Old things continue their new life journey in assemblages

Objects that remember the past, but which have long since become unnecessary, turned into assemblages in the hands of Arvydas Kubilius, attracted great interest at the Kaziuk fair and all of them were bought, and their creator was awarded the diploma of the best craftsman of the Kaziuk fair.

“I thought that if you put an object as an old object, it will be interesting to few people, and a completely different attitude will appear if you present it more artistically, so that people can use it to decorate the interior,” said the creator of assemblages, who lives in the village of Skiturii in the Alytus district.

Assemblage is a type of modernist art that appeared less than a century ago, where a three-dimensional work is constructed from objects mounted on a framed plane or placed in boxes, and can be combined with painting.

According to A. Kubilius, the assemblages also fit perfectly in a modern, sterile interior, because such accents add warmth to the home. Some of the assemblages created by him are more abstract, others are connected to certain specialties – doctor, hairdresser, builder, mechanic. “These are old used items that people rediscover after redecorating,” said A. Kubilius.

The old things did not immediately appear in the life of A. Kubilius. The man has been interested in antiquities for a long time. “I like them because they have some kind of spirit of their own, they radiate the warmth of people’s hands, they have been touched many times, used, loved by someone. I cannot throw them in the garbage and destroy them, because they are our history, a reflection of the life of previous generations. Conscience does not allow us to get rid of them easily,” said A. Kubilius.

Everyone from Skitur started creating assemblages recently – about a year ago, and the first very successful presentation took place at this year’s Kaziuk fair. The first assemblage was created from ancient forged nails and a lock left over from repairing the roof of the mill in the village of Ažuolinii. After this assemblage, the second, third, and then dozens of works appeared.

Some things were given to A. Kubilis for the assemblages by friends, acquaintances, because they had long since become unnecessary and were gathering dust in attics, others appeared in his life by themselves in various ways.

In the assemblages created by A. Kubilius, who has been living in Dzūkija for five years, not only the old things, but also the frames in which they are placed, are made from half-century-old wind-blown boards of the former vegetable garden. Even the base of the assemblage is an ancient linen fabric woven at home on a wooden loom for sewing bags. For assemblages that did not suit folk motifs very well, the creator used leather.

A. Kubilis himself likes the assemblage the most, the frames of which were made from ancient oak spirit levels, with a planer, a grater, a ruler and a saw inserted into them, and another with two stirrups and a braided jockey’s whip. “Everyone is interesting in their own way,” said A. Kubilius.

According to the interviewer, creating assemblages is a great pleasure, so it was very good to know that others liked his works. “It’s nice that all the works were bought, but the most important thing is that as children grow up, they will see the objects and tools used in the past, they will get to know the history better,” the creator was happy.

A. Kubilius noticed that many rural people do not value such things, they throw them in the trash as unnecessary ballast. “I can’t find a horse-drawn plow in the whole village, which used to be in every shed. They took the plows to the scrapyard instead of showing their grandchildren how their ancestors plowed the land,” lamented the creator who gives new life to old things.

Born in Siberia and returning to Panevėžys with his parents as a child, A. Kubilius grew up in this city and began his working career as a painter. Later, he worked in various jobs – he worked as a painter in construction, restored churches, after emigrating to England he worked as a carpenter, and even founded his own company, which employed 30 people. In 2008, when the crisis hit, fate took a new direction. There were no orders, so one client offered to switch to work for his company. It coincided that the head of the company, James Brett, just at that time began to collect the so-called outsider art of people rejected by society (with physical, mental disabilities, autistics), later he became the owner of the largest collection of this art in the world, wrote the most books on this topic and founded “The Museum of Everything”.

“I worked for the company for 10 years, during which time the company organized a number of exhibitions in London, Paris, Rotterdam, Australia, Italy. I was entrusted to install those works, repair existing frames or make new ones. I also had the opportunity to build scenery for films, communicate with people famous all over the world. When the company was not holding exhibitions, I worked there as a construction manager. One of the houses we built was featured in a world interior magazine. When there was no buyer willing to pay several tens of millions of euros for it, the building was rented by the Walt Disney Company,” said A. Kubilius.

Four years ago, he and his wife settled in Dzūkija and enjoy life in the village. “We keep rabbits, various poultry and four sheep so we don’t have to cut the grass. I have a workshop where I restore antiques and create assemblages. It’s a new challenge and attraction for me”, said A. Kubilius about the new stage of his life.