Shelter K

This work was shown at the inaugural Gwangju Biennale ‘Beyond the Borders’ in South Korea in 1995 as part of the East and Central European Collection. It subsequently featured in 2015 in Vilnius in Mindaugas Navakas’ (b. 1952) comprehensive exhibition ‘Glory Was at the Fingertips’ at the National Gallery of Art. Its presentation at the Gwangju Biennale was particularly significant in the context of Lithuania’s early period of independence, given the Biennale’s theme of globality and the transcending of differences in ideology, territory, religion, race, culture and art, with 87 artists from 49 countries participating. Anda Rotenberg, the curator of the East and Central European collection, described Navakas’ work as emblematic of the Lithuanian identity. ‘Yet it is first of all the boulder itself that is a work of art, not the niche. It is the boulder with its weight, size, structure, that is the artist’s message. Otherwise, given the problems and transport costs, it would not have been sent as far as Korea, where it was to represent not only the creator’s person, but Lithuania itself. The heaven for a body, carved in stone is the obverse of the medal that on its reverse has the Mickiewiczian “painted fields” and “marshes” of Konwicki, Milosz’s mystical valley of the Issa and the tall banks of the Nieman by Orzeszkowa. Just like them, Navakas has his two feet on the ground, but he reaches deeper, for the essence and the substance. He struggles through the cultural layers, including the layer of the agrarian culture.’* Expanding on Rotenberg’s interpretation, Navakas’ Shelter K invites viewers to delve into the core of the Lithuanian identity and culture. Regardless of their location, whether they are in South Korea or Lithuania, viewers, particularly those of a similar build to the sculptor, physically engage with the stone by filling the cavity with their body, tangibly connecting with the stone and the content it embodies.

Text author Jurgita Ludavičienė

* Rottenberg A. Why does something catch your eye. Mindaugas Navakas /R-O/ Works. Museum Rzezby Wspolczesniej, Oronsku, 2006, p. 17–18

Source: Law firm Valiunas Ellex art album THE ART OF MATERIALS. Compiler and text author Jurgita Ludavičienė
Expositions: 1995. Beyond the Borders. '95. Kwangju, Korea. 2014. Mindaugas Navakas. Glory was at the fingertips. Lithuanian Art Museum.
© VŠĮ „Lietuvos dailės fondas“

This work was shown at the inaugural Gwangju Biennale ‘Beyond the Borders’ in South Korea in 1995 as part of the East and Central European Collection. It subsequently featured in 2015 in Vilnius in Mindaugas Navakas’ (b. 1952) comprehensive exhibition ‘Glory Was at the Fingertips’ at the National Gallery of Art. Its presentation at the Gwangju Biennale was particularly significant in the context of Lithuania’s early period of independence, given the Biennale’s theme of globality and the transcending of differences in ideology, territory, religion, race, culture and art, with 87 artists from 49 countries participating. Anda Rotenberg, the curator of the East and Central European collection, described Navakas’ work as emblematic of the Lithuanian identity. ‘Yet it is first of all the boulder itself that is a work of art, not the niche. It is the boulder with its weight, size, structure, that is the artist’s message. Otherwise, given the problems and transport costs, it would not have been sent as far as Korea, where it was to represent not only the creator’s person, but Lithuania itself. The heaven for a body, carved in stone is the obverse of the medal that on its reverse has the Mickiewiczian “painted fields” and “marshes” of Konwicki, Milosz’s mystical valley of the Issa and the tall banks of the Nieman by Orzeszkowa. Just like them, Navakas has his two feet on the ground, but he reaches deeper, for the essence and the substance. He struggles through the cultural layers, including the layer of the agrarian culture.’* Expanding on Rotenberg’s interpretation, Navakas’ Shelter K invites viewers to delve into the core of the Lithuanian identity and culture. Regardless of their location, whether they are in South Korea or Lithuania, viewers, particularly those of a similar build to the sculptor, physically engage with the stone by filling the cavity with their body, tangibly connecting with the stone and the content it embodies.

Text author Jurgita Ludavičienė

* Rottenberg A. Why does something catch your eye. Mindaugas Navakas /R-O/ Works. Museum Rzezby Wspolczesniej, Oronsku, 2006, p. 17–18

Source: Law firm Valiunas Ellex art album THE ART OF MATERIALS. Compiler and text author Jurgita Ludavičienė
Expositions: 1995. Beyond the Borders. '95. Kwangju, Korea. 2014. Mindaugas Navakas. Glory was at the fingertips. Lithuanian Art Museum.
© VŠĮ „Lietuvos dailės fondas“