Dainius Trumpis’ exhibition “Skin and Dust” at the Gargždai Regional Museum

Dainius Trumpis is an interdisciplinary artist whose work combines sculpture, painting, installation, and ready-made objects. In his artistic research, the author explores liminal states of reality and fragments of visual memory that reveal themselves through both cultural contexts and personal experience. The artist is interested in how we react physically and psychologically to form and material properties. By combining ready-made, metal, industrial, and other materials, D. Trumpis creates new metaphysical meanings in his works. His sculptures, bas-reliefs, and installations draw the viewer into the world he creates in his exhibitions with their unexpected and aesthetically subtle solutions.

In his solo exhibition “Skin and Dust”, Dainius Trumpis presents his latest sculptures and installations, which explore the relationship between bodily change, ephemerality, and matter. The author subtly explores this sensitive theme through a creative dialogue with the material, during which the processes of growth and decay are cyclically revealed. The sculptures and installations are created expressively, performing them several times until the form dictated by the material of the work itself is achieved. The constantly changing acts of creation and destruction open up a direct perception of sculpture and one’s own physicality. The works, reminiscent of sports equipment, combine various materials—metal, leather, paraffin—conveying positive potential for growth and nurturing. Meanwhile, the seams of cut and welded metal and the marks left by rust resemble scars or pigment spots that have the potential to become a force that destroys the body of the work. In his latest exhibition, D. Trumpis moves away from decorative expression and experiments with the form of sculpture, which is mechanically, sometimes even brutally, transformed, inviting the viewer to experience a mutual transformation together with the work.

Dainius Trumpis (b. 1971) earned a Master’s degree from Šiauliai University in 2009, later completing a traineeship at the TAIK University of Art and Design in Finland. A member of the Lithuanian Artists’ Union and the Lithuanian Interdisciplinary Artists’ Association, Dainius Trumpis is an active participant in the contemporary art scene in Lithuania and abroad, with the exhibition at Gallery (AV17) being 30th solo exhibition. His work has been showcased internationally, with exhibitions in France, Finland, India, Morocco, and China, among other countries. The artist has received numerous rewards from prestigious art competitions, both in Lithuania and internationally.

The presentation of Dainius Trumpis’ exhibition “Skin and Dust” is part of a larger project (AV17) carried out by the gallery, during which the work of contemporary Lithuanian artists is presented in Lithuanian cities located far from the capital. In addition to the presentation of Dainius Trumpis’ work, the Pasvalys Regional Museum has opened a solo exhibition by Andrius Erminas, and the Ukmergė Cultural Center Gallery has opened a solo exhibition by Nerijus Erminas.

The exhibition “Skin and Dust” can be visited at the Gargždai Regional Museum (Sodo g. 5) until October 31.

The project is funded by the Lithuanian Council for Culture.