Jurga

1977, Uthena (Lithuania)

Work...

Sculpture is more than my passion. It’s my life. I breathe it. I do it because it is impossible not to do it.

I live sculpture as a capture of some fleeting moments that we live everyday without having any conscience of it. These precious and particular moments that escape from us regularly, sometimes in a very frustrating way because of the impossibility to appreciate them longer. Like short seconds that do not last. In the meantime this is what the whole beauty is about. Life. It's all about life."

Art and all its forms is life. This is something I am aiming it, something I would love to succeed in, to achieve. Rarely, the pure divine magic happens and the sculpture becomes surprisingly alive. A sort of revelation. These are the moments of pure happiness, of pure life. The real meaning of it is when you wake up a child hiding somewhere deep inside. I like discovering this child within me and I love when others discover it within themselves. And when this child starts speaking, expressing itself, it is a real gift, real magics.

Art is a kind of diary that I try to unveil publicly, a kind of diary where everyone recognises onself, where everyone can find something similar, a little something in common with all of us. My little beings are not children as I often hear. It's beyond appearance, it is spiritual. But is it really possible to describe it?"

About Jurga

"I was born in Utena, small provincial town in Lithuania, in 1977. I was lucky to arrive in a family that appreciated all kinds of arts – music, literature, photography, wooden sculpture, drawing. My parents encouraged me to do all kind of things – they payed my cultural education depriving their own needs. I started attending music school at 6 and graduated it at 16. Playing the piano is still something I love a lot. However, I never felt it as my favourite occupation. Neither I ever considered sculpture since I never believed myself capable of sculpting. It was something sacred. Something destined for others. Thus, I was drawing. I loved drawing. At that time there were two kinds of schools for children in Lithuania: that of music and that of fine arts. These schools were supposed to prepare children for further professional education. Which means at 18 I could choose to sudy at a music conservatory, but there were strictly no chances for me to get to a very good school of Fine Arts in Vilnius... So, I chose languages at Vilnius University.

Once, I remember, I came across a box of oils of my father. I could not find a single brush at home and I could not wait to try it so I started painting with my own fingers. It was a portrait and it is still there, at my parents’, hidden somewhere... I fell in love with colours at this very moment. More than that, I fell in love with imagination!

I loved photography, too. My brother showed me the magic of black and white photography. I keep wonderful memories of numberless sleepless nights in my room surrounded by hundreds of photos, breathing fixer-saturated air...

Why sculpture? No idea. As if it was always there, waiting to reveal itself or to emerge when I am ready. When I was a kid I found once a piece of clay in the garden. I had no clue of what it was. I just took it into my hands realising it was magic. I remember it stroke me. I realized I could do whatever I wanted to with it, I was sure it would obey me. I knew it would. I did something with it but then the clay dried and broke into pieces.

There was another moment when I found a piece of wood and my grandpa’s tools and starded sculpting a boat... My grandpa did not want to take a responsibility of me being injured so he hid all his tools...

In terms of sculpture I was lucky to be born in Lithuania – there are so many sculptures there everywhere. In wood, in stone, in bronze. I remember observing them for hours. I did not have the possibility of sculpting myself, but I was learning so much just looking at them, watching them, observing them. I still love going to Lithuania to discover there new sculptures again and again...

After my studies at Vilnius University I arrived in France to discover that my Bachelor degree of languages was not valid there... Strangely enough, straight away I happened to meet a teacher of Applied Arts School of Rouen who proposed me to attend her courses. I did not hesitate. This was the beginning of the most exciting story."

Artistic resume and press

"All the characters of Jurga fascinate by their vitality, the incredible accuracy of their attitudes, their expressions and the superb feeling of humor, charm and simplicity... only clear echoes of the success of a sculpture one cannot can more figurative and nevertheless perfectly of our time. How not to succumb to the fascinating charm of his terracotta whose rough surface nevertheless deploys such humanity! How not to be captivated by this saga of statuesque characters with so much evocative power, full of simplicity, tenderness, gaiety or pain. The expressions, the gestures, the attitudes reflect on the part of Jurga, a deep knowledge of beings of all conditions, of all ages, a developer imbued with talent and who cheers up this immortal discipline that is sculpture."

André Ruellan, art critic

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2002

  • 4ème Salon de la Jeune Création, Pourville-sur-Mer : 1er Prix du Conseil Général
  • 34ème Salon de Criel-sur-Mer : Prix de l’Association du Manoir de Briançon
  • 25ème Salon de la Côte d’Albâtre, Pourville-sur-Mer : Prix du Public et du Jury
  • Exposition personnelle, Grand Quevilly
  • Exposition en duo, Lieu Dit, Rouen

2003

  • 47ème Salon des Arts, Taverny : Prix de sculpture (argent)
  • Exposition en duo avec Bernard Andrieux, Eragny-sur-Oise
  • Participation au Festival Ciné Rétro, Beaune
  • Exposition personnelle à l’Atelier « Inventerre », Rouen

2004

  • 15ème Salon de Maromme : Prix de sculpture et Prix du public
  • 28ème Salon de printemps, Saint Aubin les Elbeuf : Prix de sculpture
  • Exposition personnelle, Barentin : Visages de Lituanie
  • Exposition personnelle au Moulin d’Andé
  • Exposition personnelle, Lieu Dit, Rouen

2005

  • Salon des Artistes Normands : Prix du salon
  • Exposition REGARDS, Dieppe
  • Exposition des ‘Peintres Libres’, Le Carmel : Invitée d’honneur, sculpture-peinture
  • Exposition personnelle, Lieu Dit, Rouen

2006

  • Exposition personnelle, atelier de Michel Abdou, Rouen
  • Invitée d’honneur, sculpture, Bosc-Mesnil
  • Exposition « Ambiance de café », Orbec, 3ème prix

2007

  • 9ème salon de peinture et de sculpture, La Londe: Invitée d’honneur
  • Installation de deux sculptures taille nature, Bar des Fleurs, Rouen

2008

  • Exposition personnelle, Hôtel de Ville de Dieppe
  • Manifestation Art des Rives, Veules les Roses

2010

  • Installation de Lilou, bronze grandeur nature au Manoir de Briançon, Criel sur Mer
  • Exposition personelle, Echevronne
  • Salon « SCIAC », Marseille

2011

  • 7 eme biennale de sculpture, Bois-Guilbert

2012

  • Exposition « Quator à Corps », Galerie du Parc, Notre Dame de Gravenchon
  • Exposition personelle, Uzerche
  • Exposition personelle, Caisse d’Epargne, Dijon

2017

  • Installation de Luce, sculpture en bronze à la Résidétape de Marseille, Le Clos Fleuri, construit par Logeo Méditerranée

2018

  • Installation de “Je’t’aime”, sculpture en bronze à Maromme, nouveau quartier construit par Logeo Seine Estuaire

2021

  • Installation de « Les Ailes pour Voler »
  • Installation de « Sleeping Lady »

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