Vertical Cylinder

Mindaugas Navakas (b. 1952) has been making sculptures from rigid steel, often freely exhibited in space or integrated into architecture, since 1990. However, in 2000 his interest shifted to repurposing large steel cisterns or rubbish containers used in construction into large-scale sculptural objects. Five such sculptures were shown in the Savičiūnai settlement, where some former mechanical workshops had been privatised. Navakas acquired the cisterns from the administrators of the neighbouring bankrupt collective farm, which were originally used for storing diesel fuel and liquid nitrogen fertilisers. These became the basis for two works, Horizontal Cylinder and Vertical Cylinder. The latter, a geometric shape devoid of any distracting details, consists of metal sheets with an unevenly rust-covered surface. From a distance, it vaguely resembles household forms, a Constructivist jug with a handle or a teapot, but its impact lies primarily in its size and scale. On approaching the sculpture, the shape transforms into a tower, reinforced by the possibility of climbing to the top through a door built into it, like a staircase leading up a lighthouse. Sculpture melds with architecture. Vertical Cylinder resembles the colossal devices, such as bathyscaphes and airships, that were designed for exploring the depths of the sea or the sky in the 19th century. In 2008 it was featured in Navakas’ solo exhibition ‘Five Large Sculptures in the Savičiūnai Settlement in the Yard of the Former Collective Farm Workshop’, as part of the ‘Art in Unexpected Spaces’ project, which in turn was part of the ‘Vilnius – European Capital of Culture 2009’ programme.

Text author Jurgita Ludavičienė

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

Mindaugas Navakas (b. 1952) has been making sculptures from rigid steel, often freely exhibited in space or integrated into architecture, since 1990. However, in 2000 his interest shifted to repurposing large steel cisterns or rubbish containers used in construction into large-scale sculptural objects. Five such sculptures were shown in the Savičiūnai settlement, where some former mechanical workshops had been privatised. Navakas acquired the cisterns from the administrators of the neighbouring bankrupt collective farm, which were originally used for storing diesel fuel and liquid nitrogen fertilisers. These became the basis for two works, Horizontal Cylinder and Vertical Cylinder. The latter, a geometric shape devoid of any distracting details, consists of metal sheets with an unevenly rust-covered surface. From a distance, it vaguely resembles household forms, a Constructivist jug with a handle or a teapot, but its impact lies primarily in its size and scale. On approaching the sculpture, the shape transforms into a tower, reinforced by the possibility of climbing to the top through a door built into it, like a staircase leading up a lighthouse. Sculpture melds with architecture. Vertical Cylinder resembles the colossal devices, such as bathyscaphes and airships, that were designed for exploring the depths of the sea or the sky in the 19th century. In 2008 it was featured in Navakas’ solo exhibition ‘Five Large Sculptures in the Savičiūnai Settlement in the Yard of the Former Collective Farm Workshop’, as part of the ‘Art in Unexpected Spaces’ project, which in turn was part of the ‘Vilnius – European Capital of Culture 2009’ programme.

Text author Jurgita Ludavičienė

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