On May 12, 6 pm. Gediminas G. Akstinas’ new publication will be launched, the third and the last part of the ‘Nudes’ project.
The launch will take place at J. Basanavičiaus g 14A, Vilnius 03224 (Amy Winehouse Winery). The publication will be available for purchase (10 eur).
“Lately, I‘m going through a phase of parrots, I have developed a connection with parrot lovers. One girl keeps sharing really funny pictures. She probably does something with sales, as there is always something, with parrots making an appearance in her posts – sometimes mugs, sometimes T-shirts. She probably keeps them herself because she shares videos of how those parrots eat and clean themselves. Particularly those tiny parrot babies – they are so funny. To round up, if you are watching a parrot at home – it has a different logic, it looks very, very strange. I don‘t know if this is because of the parrots or maybe because of the home environment.”
The main starting point of ‘Nudes’ is the practice of plastering walls and different samples of plastered surfaces collected from buildings in Vilnius currently under construction. The work of a plasterer in the project unfolds both as a way of thinking and as the creation of neutralizing surfaces and economic objects. Special attention is given to aesthetics determined by both the speed of the global economy and impulsive, often irrational decisions, the thin line between authorial and anonymous action, and the connections between collective work and individual discoveries. Highly important here is the material side of ‘Nudes’: the surfaces of plastered walls created by skilled hand movements allow the craftsman to remain unnoticed.
Other parts of the project:
On July 5-12, 2020, the exhibition of Akstinas sculpture series ‘Nudes’ took place in Paneriai Sculpture Park. The sculptural series is based on different samples of plastered surfaces collected from buildings currently under construction in Vilnius.
On June 19-20, 2020, Akstinas’s performance ‘Untitled’ (2015) took place in Vilnius. During the performance, the artist tested the hypothesis of the ancient Greek philosopher and poet Empedocle, who claimed that vision is enabled by light emanating from people’s eyes.
Special thanks to: Jonas Juronis, Antanas Laukaitis, Dalia Jakeliūnaitė, Gediminas Akstinas, Nick Bastis, Agnė Mackė, Skirmantė Cairns, Vaida Gasiūnaitė, Dramblys, Metalika, Aistis Žekevičius, Karolis Radiūnas.
The project is supported by the Lithuanian Culture Council.
Gediminas G. Akstinas (b. 1987) is a Lithuanian artist currently living in Vilnius. Akstinas graduated from the Sandberg Institute in 2015. Among the artist’s last personal exhibitions are: ‘Companions’ (Gedimino Ave. 45-2, Vilnius (2017)); ‘SHIP’ (The Amsterdam Kunstverein (2015)); and ‘BROWSERS’ (short-term rental apartments in Vilnius (2014)). In 2017, Akstinas’s publication ‘it depends’ was presented at the San Serriffe bookstore in Amsterdam and in the reading room of the Contemporary Art Centre in Vilnius.
