Edvardas Racevičius
After taming wood as a substance, the artist gives meaning to all of his artistic ideas in this particular material, which represents life and spirituality. Human figures squeezed in tree trunks or growing out of them tell their own, irony flavored stories or remind of strange situations to the viewer, in which everyone can find at least a small part of themselves, recognize experienced state or identify to the image itself.
In the artist’s sculptures usually lonely, apathetic, standardized unit of gray crowd – a human being with a white shirt and black trousers – is seen. The artist ironically plays with his fate by placing him in awkward situations: he depicts the figure without head or settled on a tree trunk and broom stick, he leaves sticking out branches of tree instead of the figures arms or head. And this human being becomes a mirror of society, he represents everybody’s apparent “I”, which may actually exist or be just an illusion. The tree and branches mark all what is near, what forms the apparent “I” – it can be people, society, nature, religion, etc. They become an extension of individual, therefore, in the sculptures figures rise from a wooden pedestal and hands are replaced with branches. Through the tree human extensions go back to the ground – the essence and beginning of everything.
Edvardas Racevičius was born in 1974, Klaipėda, where he graduated from art school and E. Balsys Gymnasium of Arts. He worked and lived with Vilius Orvydas (Gargždelės village near Salantai) for one year and this experience gave him a beginning of acquaintance with such a material as wood. During that year he created his first sculptures from wood. Later followed studies at Telšiai Priest Seminary and theological studies in Vilnius Pedagogical University, when in 1997 artist returned to the wood sculpture and started an intensive creative road. He moved to Greifswald (Germany) from 2002, where he continues living. Since 2001 E. Racevičius has held ten personal exhibitions, as well participated in group exhibitions and symposiums in Germany.
