Still Life

Lithuanian artist Urte Janus’ sculptures and the paintings by the younger-generation Polish artist Paweł Olszewski, transform seemingly familiar, human-made objects into time- stopping relics of civilisation, creating new dimensions of time and space. Urte Janus' sculptures, displayed on shelves resembling meat curing cabinets, are crystallized under thick layers of salt. What do we choose to bury and what do we choose to preserve? Food, bodies, poisons, memories, secrets, treasures, hopes – what is worth freezing in salt molecules, whose history of extraction and dispersal has catalysed wars, revolutions, and technological progress? Through compositions of found objects – tools, toxic waste, debris – Janus creates a microrepository, a small model of that immeasurable layer of salt in the earth, beneath which lie the most toxic traces of humanity’s activities, destined to outlive us. In Paweł Olszewski’s canvases, time and space multiply around everyday objects. Painted specifically for this exhibition, his works feature a muted color palette and futuristic geometry that divides the canvas surfaces into thin layers, shimmering like digital screens in the dark. Or is it the screens that are observing us and the objects around them, rather than the other way around? Olszewski flips the usual perspective, turning familiar surroundings into still lifes lost in time, like binary oppositions seen through a technological lens. About the artists: Urte Janus (b. 1991, Vilnius, Lithuania) is a Lithuanian artist currently based in London. A graduate of the Vilnius Academy of Arts, Department of Photography and Media Art, she is currently pursuing her MA in Art and Ecology at Goldsmiths College, London. Janus was selected for the JCDecaux Prize in 2023 and is an alumna of the Alexander McQueen Sarabande Foundation Residency. She regularly exhibits in group shows in the UK and in 2023 created a site-specific installation in the Anglican Chapel, Nunhead Cemetery in London. Paweł Olszewski (b. 1996, Toruń, Poland) is an artist living and working in Krakow. He graduated with a BA from the Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow and obtained an MA from the University of the Arts (Universität der Künste, UDK) in Berlin. Olszewski has had two solo exhibitions at the Piktogram Gallery in Warsaw and has participated in group exhibitions at the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw and the Serce Człowieka project space in Warsaw. Graphic design: Monika Janulevičiūtė Translation and textual editing: Alexandra Bondarev The exhibition is supported by the Lithuanian Council for Culture and Vilnius City Municipality.