Nico Kazlauskas
Artist Statement
Sacramentality, or the understanding of “presence,” is tangible within the human experience and is typically understood in the context of traditionally sacred Church objects. However, it can be extended to the ordinary as the formation of a routine is synonymous with the creation of a ritual. This daily process of care and utility allows mundane habits to become private, intimate, and holy. How much of daily life would be considered sacramental if this were the common approach? By defining objects by their significance in space rather than by their function, we might begin to recognize the sacred interspersed throughout the human experience. All too often, we see the Objects of Ritual in a pure, sterile, and limited sense; however, through the use of readymade, the embedded rituals of daily use begin to be uncovered.
​
Objects are no longer defined by function but instead by metaphor. These ritual objects are rendered physically useless by their lack of function. The object’s new role is that purely of their sacred phenomenology. Practical purpose dissolves as they become vessels for narrative, transformation, and memory. Detached from utility, the familiar becomes surreal and enters the absurd, revealing the sacred structures embedded in ordinary life through its treatment of surface, juxtaposition of objects, and presentation of the readymade.
​
​

Education
Benet Academy
Lisle, Illinois
2019-2023
Private College Preparatory
​High School
Hope College
Holland, Michigan
2023-2027
Undergrad
Visual Art K-12 education certification
