The Human Factor. Other Sides

Andrius Erminas is a conceptual artist whose work is characterised by oppositions of ideas and forms, surreal elements, and a wealth of symbols and metaphors. He creates spatial, narrative installations and objects, often transforming everyday items into symbolic forms. In his artistic practice, Erminas consistently explores broader themes of environment, authorship and memory, while continually emphasising the interaction between the individual and the surrounding world. The self-reflective dimension and the meaning of personal experience are revealed in his ongoing exhibition cycle The Human Factor (since 2011), where he examines the place of the human dimension in art, as well as the concepts of individuality, artistic identity, and success and failure in creative activity. In his latest exhibition The Human Factor. Other Sides Erminas questions the notion of beauty and aesthetics. Here, beauty becomes not only a matter of visual appeal but also of provocation, as the artist investigates the boundary between ornament and function. He appropriates two seemingly unrelated spaces – the Rodin Museum in Paris and a gym – to reveal how cultural and social contexts shape conceptions of beauty, models of representation, and cultural practices. In the museum, beauty is associated with tradition, sculptural canons and aesthetic ideals, while the gym embodies discipline of physical form and constant self-improvement. Within the exhibition, these contrasting spaces become metaphors, showing how the idea of beauty constantly oscillates between aesthetic image and function, between ideal and reality. Against this backdrop of oppositions, the artist re-stages and adorns spaces, where objects lose their original purpose and acquire aesthetic and symbolic value. Erminas’ works highlight contrasts, transformations of materials and functions, as well as elements of irony. The exhibition invites viewers to regard beauty and aesthetics as phenomena in perpetual flux, shaped by cultural and social tensions. Andrius Erminas solo exhibition The Human Factor. Other Sides will be on view until November 20th at the (AV17) Gallery, Totorių str. 5, Vilnius. The project is funded by the Lithuanian Council for Culture.