Jurgis Gecys
Interdisciplinary artist & architect
Vienna
“Drawing the landscape is as frightening and liberating at the same time as the first step towards exploring an unknown continent. Beyond the measurable - point by point, step by step, from the single grain of sand to texture to shape to space - nature is continuously shaping the ground, as well as my body and mind. Through these observations, I forget who I am, forget my predetermined identity - and I was able to create space for something free.” Jurgis Gečys
Q&A
What couldn’t you live without?
From the very primeval point of view oxygen, water, nutrition and the physical environment are the elements which keep me alive. I am an embodiment of life in an organic form, vulnerable and ephemeral. The ground is a foundation of my stamina and the interaction within the environment makes me perceive myself as a Human. One might say I cannot ask for more. And yet, living my life, I face occurrences that make me curious beyond rational justifications and needs - the intelligence of imagination. The notion that I am able to convert a thought into a matter is what makes life exciting. Creativity and its reflection in the form of art is a quintessential element of my life. I could EXIST, but I could definitely not LIVE without it.
What does your creative space feel like?
First of all, it is a feeling, yes. And before it is in a physical space, it is in a world of unquantifiable, ungraspable realm of thoughts in my head. The creative space in my mind has no properties, no scale, no measures, no environment. I can create and form things without tools, with nothing to surround it. It feels pure, it is just one thing. It is like a cosmos full of ideas as stars, which I am able to reach within a fraction of a glimpse. Paradoxically sometimes to reach it, I need an inspirational kick from a physical environment. Most of the time this kick is triggered by Nature. My fascination with Nature and its inexplicable phenomena resonates with the frequency of the creative cosmos in my mind and establishes space within which I can move and create. And here I am, living in a white box, surrounding myself with environs, representing just a small fraction of its essence: wooden floor as a forest ground, small rocks on a bookshelf as immense mountains, strawberries on the window sill as a celebration of growth and cycle. It feels real, alive, constituting my own nature, it helps me not to get lost in that vast cosmos of creative space, to sense the gravity and reflect it on the white sheet of paper. It feels pure, it is just one thing.
What is your favourite ritual?
Starting the day: facing the light, cold shower, rolling out the yoga mat, breakfast with a softly boiled egg, watering my plants, putting on the working coat and white cotton gloves. I stand in front of my drawing board, facing it. I am so excited to see where you are going to take me today, my dear friend,- I whisper silently to the drawing.
What role do digital technologies play in your creative processes?
It is definitely a tool, for typing this text, or simulating video projection. It has the power to make a thought visible without any constraints and give a virtual body, that obeys all universal laws. However, I base my practice mostly on the analog approach.
Firstly, it would be a big waste of developed handy skills; thanks to my father who gave me a saw and a hammer when I was 3, and drawing skills thanks to my mother, who didn’t take “No” as an answer from a principle at the art school, after failing the deadline of the submission.
Secondly, it is true to itself, impeccably honest, with its own flaws, imperfections, mistakes. There is no way back, just a lesson of acceptance, awareness of it, and obsession to make it better on the next sheet of paper.
And lastly, for this time, drawing is a physical and metaphysical manifestation of energy, charged from the gesture of trace in a form of a dot, line, or scratch. It is an extension of my body, my mind, my soul. One can say it is similar to an inexhaustible battery, capable to store all that power of expression and give it back whenever it is needed with excessive multiplication. And above all, it is simply graspable, sensuous flow, fluctuation, or transcendental exchange of that same energy between the mind and body.
Poetry is...
a form of communication beyond the lines of rhyme. It is an ubiquitous phantasm in multiple universes, which takes something that is so obviously obvious and makes us question it again. For instance, the act of breathing, seeing or hearing. We do not need to make an extra effort for the heart to beat. And yet, in a very playful, honest and meaningful way, poetry unfolds and exposes the true emotion and sensation behind it. Poetry, in any kind of form, wakes us up to feel the fresh air in our lungs, a flower in our sight, a grasshoppers in our ears and the purpose for our hearts to beat.
