Information
About the Exhibition
Urban Spree Galerie presents "Spinning with Rats", the first solo exhibition in Germany of the Lithuanian visual artist Ervinas Blažys a.k.a Faktūra.
The exhibition "Spinning with Rats" was partially created in Berlin during a Residency at Urban Spree in August/September 2025.
In Spinning with Rats, the young Lithuanian visual artist Faktura conveys us to an alchemic and mesmerizing journey of intriguing, organic, labyrinth-like patterns, and a highly textured universe.
He has developed a unique production process: his works are based on multiple layers of street posters and magazine pages glued onto canvas, sometimes enhanced by the incorporation of organic matters, such as found rope or wood elements.
This material prima, a mixture of everything related to consumption, concerts, events, the buzzing life of the city through the act of postering (and Berlin is its Mecca) is then heavily worked out through grinding and sanding with electric machines, until the underlying layers are again brought to life, however in a totally transformed fashion: desiccated, essential.
Shapes, colors, and textures are totally different from the original organization, the figurative or lettering elements have been dissolved into the Abstract, an abstract vision that retains some patterns: maps, mazes, topographies, circles, lines, imprints, not dissimilar to architecture, albeit leveled down to something primitive, run by invisible songlines throughout.
This transubstantiation creates colors, patterns and shapes with few or no paint involved, most of the colors are the colors of the papers themselves.
Artist Statement:
"Watching the rat, I see it full of movement, unexpected discoveries, and a certain glow. At the same time, it hides in the darkness, almost invisible. Between light and shadows, I feel a quiet rhythm; time sometimes blurs, and the space shifts in fragments. Lamps flash, metal structures vibrate, and from the cracks, bursts of light emerge.
Sometimes I think – r.a.t.s = a.r.t.s. No wonder everything feels so fascinating when it whispers and plays quietly. In the city carnival, I move along with everything around me: between glass, metal partitions, shadows creep, whispers travel through ventilation grates like mail. Vibrations travel into the floor, flashes reflect off the walls. There’s no stage, no order – just a pulse rising somewhere nearby, and a game I’m part of, even though no one is watching.
The rats jump, crawl over racks, hide behind metal edges. I notice their barely perceptible traces. Sometimes I catch a leap into a shadow, sometimes I only hear a whisper, a vibration, a pulse – life. It exists not because it is seen, but because it constantly moves around me. I laugh quietly, because everything seems so serious until I realize how chaotic and playful this order really is.
Spinning with the rats, I embrace their dual nature: light and playful, yet restless and unpredictable. Movement flows through the space, the rhythm throws me between flashes and cables. Often it goes unnoticed, but it never stops. I laugh, because the city has once again found a way to dance without me… and with me."
Biography:
Ervinas Blažys a.k.a Faktūra is a unique artist of the younger generation, living and working in Vilnius. His work combines innovation, artistic expression, and visual experimentation. He actively participates in local and international exhibitions, festivals, and residencies, gaining recognition for his ability to create distinctive visual concepts that draw viewers into his artistic world and invite them to explore the connections between environment, architecture, and art.
https://www.instagram.com/faktura.earth/
Exhibitions:
2025 – Solo exhibition “Phase 1”, Vilnius
2025 – Group exhibition “Rave Nation - Dancing to the Sounds of Freedom, 1992-2004", National Museum of Lithuania, Vilnius
2024 – Group exhibition “Spectrum 2”, Vartai Gallery, Vilnius
2022 – Solo exhibition “The Most Important Quality”, Autarkia, Vilnius
2022–2024 – Creator of the visual and artistic concept for the “Audra” Festival, Art Director of the visual section
Team:
Exhibition design and architecture: Justina Tarasovaitė // Creative process assistants: Ąžuolas Merčaitis, Bartas Jankauskas
Acknowledgments to the exhibition and residency patrons:
Dmitrijus Borisenka, Irma Šimanskytė, Cultural Attaché of the Republic of Lithuania in the Federal Republic of Germany, the Lithuanian Cultural Institute, Urban Spree
Catalogue & Info: pascal@urbanspree.com
