On 11 June, a joint exhibition Gasthaus (Guest House) by the German artist Thomas Putze and the Lithuanian painter Gustas Jagminas opens in Stuttgart, Germany.
The exhibition will take place in the exhibition hall of the Kunstverein Wagenhalle – home to over 100 international artists, including Thomas Putze and Lithuanian sculptor Kęstutis Svirnelis.
The exhibition’s pre-history goes back to 2019 when the Vilnius city gallery Meno niša took part in the German art fair art KARLSRUHE, where performance artist and sculptor Thomas Putze discovered Gustas’ (represented by gallery Meno niša) paintings and the resulting artistic friendship grew into a joint exhibition “Gasthaus”.
“I am very happy to be part of this exhibition. Special thanks to Thomas Putze for inviting me to participate. In the past, Thomas and I only knew each other virtually and “live” through some of my paintings. For the Stuttgart audience, I am presenting a collection of twenty paintings in which I take the paths of my consciousness through wild wastelands, abandoned farmsteads, Lithuanian forests, factories, ports, and waters. In my paintings, civilization competes with nature or wild nature with civilization. Which will overcome which? Or maybe they don’t even compete, maybe they coexist, because very slowly, very calmly and peacefully everything is finally swallowed up by the great wild GREEN of nature,” – about the exhibition said Gustas Jagminas
In the exhibition, Thomas Putze will build an installation that looks like a house with all the parts hanging from the ceiling, inspired by the house in one of Gustas’ paintings. And G. Jagminas will exhibit 20 select paintings.
- Curator of the exhibition: dr. Katrin Burtschell
- Exhibition venue:
Kunstverein Wagenhalle Projektraum
Innerer Nordbahnhof 1, 70191 Stuttgart - Gasthaus will be open from June 11 to July 1.
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Gustas Jagminas (b. 1979) is a graduate from the Vilnius Academy of Arts with a degree in painting. Gustas is a skilful colourist, preferring to paint in heightened hues, high contrast, making good use of structure and figurativity. He draws inspiration from nature, his own experiences and close observations. He does not seek cheap commercialism. He knows how to analyse, deconstruct and reconstruct nature. Critics prise Gustas’ oeuvre for purity and his masterly use of colour.
In his works, Gustas delves into the nature of painting itself, deconstructing natural landscapes into abstractions of colour, yet leaving them patently recognisable. Although the titles of his paintings may sound somewhat decadent, with a hint of Romanticism, they are highly relevant in subject matter and can be quite ironic. Gustas Jagminas’ works have been presented in art fairs ArtVilnius’17, Positions Berlin 2017, YIA Paris #11 (2017).
Gustas Jagminas is a notable presence in Lithuanian art, organising solo exhibitions and taking part in group shows. He has been working with the Vilnius-based gallery Meno Niša since 2016 and has presented two solo exhibitions, “Landscape with a Galosh. Paintings” (2016) and “The Deluge. Stańsię!” (2017).
Thomas Putze (1968) is a performance artist and sculptor based in Stuttgart, Germany. He breaks the barriers between performance, sculpture, and drawing and, in his work, is continuously moving between the two- and the three-dimensional – he expands the realms of drawing and sculpture in the context of performance and space.
Putze’s sculptures feature assemblages of wood and found objects that exude a narrative, sketched dynamic. Animal and human depictions form the core of his work, with particular emphasis on the convincing representation of motion, as well as physical and mental states. Putze uses humor to illustrate their characteristics, the animalistic traits are reflected in humans, and vice versa. The abysmal, the repulsive, and all too human characteristics are captured with drawings and sculpture, while the manner of his presentation and the ironic wordplay in his work titles expose the unintentionally funny in tragic situations.
Putze uses wood in its raw, original form as his source material, incorporating the unique traits into his art. The material offers opportunities and power but also poses boundaries to the artist, which can be felt clearly in these objects. With his honest, human portrayal, Putze removes the distance and reservations between the audience and his work.
The sponsor of Meno niša Gallery is Vilnius City Municipality.