Gedvardas Simonenko
BETWEEN EARTH AND SKY
From December 15th, in the Art reading room (room 208, Maironio g. 6, Vilnius).
Sky. I am fascinated by virtual worlds - their visual depth, atmosphere, and the complexity of their heroes. They have inspired me to create and explore the symbolism and form of characters. Recently, Baltic mythology - our heritage - has become the focus of my creative research. This mythology, rich in symbolism and archetypal figures, has become a new source of artistic inspiration for me. To accurately express my inner visions, I use 3D clay-printing technology. Working with this technique, the most important challenge is learning to think digitally: instead of “feeling” the form through hands, you learn to understand it through light, shadow, angle, and projection on the screen. It takes time, but it expands the creator’s ability to think spatially and experiment without physical limits.
Earth. Another important field for me is archaeology - the science that explores human history through the remains of material culture. It allows us to look into the past through the physical traces left by ancient people, through findings that reveal their lives and religious rituals.
In this exhibition, I present works that resemble archaeological discoveries emerging from the depths of the past. They take us back to a time when the world was ruled by Baltic gods and inhabited by myths whose echoes still resonate in our culture. These creations appear as fragments of sculptures - relics from an ancient world, like excavated artefacts we can now study.
Each object is like a mythological relic, reflecting the power of the gods, their symbols, and mysteries. Printed using 3D clay technology, they merge ancient myth with contemporary ceramic innovation and recall fragments of ancient Greek or Roman sculpture. Yet their roots lie in Baltic soil. This is our Lithuanian mythological memory, transformed into visible traces - images of gods speaking through clay. They invite us to view our culture through the eyes of an archaeologist: with respect, curiosity, and a desire to uncover what lies beneath the layers of time.
About the Author
Gedvardas Simonenko is a second-year Master's student in the VDA Ceramics program. His creative field spans the boundless possibilities of imagination within video games, manga, comics, and mythology. In his works, he creates new, previously unseen characters, giving them stories, personalities, and challenges. When modelling objects in 3D clay-printing software, he focuses on figurative expression, anatomy, the expressiveness of the figure, and dramatic poses. This is clearly reflected in his Bachelor’s thesis “Prophecies of Ragnarok”, which was showcased in the VDA “+1000” gallery exhibition in 2023.
G. Simonenko
