"I am an artist" and "I love myself".1996. CAC Bar, Light boxes .
"Identification. The Father And the Son" 2000.
"Identification. The Father And the Son" 2000.
"Identification. The Father And the Son" 2000.
"Identification. The Father And the Son" 2000.
"The Colours of the Lithuanian Flag Blended Together" 2008, Canvas, acrylic, 50 x70 cm.
"Colours", 2009. 7 paintings.
"There is no God", 2008. Unrealised project.
"Mistace", 2008. Unrealised project.
According to the questions it poses, Kostas Bogdanas' oeuvre
falls into the following groups:
What does it mean to be an artist?
In 1996 in the CAC café, two illuminated boxes appeared, and in
their black background, it was written: "I am an artist" and "I
love myself". In 1997 the artist circulated postcards saying "Aš
menininkas / I am an artist". They were received by every active
participant in the field of art. Assuming the act of legitimising
his status, the artist actually questions the mechanisms of
legitimisation.
In 1999, performing his project "Identification", which took
place in public transport in Vilnius, Bogdanas chose to do a
night-washing of trolleybuses, rather than to create a separate
work of art. He thereby challenged the meaningfulness of the
artist's work, and raised questions about whether and how useful it
is to society. Continuing to reflect upon the artist's devaluation
theme, in 2007, Bogdanas made a memorial plaque to "The Unknown,
Unappreciated, Forgotten Painter". It introduced an unexpected
aspect to the issue of competition that is present in contemporary
Lithuanian art. Another artwork by Bogdanas that sought to disturb
the inertia of the art world as a piece of commercialism was an
artistic event called "Commemoration". It was performed in 1998 at
the Bergen Museum of Art in Norway. Writing down the names of
regular visitors to this museum, the artist turned them into a work
of art. The visitors who came to the exhibition found themselves
part of it. It seems to tell us that it is not art as aproductthat
should be considered as an action, but rather that the coming of
visitors and thesearch for experienceis art.
His photography exhibition held under the name Anatolij
Zapolskij in 2001 in the Arka gallery almost turned into a modern
myth. Although the same people as usual received invitations to the
exhibition, there was, however, only one visitor who, reportedly,
actually attended it. This artistic experiment that Bogdanas
carried out revealed the importance of a name and the futility of
declarations of equal opportunity. The installation
"Incomprehensible to Most of You ..." (2009) could easily be
classed under the same theme. In it, we see a list of people to
whom the conceptual work of art (Bogdanas himself, or not
necessarily) is incomprehensible ("my neighbour", "my hairdresser",
"Romualdas Budrys" [the director of the Lithuanian Art Museum],
etc). In the installation, there is a work "Comprehensible Only to
Linas Jablonskis", as he confirmed it by asking the artist to take
part in the exhibition.
What does it mean (not) to be an artist in the
family?
From 1998, the artist has been supplementing his installation by
adding new fabricated business cards with professions that he can
no longer qualify for. The individually designed cards belong to
existing people, only their names have been changed. Thereby,
through negation, Bogdanas delineates his identity and its
particularity.
He comes from the family of a famous and formerly influential
artist. His wife Eglė Ganda Bagdonienė is also a well-known and
active artist. Exploring how it influences his perception and
self-knowledge, in 2000, Bogdanas made four double portraits with
his father, in which they alternately handled different tables with
their inscribed statuses ("The Son of the Artist", "The Father of
the Artist", "An Artist"), and also a blank one. In 2006 he made a
parallel series of photographs with his wife.
What does it mean (not) to be an artist in the
family?
From 1998, the artist has been supplementing his installation by
adding new fabricated business cards with professions that he can
no longer qualify for. The individually designed cards belong to
existing people, only their names have been changed. Thereby,
through negation, Bogdanas delineates his identity and its
particularity.
He comes from the family of a famous and formerly influential
artist. His wife Eglė Ganda Bagdonienė is also a well-known and
active artist. Exploring how it influences his perception and
self-knowledge, in 2000, Bogdanas made four double portraits with
his father, in which they alternately handled different tables with
their inscribed statuses ("The Son of the Artist", "The Father of
the Artist", "An Artist"), and also a blank one. In 2006 he made a
parallel series of photographs with his wife.
What does it mean (not) to be an artist in the
family?
From 1998, the artist has been supplementing his installation by
adding new fabricated business cards with professions that he can
no longer qualify for. The individually designed cards belong to
existing people, only their names have been changed. Thereby,
through negation, Bogdanas delineates his identity and its
particularity.
He comes from the family of a famous and formerly influential
artist. His wife Eglė Ganda Bagdonienė is also a well-known and
active artist. Exploring how it influences his perception and
self-knowledge, in 2000, Bogdanas made four double portraits with
his father, in which they alternately handled different tables with
their inscribed statuses ("The Son of the Artist", "The Father of
the Artist", "An Artist"), and also a blank one. In 2006 he made a
parallel series of photographs with his wife.
What does it mean (not) to be an artist in the
family?
From 1998, the artist has been supplementing his installation by
adding new fabricated business cards with professions that he can
no longer qualify for. The individually designed cards belong to
existing people, only their names have been changed. Thereby,
through negation, Bogdanas delineates his identity and its
particularity.
He comes from the family of a famous and formerly influential
artist. His wife Eglė Ganda Bagdonienė is also a well-known and
active artist. Exploring how it influences his perception and
self-knowledge, in 2000, Bogdanas made four double portraits with
his father, in which they alternately handled different tables with
their inscribed statuses ("The Son of the Artist", "The Father of
the Artist", "An Artist"), and also a blank one. In 2006 he made a
parallel series of photographs with his wife.
What does it mean to be part of a system (ethnic, EU,
etc)?
In 2001, the Lithuanian national anthem was performed and
recorded in sign language. In 2006 the same was done with the
Austrian national anthem. It was possible to observe how two
nations with supposedly different identities expressed their
oneness in a similar way (the similarity of gestures is obvious).
The caducity of the construct of national identity is obvious in
his 2006 action "Downstream". During an international workshop, the
artist changed the country he represented into Great Britain, and
instead of making a work of art he identified himself with his
countrymen living in England and went to a kitchen to wash dishes.
A rather neat canvas "The Flag of Lithuania" (2008) comments on
national identity as well as the Lithuanian painting tradition. The
three colours of the tricolour are blended together, and then the
dirty mixture is laid over the surface of a canvas. Following the
same logic, in 2009, in his installation "Colours", the artist
unfolded meanings that the diffusion of representative colours
bears. The installation consists of seven canvases in which the
colours of the national flags of the countries that joined the EU
in 1957, 1973, 1981, 1986, 1995, 2004 and 2007 are mixed together.
The fluctuation in colour reveals the fluctuation in the
composition of the EU, as well as the conventionality of the
phenomenon. Together with the canvases, there is an instruction on
making the artwork presented. For anyone who is interested, the
artist offers them the chance to purchase a certificate testifying
to the authenticity of "Colours".
What does it mean to be part of a system (ethnic, EU,
etc)?
In 2001, the Lithuanian national anthem was performed and
recorded in sign language. In 2006 the same was done with the
Austrian national anthem. It was possible to observe how two
nations with supposedly different identities expressed their
oneness in a similar way (the similarity of gestures is obvious).
The caducity of the construct of national identity is obvious in
his 2006 action "Downstream". During an international workshop, the
artist changed the country he represented into Great Britain, and
instead of making a work of art he identified himself with his
countrymen living in England and went to a kitchen to wash dishes.
A rather neat canvas "The Flag of Lithuania" (2008) comments on
national identity as well as the Lithuanian painting tradition. The
three colours of the tricolour are blended together, and then the
dirty mixture is laid over the surface of a canvas. Following the
same logic, in 2009, in his installation "Colours", the artist
unfolded meanings that the diffusion of representative colours
bears. The installation consists of seven canvases in which the
colours of the national flags of the countries that joined the EU
in 1957, 1973, 1981, 1986, 1995, 2004 and 2007 are mixed together.
The fluctuation in colour reveals the fluctuation in the
composition of the EU, as well as the conventionality of the
phenomenon. Together with the canvases, there is an instruction on
making the artwork presented. For anyone who is interested, the
artist offers them the chance to purchase a certificate testifying
to the authenticity of "Colours".
What do language and naming mean in
general?
Most of the projects that fall into this category did not
materialise, for they were perhaps too radical and ideologically
awkward. These are the projections "There is no God ..." on a
church (2008), and "Mistake" on the rebuilt (no one knows exactly
what it used to look like) Royal Palace of Lithuania, which is
considered a controversial project in the promotion of history.
To sum up, Konstantinas Bogdanas Jr. is one of the most coherent
Lithuanian artists exploring questions of identity. Partly by
choice (waiting to be invited rather than coming forward), he has
stood back from the main events in contemporary art. A major part
of his oeuvre was made during international artists' residences,
artistic workshops and projects, quite a few of which he himself
curated. Marginalia is significant in his work, not only as a
research object, but also as a certain posture and a landmark of
interest in the search for valuable art.
What do language and naming mean in
general?
Most of the projects that fall into this category did not
materialise, for they were perhaps too radical and ideologically
awkward. These are the projections "There is no God ..." on a
church (2008), and "Mistake" on the rebuilt (no one knows exactly
what it used to look like) Royal Palace of Lithuania, which is
considered a controversial project in the promotion of history.
To sum up, Konstantinas Bogdanas Jr. is one of the most coherent
Lithuanian artists exploring questions of identity. Partly by
choice (waiting to be invited rather than coming forward), he has
stood back from the main events in contemporary art. A major part
of his oeuvre was made during international artists' residences,
artistic workshops and projects, quite a few of which he himself
curated. Marginalia is significant in his work, not only as a
research object, but also as a certain posture and a landmark of
interest in the search for valuable art.
