Stasys Žirgulis is one of the leading contemporary Lithuanian artists, whose career spans two centuries and two strikingly different historical epochs. On the one hand, his art integrates the entire experience of Modern art and escapes any narrow classification. On the other hand, it springs from the Lithuanian 20 century sculptural tradition and represents its ingenious continuation. As all great artists, he has been shaping the face of the period, and the epoch has reciprocated in molding the artist, as no talent can grow in an empty place or resist the impact of tradition. In this respect,Stasys Žirgulis represents the wise middle road - he never runs to extremes and he has no blind fascination with the vanguard tricks. He knows how to capitalize on his predecessors discoveries. At the same time, he has created his own idiom marked by a balance of form and content. Each of his pieces embodies a powerful idea, which is a driving force that determines the form of a to-be working. Therefore, the artist does not attach himself to any particular form, but employs a large arsenal of media and style. His personal identity, how- ever, remains unchanged and the source of unity art

Žirgulis emerged on the artistic scene in the 1970s. He worked against the grain of the official Soviet canons. He explored the 20 century ideas in Western European and American art and tried to grasp the aesthetic-philosophical principles and concepts operating within these Friends rather than imitating concrete specimen. In these movements, he searched for a common human denominator, which transforms art into a universally comprehensible language, simultaneously preserving its regional or national identity.

The artist's work has achieved the natural synthesis of the universal and individual. on different levels. In his work, he does not discard mythological archetypes and prehistoric images of the national consciousness, at the same time responds a provincial tightness of Vision. His art advocates the unity of being, but at the same time responds to individual aspects of existence. He perceives himself as an artist of the world and pursues the agenda of promoting mutual understanding, respect and tolerance among the nations. Concerned with the future of civilization, he avoids the trendy ontological anarchism and has no foolish whim to shock or abuse the public at any cost.

The work of the Kaunas-based artist is diverse: it ranges from monumental sculpture to ornamental fountains and small sculpture. Each work represents a unique artistic solution. One typical and striking feature is the sculptor's subtle sense of measure and the ability to articulate the subject or idea with clinical precision and economy, sometimes through association, metaphor or Symbol. All the elements in his piece integrate into a uniform semantic and aesthetic system, leaving no room for accidental or excessive. His works emerge as signs or as refined and perfectly orchestrated symbols That function not as illustration of the artist's idea but rather as mediums for the establishing an emotional relation with really.

To perpetuate the mystery aspect in his work, the artist often employs the strategy of implication and understatement, yet this does not imply that he advocates irrationality or chaos. On the contrary, he structures a meaningful yet stereotype free cosmos where solid material like granite, bronze and aluminium become a medium for poetic expression.

The artist is extremely skilled in employing different materials with regard to their diverse nature, symbolic implications and psychological impact of each. Wood, bronze, granite, polished aluminium, Steel, lead - each have a different appeal to the viewer, while combinations of these lend a unique note to sculptural forms. Often his works feature a bronze or aluminium slab with miniature human figures arranged on it, like in the Emigrants (Emigrantai). The Morning (Rytas) shows a bronze rider who brought his horse to drink at the lake (a polished surface that reflects the figure of the rider). This piece communicates the feeling of a vast space and emphasizes the dramatic aspect of a human journey.

In a way the artist brings together the styled motifs derived from empirical reality and mythological motifs. In his work, the Night Time Pasture (Naktigonė) the image of a hunch-backed rider and his horse, is a likeness of a real mounted man. Yet he deforms the forms to the extent they resemble, in their rough shape, an idol of the archaic past. This past seemed to us so real and lose a while ago. but it is increasingly turning into a dream, inhabited with the bod-less spirits of the ancestors.

Intentionally or inadvertently, the artist manipulates the archetypes with a hidden magic meaning, and That is one of the sources of his success. One of his most frequently recurring images is that of a bird. In most archaic cultures, it is the Symbol of god and soul, and ha$ numerous ritual functions, related wilt the life-death cycle. Therefore, birds can be messengers of either of good or of evil. Two sculpture pieces by the artist That exploit the image of the bird, the wooden Midnight (Vidurnaktis) (it also exists in granite and bronze) and the bronze piece Night (Naktis) lend the selves to numerous interpretations.

The Consultation (Konsiliumas), a composition chiseled in granite, which is combined with aluminium, shows three ravens in a discussion. It is a witty work with philosophical implications. The work lends itself to contradictory interpretations, as The three birds can stand equally for wisdom or vanity. typical of the meetings of The most of the governing bodies. The rough texture of The chiseled granite provides an impressive contrast to the smooth forms of the birds.

A small-size bronze figure Fatigue (Nuovargis) also employs the bird motif or of a similar beaked creature. This piece approximates surrealistic abstraction and strikes as a tiny monument to the impotent contemporary culture.

The interest of the artist in the mysteries of the past and their metaphysical meaning is apparent in his work the Ancient Legends. A cross-like structure made of separate parts resembles a pagan altar or a tower with its four sides facing the four parts of the world. In religious Indian terminology (adopted by C.G. Jung and the contemporary archetype psychology), this structure can be called a spatial mandala. It rises on a square pedestal. which looks like a stump of the Tree of Life. Its roots have entangled the surrounding territory. We can guess that these roots refer to genetic ties with the fundamentals - the earth with its vitality and the forgotten past and the spirits of the fathers. The artist paradoxically reinforces two things: the continuity of tradition and its radical separation from its origins. The two elements - the pedestal and the structure it provides support for. interact as nature with culture. Though closely related. they are two distinct things. The entangled roots may also represent the forgotten cultural layers. Any attempts to explain the past is no more. būt interpretation, largely determined by the present attitudes. assumptions, hopes and ideals. However, the retrospective visions of the past are valuable myths of cultural consciousness, the loss of which shatters the foundations of our being and breaks the life-blood links.

The multifaceted, diverse in terms of material and economical in their formal structure sculptural pieces bespeak of the artist's adherence to the imperatives espoused by Modern art. Occasionally he adopts the language of realism, but with moderation and in combination with abstract elements. His cast lead composition Oblivion (Užmarštis) radically transforms a human face: just the key anthropomorphic features are preserved. the rest melts in expressive lead folds. Lead is the opposite of gold. Gold symbolize divine consciousness, intellect and memory, therefore the alchemist transformation process is most often defined as the process of turning lead into gold through numerous intermediate stages of suturing and metamorphoses.

DThe artist seldom undertakes the theme of religion and its direct sense. One such work is a unique composition The Truth of The Universe (Visatos tiesa) in bronze, granite and aluminium in it. he counterpoints two stylistically different elements - a figure of Christ on a pedestal reminiscent of a small column. and a phantasmagorical sphere. The figure of Christ very much in the Baroque style, appears inside an eight-egged sphere. Though number eight both in the Judaic and Christian tradition has many mystical and metaphysical meanings, the sphere looks like a gigantic spider or a fantastic creature, casting its shadow on the Savior. representing the axis mundane, and his imaginary flock of sheep. The composition generates numerous interpretations and, probably, none of them would be true. The truth of the universe manifested in hie work opens up in a different way to every perceive.

Irony is also a frequent parameter of Žirgulis s art. A Trip to the Metropolitan (Kelionė į Metropoliteno muziejų), a steel and aluminium composition, is not only witty, it rings the note of philosophical sarcasm. Most probably, we should read this piece as a critical allegory: the animal on a trip to the viscera of technocratic civilization must represent an impersonal human being no longer in need of an individual mind.

In general, the artist manifests his ability to separate the wheat from the chaff: he eschews the influence of degrading doctrines, which frequently conquer the fantasy of the artists, drifting with the stream.

Žirgulis is also an active member of the community and takes responsibility for his hometown and his country. Being aware that museums or galleries do not exhaust the sphere of art, he undertakes projects for burial markers. In these grave monuments, he integrates the traditional forms of the genre and his individual approach.

By virtue of its humanistic content and subtle artistic form. the art of Stasys Žirgulis becomes a source of spiritually enlightening aesthetic experience.