Vytautas Viržbickas. Exhibition In Lethal understanding 2018 A puff of changes. Photo Gedvilė-Tamošiūnaitė

Geraširdys Linkėtojas, formerly known as Vytautas Viržbickas (born 1987), mainly creates figurative sculptures and installations that become three-dimensional illustrations of complex internal states and literary plots.  

The artist’s works are visual, chaotic, as if they were film or theatre props transported into unusual situations. Some works also feature brutal, untreated elements, such as a stripped-downheating system (‘Sandwich with Effort on Both Sides’, 2017) or the husks of worn tires (‘Problets’, 2018). The artist does not seek theoretical justification for his works, nor does he articulate their position within the field of contemporary art. More than concepts or research, he is interested in literary, mythical, folkloric images that provide codes to understanding painful experiences (‘Ophelia. To Go with the Flow’, 2017; ‘A Couple of Sips’, 2018). All of the artist’s works feature the motif of helplessness, as if intentions contradicted, or never grew into, actions. This is how Geraširdys Linkėtojas grounds his artistic alias (‘a kind-hearted wisher’) – a grandiose yet childish character.  

Vytautas Viržbickas graduated from the Vilnius Academy of Fine Arts with a master’s degree in sculpture and has held solo exhibitions at Le Magasin National Center for Contemporary Art in Grenoble, Si:said gallery in Klaipėda, and Vartai gallery in Vilnius; he has actively participated in group exhibitions at the Contemporary Art Centre in Vilnius, Nida Art Colony, art fairs such as Artisstima (2015) and Viennacontemporary (2016).