Reservoir

Vladas Urbanavičius’ (b. 1951) artistic principles hinge on the keen use of material and context, delving deep into the essence of each. As the artist explains, ‘The material guides you. You perceive its inherent form, understanding the reasons for its configuration. This serves as the genesis of your content. You harness its latent potential, exploring what it embodies, what it yearns to express but cannot, and then you add something new.’* This approach often leads him to draw his inspiration from pre-existing forms of objects, which he reimagines and repurposes to form innovative creations. In his sculptural piece Reservoir, Urbanavičius employs a familiar object, a fuel tank, transforming it into a curved stone conduit through which water, rather than fuel, flows gracefully. However, the deliberate juxtaposition of the industrial object with the natural environment is illusory. In reality, the fuel tank is lathed from black granite,** shaped to imitate its metallic counterpart. A metallic, often rusty, vessel, typically associated with industry, fuel and Soviet petrol tankers, assumes a new identity in this work: clear spring water gushes forth from granite, an enduring material often used in monument construction, creating a striking juxtaposition. Stone replaces metal, and drinkable water replaces fuel. What initially appears as an intrusion on nature, or a foreign entity contributing to environmental degradation, reveals itself as the harmonious integration of a stone object into its surroundings.

Text author Jurgita Ludavičienė

* From the author’s conversation with Vladas Urbanavičius and Ksenija Jaroševaitė, Vilnius, 28 December 2023.

** According to the artist, the company that undertook to manufacture this object faced serious problems. During the turning, the machine tool broke down, as it was not made to process stones of this size, and the tank had to be completed manually.

Source: Law firm Valiunas Ellex art album THE ART OF MATERIALS. Compiler and text author Jurgita Ludavičienė
© VŠĮ „Lietuvos dailės fondas“

Vladas Urbanavičius’ (b. 1951) artistic principles hinge on the keen use of material and context, delving deep into the essence of each. As the artist explains, ‘The material guides you. You perceive its inherent form, understanding the reasons for its configuration. This serves as the genesis of your content. You harness its latent potential, exploring what it embodies, what it yearns to express but cannot, and then you add something new.’* This approach often leads him to draw his inspiration from pre-existing forms of objects, which he reimagines and repurposes to form innovative creations. In his sculptural piece Reservoir, Urbanavičius employs a familiar object, a fuel tank, transforming it into a curved stone conduit through which water, rather than fuel, flows gracefully. However, the deliberate juxtaposition of the industrial object with the natural environment is illusory. In reality, the fuel tank is lathed from black granite,** shaped to imitate its metallic counterpart. A metallic, often rusty, vessel, typically associated with industry, fuel and Soviet petrol tankers, assumes a new identity in this work: clear spring water gushes forth from granite, an enduring material often used in monument construction, creating a striking juxtaposition. Stone replaces metal, and drinkable water replaces fuel. What initially appears as an intrusion on nature, or a foreign entity contributing to environmental degradation, reveals itself as the harmonious integration of a stone object into its surroundings.

Text author Jurgita Ludavičienė

* From the author’s conversation with Vladas Urbanavičius and Ksenija Jaroševaitė, Vilnius, 28 December 2023.

** According to the artist, the company that undertook to manufacture this object faced serious problems. During the turning, the machine tool broke down, as it was not made to process stones of this size, and the tank had to be completed manually.

Source: Law firm Valiunas Ellex art album THE ART OF MATERIALS. Compiler and text author Jurgita Ludavičienė
© VŠĮ „Lietuvos dailės fondas“