, Exhibition at the 4th Congress of Polish Communities and Poles from Abroad, Pułtusk, Poland.
2012 ”My Vilnius”, Galeria mazowiecka, Warsaw, Poland.
2012 ”Robert Bluj Painting”, the seat of the Polish Community Association , Warsaw, Poland.
2014 ”Between a portrait and allegory”, Gallery Styk ASP, Warsaw, Poland.
2015 ”City of dreams” Museum in Wodzisław Śląski, Poland
2015 ”Only painting” exhibition organized during the days of Polish culture in Vilnius Studio 008, Vilnius Lithuania
2016 ”City of dreams” Dom Polonii Zamek Pułtusk Poland.
2017 “Studio Open” House of Polish Culture in Vilnius, Lithuania. 2019 “Vilnius My” Nowy Sącz Poland.
2019 “Vilnius My” Nowy Dwór Gdański Poland. 2020 ,,Bluj” Galeria XX, Panevežis Lithuania.
2020 “City landscape before the coronovirus era” National Museum of Przemyśl, Przemyśl, Poland
2021 “New York Cycle” Museum of the History of the City of Przemyśl. Przemyśl Poland.
Selected collective exhibitions:
2009 ”Colours of Poland in Rome”, Gallery Arte24, Rzym, Włochy.
2009 ”She”, Gallery XX, Poniewież, Lithuania.
2010 „Flirt”, Gallery XX, Poniewież, Lithuania.
2011 ”Self-portrait”, Gallery Arka, Vilnius, Lithuania.
2011 ”A meeting”, Gallery XX, Poniewież, Lithuania.
2012 ”Artist and the city”, Gallery Arka, Vilnius, Lithuania.
2012 ”Mysterious orchards”, Gallery XX, Poniewież, Lithuania.
2014 ”III Quadriennale of Lithuanian Contemporary Art”, Vilnius, Lithuania.
2015 ”I International Biennale of Visual Art “The measure of art”, Alytus, Lithuania.
2015 ”Art archive”, Gallery Arka, Vilnius, Lithuania.
2015 ”Through form to content”, Gallery Arka, Vilnius, Lithuania.
2015 Exhibition on the occasion of Franciszek Smuglewicz’s 270th birth anniversary, Gallery Arka Vilnius Lithuania
2021 “Hedonism” Godo Gallery Vilnius Lithuania
2021 POLISH ECONOMIC FORUM – POLISH CULTURE IN THE WORLD. HOW TO INVEST IN ART? Karpacz Poland.
Selected open-air events:
1997 ”Jurassic autumn”, Częstochowa, Poland.
1998 Kamion, Poland.
1999 Piotrków Trybunalski, Poland.
2004 Zakopane, Poland.
2006 Panieviezis, Lithuania.
2007 ”Painterly eastern side”, Soleczniki, Lithuania.
2008 ” Painterly eastern side”, Soleczniki, Lithuania.
2009 ” Painterly eastern side”, Soleczniki, Lithuania.
2010 Sulejów, Poland.
2010 Łęczna, Poland.
2013 The Convent of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Trutów, Poland.
2014 VII Poland-wide open-air event, Kazimierz Dolny, Poland.
2017 NYC. New York USA.