Sculpture of Mindaugas Navakas
Since late 2024, next to the Museum Storage (Pulka iela 8, Riga) the Latvian National Museum of Art presents a new permanent outdoor exhibition of works by the notable Lithuanian sculptor Mindaugas Navakas.
Mindaugas Navakas (1952) is one of the brightest contemporary Lithuanian artists – a sculptor, draughtsman, graphic artist, stage designer, photographer and ceramicist, professor at the Vilnius Academy of Arts. Navakas is part of the generation of artists who in the 1970s set off a revolution in Lithuanian sculpture by both highlighting and strengthening the aesthetic value of form and material, interpreting combinations of fragments from culture-space as well as experimenting and diversifying surface-working techniques. Like many sculptors, he possesses the ability to express himself in diverse materials and genres of sculpture. The artist's style is characterised by an impeccable sense of composition, irony and the courage to fuse unfamiliar media. His works are in museum collections in Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia, USA and Finland as well as in public spaces in Lithuania, Latvia, Korea, Norway, Finland and Germany.
Mindaugas Navakas' work is the pride of the collection of the future Latvian Museum of Contemporary Art (LMoCA): the granite sculpture Shield (1982–1983) and seven concrete compositions Volume and Layout (1978–1982) were added to the collection of the LMoCA with the help of a European Economic Area (EEA) Financial Mechanism grant for expanding the collection with outstanding works from Soviet-period nonconformist artists. For 13 years, Mindaugas Navakas' sculptures were exhibited near Ostas skati in Ķīpsala (2011–2024), now they have found their permanent home next to the Museum Storage.
Participating in the realisation of the project with the support from the State Culture Capital Foundation were sculptor and author of the site plan, Ansis Dobičins, SIA Skarpelis, VAS Valsts nekustamie īpašumi.
The works by Mindaugas Navakas are the second outdoor exhibition next to the Museum Storage in Pārdaugava. Worth reiterating that the first permanent outdoor stone sculpture exhibition, Mythopoetic Figures, was inaugurated by the Latvian National Museum of Art in 2021, presenting seven granite sculptures made in the second half of the 20th century by Latvian sculptors Laimonis Blumbergs, Ojārs Feldbergs, Lilija Līce, Ojārs Siliņš, Juris Zihmanis and Zenta Zvāra.
About the Artist
Professionals and those interested in art in Latvia would have become familiar with the name of the Lithuanian artist Mindaugas Navakas already in the early 1980s, when the ambitious presentations of Lithuanian sculptors made a convincing mark on the traditional Baltic sculpture quadrennials, which have been taking place in Riga since 1972. On multiple occasions Mindaugas Navakas was also among the laureates, being recognised as the first Lithuanian sculptor to consistently adopt and engage in conceptual art.
Mindaugas Navakas was born in 1952 in Kaunas, attended art high-school (1962–1969), began studying architecture at the Kaunas Polytechnic Institute (1969–1970), moved to Vilnius, where he still lives, and continued studying architecture and sculpture at the Lithuanian State Art Institute (1970–1977), where he also worked as a pedagogue of sculpture (1977–1981). Since 1990, Mindaugas Navakas has been a pedagogue at the Department of Sculpture of the Vilnius Academy of Arts, since 2003 – professor.
Since 1977, he has been participating in collective and group exhibitions, since 1986 he has regularly held personal exhibitions in Lithuania and abroad; three of these have taken place in Riga – Waltzing Matilda (1996, Gallery M6), Swan (2000, Gallery Noass), R Works (2006, Latvian National Museum of Art). Navakas has taken part in several sculpture symposia in Lithuania, Germany, Finland, Korea, Latvia, produced works for public space, created video films and stage design for opera productions, made photographs and music.
