ARTVILNIUS’16 – LEWBEN ART FOUNDATION PRESENTS EXHIBITION “SHAPING IDEAS: SCULPTURES”

This exhibition presents works by nine contemporary artists: Hans Op de Beeck (b. 1969, Belgium), Jake & Dinos Chapman (b. 1966 and 1962, Great Britain), Michael Dean (b. 1977, Great Britain), Marcel Dzama (b. 1974, Canada/USA), Kendell Geers (b. 1968, South Africa/Belgium), Petrit Halilaj (b. 1986, Kosovo/Germany), Thomas Houseago (b. 1972, Great Britain/USA), Bertrand Lavier (b. 1949, France), and Mandla Reuter (b. 1974, South Africa/Germany).

All the artists shown in this exhibition are recognised worldwide. Their work has been presented at some of the most prestigious art institutions in the world, including MoMA PS1 in New York, the Palais de Tokyo in Paris, the Serpentine Sackler Gallery in London, Montreal Museum of Contemporary Art, the PinchukArtCentre in Kiev (Ukraine), Tate Britain in London, and the Centre Pompidou in Paris. Their works have also been shown at the most important exhibitions all over the world, such as Documenta and Carnegie International, and have been included in the most important biennials, including the Venice Biennale, the Berlin Biennale, the Havana Biennale, the Istanbul Biennale, the Taipei Biennale, and the Lyon Biennale. Works by some of the artists are held in major museum collections, including the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, the Museum of Modern Art and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York, and the Tate Gallery in London.

Two great masters of sculpture used to describe their approach to creating a sculpture in very simple words. Auguste Rodin, one of the greatest figurative sculptors, used to say: “I choose a block of marble, and chop off whatever I don’t need.” And Henry Moore was one of the greatest abstract sculptors: “A sculptor is a person who is interested in the shape of things, a poet in words, a musician by sounds.” According to the curator Francesca Ferrarini, how they approached both the material and the ideas beyond the shape helps us to read the evolution of sculpture up to today. Throughout the last century, sculptors experimented with different materials and ideas, sometimes combining abstraction and figurativeness, and even going beyond the material, using sculpture to create stages.

The exhibition offers a journey through different forms of contemporary sculpture, and a video projection. Why is a video the background to a sculpture exhibition? Because Staging Silence (2) (2013) by Hans Op de Beeck focuses on the process behind ideas becoming sculptures.

Curator: Francesca Ferrarini

Organiser of the exhibition: Lewben Art Foundation

Co-ordinators: Ugnė Bužinskaitė, Indrė Tubinienė, Giedrė Marčiulaitė

Sponsors: Lewben Group, Strategy Labs, Nordgain, Craftstone, Enercom Capital, Živilė and Jonas Garbaravičiai

Media sponsors: artnews.lt, echogonewrong.com