Things-in-Themselves. Stairs

This small-scale sculpture was made while Mindaugas Šnipas (b. 1960) was still a student at the Vilnius Art Institute, with a bronze cast of it appearing a year later in 1984. It is one of the five sculptures in the ‘Things-in-Themselves’ series, reflecting the characteristic 1980s turn by sculptors towards objectivity and interest in everyday life and its traces. The artist considers this series to mark the beginning of his focus on objects, moving to the plane of objectivity, a theme that continues to interest him today. The series includes depictions of a table, a sofa, benches and stairs, all rendered in generalised, calm and restrained forms, resembling monuments to everyday life. Notably, one of the works in the series is called Monument. According to the sculptor, these pieces represent his first conscious attempt to give form to what he had previously only sensed, marking the conscious beginning of all his subsequent work.

Text author Jurgita Ludavičienė

Source: Law firm Valiunas Ellex art album THE ART OF MATERIALS. Compiler and text author Jurgita Ludavičienė
© LATGA, Vilnius 2025

This small-scale sculpture was made while Mindaugas Šnipas (b. 1960) was still a student at the Vilnius Art Institute, with a bronze cast of it appearing a year later in 1984. It is one of the five sculptures in the ‘Things-in-Themselves’ series, reflecting the characteristic 1980s turn by sculptors towards objectivity and interest in everyday life and its traces. The artist considers this series to mark the beginning of his focus on objects, moving to the plane of objectivity, a theme that continues to interest him today. The series includes depictions of a table, a sofa, benches and stairs, all rendered in generalised, calm and restrained forms, resembling monuments to everyday life. Notably, one of the works in the series is called Monument. According to the sculptor, these pieces represent his first conscious attempt to give form to what he had previously only sensed, marking the conscious beginning of all his subsequent work.

Text author Jurgita Ludavičienė

Source: Law firm Valiunas Ellex art album THE ART OF MATERIALS. Compiler and text author Jurgita Ludavičienė
© LATGA, Vilnius 2025