Berdenkovas Alius

Born in 1958 in Kybartai
1976–1981 – Vilnius Art Institute, Architecture
Since 1985 – participating in exhibitions
Since 1990 – freelance artist

Aliaus Berdenkovas’s irony targets several subjects, among them bourgeois taste – the desire in art to see recognizable poses, pleasing forms, noble gold and mahogany. The artist’s wooden sculptures reinterpret biblical myths and draw on the aesthetics of the Renaissance and Mannerism, thus combating bourgeois values by creating an almost ideal model of their desires. The exposed heroes in Berdenkovas’s works display perfect anatomy and freedom of movement (from traditional contrapposto to Kamasutra-like acrobatics), refined bodily expression, and baroquely twisted curls. These sculptures are executed with such precision that they can afford slight deviations from the “classical”: omitting or emphasizing body parts, adopting a grotesque appearance, or approaching kitsch. The artist’s irony also emerges on a verbal level, with witty commentary on popular myths and exaggerated didacticism.

Nijolė Adomonytė