Into the House of Gods

TABLE OF

CONTENT

About The Artist……………………………………4
Introduction …………………………………………5
In The Forest…………………………….………….6
Concept…………………………………….………….9
Sculptures In The Forest…………….………10
Journal.……………………………………….………18
In the studio
Reflection on performance through
painting……………………………………..…….…28
The Axe……………..………………….…………..30
The Fox……………………………….………..…..34
The Ant’s Nest…………..………….……………38
The Tree…………………………………..…………42
The Boar…………………………….……………….46
The Exhibition………….………..………………51

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Lui Gruduls is London based artist (born in Latvia in his works often investigate links between a
1987). BA Fine Art Middlesex University London, human mind and physical space. Aspects of
additional art education in Latvia and Poland. naturality and ancient symbolism are frequently
His artworks have been exhibited in venues: explored in Lui’s art practice. During the process
Beacosnfield Gallery London, Victoria House, of creation, he has stages of a progression: The
Muse Gallery, Old Truman’s Brewery and more. performance (living the art) and the reflection
Lui Gruduls is a multidisciplinary artist whose (creation of “artefacts”).
expertise stretches from traditional painting and
sculpture to fine art and performance. The artist www.luigruduls.com

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INTRODUCTION

For the ancient people who inhabited the east
side lands of the Baltic Sea; forests were a
mystical and spiritual place. All woodlands were
sacred; they were like temples or houses of
gods. The ancient Baltic people’s spirituality
was heavily intertwined with nature and natural
phenomena. These people resisted Christianity
for the longest in Europe. They kept their pagan
ways long after the 13th century when
Christianity, forcefully, was imposed to these
lands with the crusades and colonisation by
Teutonic Order. Throughout the history, people
who inhabited these territories still kept their
ancient traditions even till now.

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IN THE FOREST

At the end of August 2016, Lui spent six days
alone in the forest of Latvia. While he was
there, he didn’t communicate with the outer
world, didn’t meet or speak with people,
didn’t use a phone, nor computer, didn’t
consume information from books and didn’t
read or had any other source of information,
only nature and his own mind and thoughts. At
the end of the summer, those forests usually
are rich with berries, mushrooms, nuts and
other natural spoils in form of food.
Therefore, in the ancient pagan calendar, this
part of the year is called the month of the
forest. Even though forests were rich with
food, Lui didn’t live only on food that he could
find in the forest, he took some food with him
as well. This performance wasn’t an
expedition based on survival skills or survival
reasoning but it was an act about social
exclusion and abandonment of the modern
society and urban environment, a desertion of
his own day to day routines and comfort.

It was an experiment to see how unfamiliar
environments and solitude would impact his
thought process, art practice, creativity and
life in general.

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CONCEPT others too. The human mind is very
complex and interesting thing, people used
Often people learn more about themselves to live in this kind of environment but we
in uncomfortable life experiences and evolved from it, yet we still have a bond
environments. Lui Gruduls created himself with nature. Every day people tend to move
these ‘’strange’’ conditions, and they are away from nature; thinking and inventing
considered strange in the modern society easier ways of living and gaining control
but some time ago and even nowadays over it. Great things could be done if we
some people in few parts of the world still would use nature and its beauty more, even
live in this kind of conditions. This can be in different and unexpected ways. Natural
by choice but mostly because they have no environments could be very spiritual and
other option. Lui wants to discover and humans share an indefinable link with it.
learn about himself and the world around True creative processes are spiritual too, it
him by using art and creative approach. He is like magic and used in the right way this
believe that is one of most supreme ways of creativity could change not only society but
discovery and probably most rewarding too.
the whole world for better. We still need to
By starting to live in a completely different search for these ways and creative
way we might trigger something very processes, and maybe not with logic but
interesting in our own minds. These strange more with intuition and instinct that comes
activities, if they are done in a correct and from within.
thoughtful way might be extremely
inspirational for oneself and potentially for

SCULPTURES
IN THE WOODS

During these six days at the forest, Lui
Gruduls created four wooden sculptural
objects. Tools used for sculpting were an axe
and an old chisel. All sculptures were carved
out of found fallen wood. He created these
sculptures in the same way and for the same
purpose why ancient Balts made their
statuettes. It was a ritual. Each one of them
was created for different reasons and
purpose.

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Symbol of the Sun.

Not far from the river Lui found
a good piece of wood that was
round shaped, like a slice of a
tree trunk, of about 60cm in
diameter and 15cm thick. In this
piece of wood, he carved a
circular shape. The circle is a
symbol for the Sun.

It took him the whole day to
carve this symbol. The previous
day was very cold and rainy
therefore Lui decided to create
a sculpture dedicated to the
Sun. In the evening when the
sculpture was ready he decided
to find the perfect place for it.
He placed it on a small
platform. Few minutes after
placing this sculpture the Sun
started to shine. For Lui it was
very satisfying and eerie feeling
altogether.

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The face of the thunder.

In the first day, one fallen tree trunk
caught Lui’s eye. It was very beautiful
and large pine tree. The tree was
about 50cm in diameter at the base
and more than 9m long. Later Lui
returned to this tree and sculpted in
it a face of the Thunder god. The
carved area was about 50cm x 70cm.

Nights in the forest could get very
scary. There are many noises and
sounds whose sources are hard to
define. On the fourth day, Lui
sculpted the face of the thunder god
in order to get peaceful and quiet
nights so he can get decent sleep.
The night after he carved this
sculpture, a very strong storm
started, branches were falling and
trees squeaking very loudly. Lui was
very scared because he truly believed
that one tree would fall onto his
shelter and would destroy it and kill
him. By carving this sculpture, he
accidentally summoned a thunder, at
least it felt this way to him.

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Fertility stem.

At the river side, Lui Gruduls
found a washed out log that
was about 2m long and 20cm in
diameter at the base. It was
entirely smooth and it indicated
that this piece of wood was
floating in the river for a long
time. In this wood, Lui carved
about 40 square shaped
ornaments growing upwards to
the top part that looked slightly
like the head of a snake-like
mystical creature. For the
ancient Balts, snakes were the
symbol of wisdom and fertility.
The square shaped pattern was
stylised snake scales.

At the end of summer and
autumn forests are very rich
with food. Berries, mushrooms,
nuts and other foods can be
easily found there. During Lui’s
stay at the forest, he ate many
berries and nuts, therefore, he
wanted to make the fertility
sculpture for this place so it
keeps on being rich and fertile
in the future too. This sculpture
essentially was thanksgiving to
the forest.

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Curved stuff.
purposes of the staff, Lui made it into a
The piece of wood that Lui Gruduls used to deer’s staff. The bottom part of the staff
make his staff he also found at the riverside. was carved in a shape of a deer’s leg, as a
It was 1,7m long and 60cm wide (at the symbol of exploration and the top part of
widest part) piece of root. Similarly to the the stick already looked similar to an antler-
wood used for the fertility stem, this wood protection. At the middle of the staff, Lui
was also found in the river.
also carved stylised symbols of a deer’s head
The staff or walking stick was mainly used that was coloured dark blue with juice from
for the exploration of the surroundings and blueberries.
for protection in form of intimidation against
forest animals. Because of these two main

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THE JOURNAL

Day one, 26th of August.

Got all my supplies and food,
hopefully, will be enough for six days.

I walked down a small forest river
and was looking for the perfect place
to make my camp. All the sudden a
big white bird, glided down in circles,
an amazingly beautiful bird that I
have never seen before. I took it as a
sign and new that I need to make my
camp somewhere around there.

After a short search, I found the
perfect set of trees where I could
build my shelter. The shelter was
about 3.5m high, and I used some big
fallen tree trunks for the base.

Everything looks promising but I
didn’t finish platform yet, so when
started to get dark, I went back to
the house that was one hour walk
away and spend the night there.

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Day two, 27th of August.
I made my shelter right next to a moose
I woke up very early with the sun and went footpath, so many footprints here, and
back to continue my construction. After a many of them fresh, really hope to see
few hours it was finished. I am just sitting moose in life from a safe distance.

here, high up in the trees and my mind I went for a walk around the forest and
drifts away, it is so peaceful and amazing. I took my axe with me. I felt much safer
decided to make a shelter in the trees when had my axe in my hand as it was a
because it is much safer, there are so many protection against wolves.

animals like wolves, wild boars, moose, My first night at the forest. It was so dark,
deer and many other that could damage cold, strange and scary. It was very windy
my shelter on the ground level, now I need at the beginning but still at the morning,
to worry only about bears and lynxes.
and It was very hard to sleep.

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Day tree, 28th of August.

It is very cold morning, I
slept really bad last
night. I ate some beans
and went to the river to
wash myself.

At the riverside, I found
an amazing piece of
wood that would be
perfect for my staff. I
was sitting in the forest
and curving it.

The mosquitos are killing
me and I’m killing them.
They are so annoying.

It started to rain a little.
At least this night will be
warmer.

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Day four, 29th of August.

I had a much better sleep than the
day before because the night was
much warmer. It was time for the
breakfast, same as usual: beans.

About 300 meters away I heard dry
branches breaking under somebody’s
feet, there were two hunters, I was
hiding in my shelter, don’t want to
be seen and communicate with
anybody.

I went for a walk around the forest
and found an amazing fallen pine
tree, so I decided to carve a face of
the thunder god in it. After a few
hours I was more or less finished
with sculpture, and maybe I will
come back tomorrow.

At the riverside, I found a beautiful
piece of wood and started to cure
patterns in it.

The night was so cold and scary.
Such a strong wind, branches falling
and trees making really loud noises. I
thought that the trees would fall

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Day five, 30th of August

Woke up late because couldn’t sleep all
night, only around 4 am the wind finally
stopped and I got to sleep.

It is such a cold morning, I ate some
beans, took my father’s coat and axe and
went for a stroll around the forest. I was
walking down the small forest footpath
with my fur coat and axe in my hand when
suddenly I saw an old woman in the
distance picking mushrooms. Then I
realised that I probably look very strange
or even scary with my big coat and an axe
in hand so I quickly jumped into a bush. I
don’t know if she saw me or not, but I just
don’t want to be a reason for someone’s
heart attack.

A few minutes later I found another great
piece of wood, a round shaped wood, like
a slice of a big log. I decided to carve a
perfect circle there as a symbol for the
Sun because it’s been such a wet and cold
day. After a few hours I finished with the
carving and I found the perfect place for
it. And just a few minutes after placing
sculpture the Sun started to shine. I
couldn’t believe, It was such a strange and
satisfying feeling.

I also finished carving a pattern into the
other sculpture too. It was a sculpture
dedicated to the forests fertility. I planted
it as a tree in a beautiful place surrounded
by pine trees, mushrooms and blueberries.

The night was much warmer than I
expected.

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Day six, 31st of August
after years and see if it’s still there.
Wake up refreshed, I had a good I’m all covered with mosquito bites,
sleep last night, it was nice and will not miss these little guys, I hate
warm however I still needed my fur them so much.

coat as a blanket, I am so grateful During my walk away from the forest
for taking it with me.
I revisited all my sculptures and took
Today is my last day in the forest, some photographs. Hope they going
I’m feeling excited to go back to the to stay there for some time.

civilisation.
When I finally met some people and
I had my last meal in the forest so started to talk with them, I heard
ate everything that was left over that my voice was making strange
plus lots of blueberries. Packed my noises, I didn’t use my vocal cords
bag, took all the tools and things, for so long that they stopped
however, will leave my shelter there, working properly. I had to clean my
would be interesting to come back throat. Back to the civilisation.



IN THE STUDIO

Reflection on performance and paintings:
impressionist manner combined with
Lui Gruduls choose to produce paintings as a pointillism and modern figurative art. By
way of reflecting back to the performance. using a pure pigment in the foreground and
Painting was the best choice in order to washed out colours in the background Lui
portray moods and ways he felt. Lui made a tried to portray different levels and
series of paintings and they are executed in complexity of experience. He also used
a similar style. He painted in a post- found objects to visualise ideas more vividly.

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THE AXE

Oil painting, axe, leaves, steel wire, toughened
glass, wooden frame.

Size: 1400mm x 1400mm x 150mm

Weight: 60kg

This painting is a self-portrait.
The Whole performance in the
forest was a self-discovery in a
sense; therefore Lui decided to
make one painting as a self-
portrait with some important
items and hidden meanings.
The lost identity and hidden
face represent an abandoned
spirit from the society and
urban lifestyle. The real axe
shows the importance of this
tool during Lui’s performance
and visually brings painting
into life. This self-portrait is
framed with heavy pine wood
boards and front covered with
thick glass that isolates and
separates these two worlds,
the world portrayed in the
painting and world we live in.

31





THE FOX

Oil painting, real fox’s tail, steel hanger,
toughened glass, wooden frame.

Size: 1400mm x 1400mm x 150mm

Weight: 60kg

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In this painting, Lui Gruduls
portrayed a mystical creature with
the head of a fox and the body of a
person. He used old metaphors and
symbolism from ancient Baltic
people. The Fox for them was a
symbol of wisdom with a high
intellect. Additionally, it was one of
the few animals who were able to
adapt and live in urban
environments as well as forests.
In the Latvian language, every
animal has a gender and fox is a
feminine creature, therefore, in
the painting, it is portrayed with a
woman’s body. For ancient people,
our body size indicated the person’s
social status and voluptuous bodies
symbolised power, strength and
beauty. This creature, portrayed in
the painting is a representation of a
god constructed by Lui, in the same
way as many ancient cultures made
their gods. Before Lui finished the
painting he had a dream where he
used real fox’s tail in the painting.
Lui followed his unconsciousness,
he followed the rules of nature and
the fox is a sacrifice for the gods as
it is bringing this imaginative
godlike creature into life. The tail
is placed on a hanger as a symbol,
just an arm span away from life or
death. Finally, the figure is
enclosed in a thick wooden frame
that works as a cage and behind a
glass, where yet just a tip of the
tail is coming out into this world.

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THE ANT’S NEST

Oil painting, pine needles, string, moss,
toughened glass, wooden frame.

Size: 1000mm x 1000mm x 150mm

Weight: 25kg



The Ant’s Nest is a creation of
aspiration to capture a certain
feeling or ambience. The face in
the painting represents an aura
of an actual ant’s nest, it has a
human face so we, humans,
could identify ourselves with a
something immaterial.

The mixed media part of the
work consists of a thin thread,
pine needles, leaves and moss.
The thread was used as the
main construction material that
holds everything in its place.
The pine needles were attached
to the thread in a certain way
to imitate an actual ant’s nest.

During Lui’s stay in the forest,
every day he went past large,
brown construction. The thing
what amazed him the most
about this ant’s nest wasn't the
structure but a smell that these
ants produced, it was almost
toxic. This aroma was the main
part that created a certain
mood around the whole area.
Ants dominate the forest and
their colony acts like one big
organism, this could be
achieved only by a
sophisticating communication.
Ants use mainly pheromones to
transmit and leave information.
Therefore, this smell, all around
the forest, wasn't just a smell,
it was a floating information,
chemical internet per se.

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THE TREE

Oil painting, real wooden branch, toughened
glass, wooden frame.

Size: 980mm x 730mm x 150mm (1200mm with
the branch)

Weight: 17kg

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The painting is mainly a In the forest, Lui was building a
dedication to Lui’s shelter that he shelter where to sleep and at the
used during his stay in the forest. very first moment when the
Lui painted a tree, broken down in shelter was done and he sat down
the middle, the top part of the on it, his mind immediately
tree is floating weightless in the drifted away, unconsciously his
air. This painting also is executed body started a similar process to
in a pointillist manner, yet it’s meditation. This feeling is that Lui
more subtle. The mixed media tried to capture in the painting. A
part is more minimalistic too, it transition between the real
consists only of one branch, that branch and painted one
pokes out of a thick wooden symbolises mind’s ability to
frame. surprise us at moments when we
least expect it.

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THE BOAR

Oil painting, Euro cent coins, vintage
pouch, toughened glass, wooden frame.

Size: 1400mm x 1000mm x 150mm

Weight: 50kg


In this painting, Lui Gruduls portrayed the god
of pigs, Large, off-scale creature, with a
human body and wild boars head, sitting above
the city with a knife in its right hand and
falling coins from the left. The painting
consists of metaphors and symbolism. The
painting is intended to be transcendental with
indefinite meaning.
This is somewhat different painting from the
rest, it has a social aspect to it. Before going
into the forest, Lui came across information
that government issued 50 euro reward on
each slaughtered wild boar, a reason for this
was swine flu epidemic. During Lui’s stay in
the forest he was reflecting to this issue, what
is a human role in society, animal and pet role
in human life and vice versa, symbiosis and
hierarchy between all beings and who is acting
god and who has no other choice than just to
obey.

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