The collaboration between Stuttgart-based sculptor and performance artist Thomas Putze and Vilnius-based painter Gustas Jagminas began over a decade ago when Putze purchased several of Jagminas’ works online. Their artistic friendship continued as the artists kept in touch via social media. In 2024, Putze invited Jagminas to organize a joint exhibition in Stuttgart. This marked the beginning of their first creative project, Gasthaus (German for “guest house”), which became the foundation for their ongoing artistic partnership.
Today, their dialogue continues in Vilnius. T. Putze has collected more of G. Jagminas’ works, and Gustas invites him to experience Lithuania – and his work – through places, landscapes, and experiences meaningful to Gustas.
“This artistic journey is neither documentary nor geographical; it is an inner and physical journey through memory, biography, and areas of inspiration. It allows one to get to know the country through another artist’s worldview,” said Sonata Baliuckaitė Arlauskienė, one of the exhibition’s curators.
The two artists’ similarities are most clearly revealed in their anarchic approach to form, color, and material. The punk spirit of the works allows viewers to experience art and become part of a creative, intercultural process.
The colors in some of Putze’s works echo Jagminas’ paintings, which feature deconstructed landscapes and solitary figures balancing between abstraction and figuration. In dialogue with Putze’s existentially moving, figurative sculptures, this exhibition creates a visual narrative of inner states, such as fear and hope, taking place in an environment of controlled wildness.
Gasthouse 2 becomes an artistic process involving being in another space, hospitality, and intercultural trust. It is an exhibition about relationships: with a place, with another artist, and with another world.
G. Jagminas earned his Master of Fine Arts in Painting from the Vilnius Academy of Arts. He is a member of the Lithuanian Artists’ Association and teaches at the Alytus Art School. Jagminas is known for combining the Lithuanian painting tradition with contemporary art and current events. Having chosen painting as his primary means of expression, Jagminas captures everyday life and creates a visual diary that reveals his civic position. The daily creative process is often accompanied by a soundtrack. Jagminas’ work is appreciated not only in Lithuania but also internationally. His pieces engage viewers in a lively, sensitive, and relevant dialogue.
T. Putze’s creative practice is based on transformation. Using found materials, junk art aesthetics, performativity, and social criticism, the artist transforms everyday objects into living, absurd, yet meaningful forms that combine irony, humor, and existential reflection.
“At the exhibition, Thomas will present his latest sculptures and installations, in which he experiments with metal and shot. His pieces feature strange characters, ranging from anarchic metal angels and birds flying in airplanes to scenes of descent into hell and ascension to heaven. All of this is imbued with black humor and the artist’s characteristic worldview,” said Dr. Katrin Burtschell, the exhibition’s curator. Burtschell lives in Stuttgart and curated the artists’ first joint exhibition, Gasthouse, at the Kunstverein Wagenhalle exhibition hall in Stuttgart in 2024. The exhibition by Th. Putze and G. Jagminas, Gasthouse 2, is on display at the Meno Niša gallery until April 2.
Th. Putze and G. Jagminas’ exhibition Gasthouse 2 will be on display at the Meno Niša gallery until April 2. Exhibition curators: Dr. Katrin Burthcel and Sonata Baliuckaitė Arlauskienė. The exhibition is financed by the Lithuanian Council for Culture, and the Meno Niša gallery is sponsored by the Vilnius City Municipality.
