The idea of the art project was inspired by Užupis Street 28 house history and connections with The Gutauskai family. “After the Second World War, since 1947 my grandparents Aleksandras and Ksavera Gutauskai lived in this house. Grandfather Aleksandras was one of the first professional decorators in Lithuania of leather artists, having graduated from Tallinn. Later, in 1963, in this house my parents, Leonard and Loretta, got married. Father was studying at that time at the State Academy of Arts, and my mother at the Conservatory, and approx lived and created here for a decade.
For many years, until the 2000s, while grandma was alive, my family and I used to celebrate St. Easter – on the cliff of river Vilnia… Leonardas Gutauskas – a sworn fisherman, with other fishermen in his youth he liked to go fishing in Vilnia, sometimes he “hunted” large salmon. It was this topic that led me to choose the motif for the artistic sign is stylized figures of fishermen carrying catch, i.e. L. Gutauskas in 2002 drawing “Three Salmon”. In my head this theme is perfect not only for Leonardas’s story, but also for Užupis, because this artists’ district is located in the bend of Vilnia. Such an art object will not only give meaning to history, but also symbolize the proximity of the river, the joy of the renewable water flow, and will have beautiful connections with tradition of metal decor and decoration in Užupis, which was abundant here before the war, and during the soviet years: the openwork of metal bridges was painted metal railings, entrance gates, canopies and balconies fences, shop and tavern craft workshop signs, blacksmith work…”
