Justina Moncevičiūtė's practice is informed by her studies and research of textile art and design, yet her first choice of material is clay. Her art interweaves the two, curiously archaic, if not the very first artistic media, resulting in sculptural works that consist of hundreds and thousands of individual pieces, ceramic modules held together by fine threads or lines.
Each module is a hand-shaped clay bead, a straw, a prism or another three-dimensional shape, thus a unique object itself. Once fired, the modules are arranged and fixed together accordingly to the logical methods of textile This lends a grid character to the works, as well as enables them to continuously expand, grow and vary.
The objects are solid, but escape the static of a sculpture, as they remain dynamic, able to change shape and organically adjust to chosen display settings – hung on a wall, lain over a flat surface, spread in a corner. Their way of presenting is seemingly infinite. Due to their dynamic shape, each work makes its own unique clanking sound when moved.
The adherence to the logical structure renders an architectural quality to Moncevičiūtė's sculptures. They appear as schematic models of buildings, skeletons of modernist architecture. and once exhibited, the unglazed clay surface varyingly absorbs and reflects the light, transgressing the initial weight of the material to become something lighter, and somehow ephemeral.
The artist emphasises that the process of the making is as important to her as the end result. The dedication to the laborious, repetitive and demanding process comes from her personal background: the artist inherited the know-how and appreciation of ceramic making from her parents.
Justina Moncevičiūtė (b. 1988 in Lithuania) studied at Weißensee Kunsthochschule in Berlin. The artist lives and works in Berlin. The artist exhibited in various group exhibitions including -t-e-x-t-i-l-e- (2022), UPSPACE (2021) at the drj-project space for contemporary conceptual and minimal art gallery in Berlin. For the exhibition original bauhaus (2019) at the Berlinische Galerie. Museum für Moderne Kunst, she co-created a textile installation with/for blind and visually impaired visitors. In 2022 the artist received a private scholarship from the Lithuanian Council for Culture. Her sculptures have been acquired by art collectors and clients internationally.
