In the mid-1990s, Jonas Gasiūnas was driven by the idea of expanding the boundaries of painting as a means of expression. He battled against the static character of painting and looked for ways of creating an image that would give an ephemeral impression of instability. The paintingThe Teacheris one of the outcomes of his experiments. It is double layered. The bottom level is a painted interior; the upper one depicts a human figure that has been traced using smoke from a burning candle as a medium. Thus, smoke covers the interior, and we are tempted to remove that shield in order to get a clearer view of what is behind. The interior is exceptionally squalid: it is a Stalinist-period classroom. The painter has used a colour scheme typical of that time, and has depicted details of the classroom furniture. The plane of the classroom wall closes and compresses the space in the painting. On the front plane we can see the figure of a dancer spinning round: she seems to be brought into the classroom as if by coincidence. The image traced in lines of smoke creates an impression of instability: it seems to drift across the surface of the canvas like images in a film being projected on to a screen. The dancer seems to be ephemeral, and there is a sense of transience about her actions, for according to the artist objects drawn with smoke from a burning candle do not exist. He is interested in obliterating the boundary between the real and the fictitious. This painting also carries other signs of the period: the lines and bands of smoke criss-crossing the surface bear a resemblance to the patterns of postmarks, the stamps of repressive structures, the worn-out markings on legal files, and notes in the margins of documents. They also resemble an old film worn with time. The holes made along the left-hand side of the canvas create the impression that this is a page ripped out of a notebook, as if the painting is a detail from the artist's life.