13/05/2023 – 01/10/2023

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The exhibition presents the newest works of eight Lithuanian artists – their sculptures, sculptural objects and installations. The artists that represent different generations highlight the search for various types of connections, i.e. between tradition and authenticity, collective and personal fears, the human kind and nature, a person, a creation and a place. The works contain the signs and interpretations of national memory and exhibition place, whereas the exhibition itself becomes a juxtaposition of modernity/contemporarity and abstract/figurative expression in the art of sculpture. The title – Embodying – calls attention to the processes through which ideas find body in material things, and various objects are formed, deformed or even transformed into something new and unusual. The pieces have been created by using traditional sculptural materials, i.e. granite, wood and metal, as well as more modern media such as concrete, glass and things borrowed from our surroundings.

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The exhibition has been organized by the Sculpture and Stained Glass Centre of the Lithuanian Artists’ Association.

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Artists: Jonas Aničas, Aušra Jasiukevičiūtė, Tauras Kensminas, Daumantas Kučas, Kęstutis Musteikis, Eglė Pilkauskaitė, Mykolas Sauka, Asta Vasiliauskaitė.

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Curator: Agnė Mackevičiūtė

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The exhibition is presented in two locations: from May 13 until August 3 "Embodying" is presented in the Panemune castle park. From August 4 until October 1 the show is exhibited in Paežeriai manor homestead.

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The project is financed by Lithuanian council for culture.

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PRESENTED ARTWORKS

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Kęstutis Musteikis. Soul, 2023

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The work of sculptor Kęstutis Musteikis is characterised by figurative sculptural expression, using quite traditional sculpture materials such as stone, metal, wood and straw. In recent years, the artist has been developing a series of expressive feminine silhouettes called “Soul”, one of which is presented in the exhibition “Embodying”. Based on the idea “life comes out through the spine”, the sculptor associatively creates stretched feminine forms, which he relates to the essence of life – the soul. The curves of the sculpture become so thin in some parts that the material begins to balance on the brink of fragility.  In this way, the fragility of life itself in form is also emphasised.

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Kęstutis Musteikis (1956) is a Lithuanian artist, sculptor. In 1980 he graduated from the Lithuanian Art Institute. He has created decorative sculptures in public spaces “Narvelis gegutei” (EN Cage for Cuckoo), 1993, Alytus; “Savaitė” (EN Week), 1997, Juodkrantė; “Akmuo sizifui” (EN Stone for Sisyphus), 1998, Sculpture park of Molėtai and many more. Since 1980 he has participated in exhibitions (won awards) and in symposiums in Lithuania and abroad.

 

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Asta Vasiliauskaitė. Shackles, 2023

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Asta Vasiliauskaitė’s work includes monumental sculpture, small sculptural plastics and medals. She uses the most common traditional sculpture materials as stone and wood, as well as mouldings in bronze. In the exhibition, Vasiliauskaitė presents her work “Shackles”, in which the relationship between the idea and the material is particularly important. Here, a textured granite rope encircles the smooth, polished stone, quite clearly creating references to what shackles, constrains or restricts, to what weighs down and what is difficult to break free from, both at the level of thought and in the social context of today. The choice of material, granite, seems to accentuate the feelings of tightness and pressure with its perceived heaviness. At the same time, the different treatment of the material, and the contrast created between the smooth and rough stone, reveal the achromatic variegation of the minerals it contains.

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Asta Vasiliauskaitė (1961) is a sculptor who graduated from the Lithuanian State Art Institute in 1986. Since 1986 she has participated in exhibitions in Lithuania and abroad. She is a member of the Lithuanian Artists’ Association since 1990. Her works belong to the Lithuanian National Museum of Art. Sculptures in public spaces can be found in the USA, Russia and Lithuania, and small plastic works in private collections in Austria, Australia, the USA and Finland.

 

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Jonas Aničas. Untitled, 2023

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Jonas Aničas’s work often focuses on various metal anthropomorphic shapes or the transformation of objects found in the environment. Recently, the artist has been interested in sculptures of enlarged industrial products, and in the case of the work presented in the exhibition, the sculpture becomes a clothes rack found in the artist’s village. It does not only refer to design solutions from the last century but also reveals the artist’s personal relationship with the object. In his childhood, his great‑grandparents transformed a rack into a children’s toy, and now Jonas Aničas is enlarging the toy, turning it into a sculpture, a monument to his grandparents’ childhood memories.

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Jonas Aničas (1987) is a sculptor who graduated in Sculpture from Vilnius Academy of Arts. He regularly presents his work in Lithuania and abroad. He was awarded the Best Young Artist Prize at the ArtVilnius art fair in 2013 and 2022. His works belong to the collections of the MO Museum, the Lewben Art Foundation and private collections in Lithuania and abroad.

 

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Mykolas Sauka. Chapel Pillar, 2023

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In his latest work, sculptor Mykolas Sauka explores traditional forms of Lithuanian folk and naive art. Balancing between craft and modernity, the artist develops a relationship between tradition and authenticity. In the exhibition, he presents “Chapel Pillar”, a peculiar interpretation of Lithuanian folk architecture. While chapel pillars usually contain statues of saints, Jesus or Mary, in the centre of Mykolas Sauka's chapel pillar there is a statue of a baby, which does not depict any saint in particular. In this way, the author raises questions about the relationship between the individual and faith, the representation of religion and the canon, but the answer is left to be found by the viewer.

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Mykolas Sauka (1989) is a sculptor who graduated with Master’s degree in Sculpture from Vilnius Academy of Arts and interned in Italy. Since 2008 he has participated in group exhibitions and organised personal ones. In 2018–2019, he created a sculpture park in Viršuliškės, Vilnius, and his works can also be found in the Asveja Regional Park, his hometown of Dusetos, as well as Seda, Antazavė, and others.

 

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Eglė Pilkauskaitė. Column, 2023

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Eglė Pilkauskaitė is interested in unexpected household tools or construction elements and the new meanings they create. The work presented in the exhibition, “Column”, is a sculptural object whose visual expression refers to self-made improvements to interiors or exteriors. Concrete poured in a pit and an old glass pipe replacing a fence retaining wall can be part of an imaginary ornate portico. Such courtyard Frankensteins are usually found in environments where, for financial or ideological reasons, disused objects are resurrected by giving them unexpected uses. In such environmental enhancements, a playful imitation becomes a real object in the hands of the artist.

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Eglė Pilkauskaitė (1989) is a representative of interdisciplinary art. She graduated in 2014 from Camberwell College of Arts in London. She is a member of the UAL Alumni Association since 2014. In 2017–2018 she was a lecturer at Kaunas College, Justinas Vienožinskis Faculty of Arts, Department of Photography. She actively participates in exhibitions and art fairs.

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Aušra Jasiukevičiūtė. Engirding, 2023

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“Engirding” is an installative object-enclosure created specifically for the exhibition location, which speaks about the quest for stability and harmony in an increasingly fast-moving world. Consisting of two barriers – an organic (found branches) and a red strip of fabric – the work draws attention to the ever-changing environment while acting as a protective measure, a reference to the need to preserve the balance of both the person and nature. According to the artist Aušra Jasiukevičiūtė: “Intuitively, I want to create a safety zone, to preserve the tree of life as the basis of our being and to remind others how fragile our illusory world can be”.

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Aušra Jasiukevičiūtė (1973) is a sculptor. In 2015–2020 she was a member of the Council of the Lithuanian Artists’ Association and the Chair of the Vilnius Sculptors’ Section. She participates in group and individual exhibitions and creates sculptures for public spaces in Lithuania and abroad. She also teaches 3D design basics at the Graphic Design Department of Vilnius Academy of Arts.

 

 

Daumantas Kučas. Tower, 2023 / Chanterelle, 2019

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Daumantas Kučas’s works encompass large-scale sculptures and small-scale plastic art. The latter is characterised by experimentation with coloured metals, while monumental sculpture is dominated by stone. In the exhibition “Embodying”, the sculptor presents two works: the installation “Chanterelle”, created in 2019, and his latest sculpture “Tower” – works that have a strong connection with their surroundings. The sculpture “Tower” was inspired by the defensive towers of Panemunė Castle. By depicting human beings in the windows of his tower, Kučas opens up the mystical history of the castle and invites the viewer to delve into its layers. Perhaps it is the lingering spirits of the nobility, or perhaps it is the silhouettes of the serfs who were imprisoned in the penitentiary. Meanwhile, the “Chanterelle” take you to the foot of the castle, creating references to the surrounding forests and the peculiarities of mushroom picking that take place there. The magnified mushrooms create a mystical environment as if in a wonderland, immersing you in a kind of surreal space.

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Daumantas Kučas (1974) is a sculptor who studied at the Vilnius Academy of Arts from 1993 to 1997. Since 2014 he is a member of the Lithuanian Artists’ Association. He has been exhibiting since 1995, and his sculptures and monuments can be seen in various public spaces in Lithuanian cities. The artist also organises performances on the theme of sculpture art.

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Tauras Kensminas. Nest, 2023

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The sculpture “Nest” by Tauras Kensminas is inspired by the childhood experience of a swarm of bees and the resulting fear of insects that arose in the depths of his consciousness. The work, created using thin-walled fibre concrete technology, is somewhat reminiscent of wasp paper and its nest in its colour, texture and fragility – an architectural structure of insects, indicating the huge swarm of insects that lives there. At the same time, the hollow clump seems to be hanging on the legs of a spider, revealing another archetypal image of horror – the monster standing on the legs of the spider. Arachnophobia is one of the most popular phobias in the world. So the artist asks the question: which fears and phobias are empirically derived, or perhaps some are introduced by pop culture? At the same time, this way of erecting the sculpture contradicts the known laws of physics and, as it were, introduces a dreamlike sensation into reality.

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Tauras Kensminas (1991) is a sculptor, who graduated with a Master’s degree in Sculpture from the Vilnius Academy of Arts and has been actively participating in individual and group exhibitions in Lithuania and abroad since 2012. His works belong to the collections of the MO Museum, the Lewben Art Foundation and private collections in Lithuania and abroad.