JERZY KĘDZIORA

Jerzy Kędziora is an artist, whose works can be found in almost every corner of the world, and these include the United States, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Dubai, the Netherlands, France, Poland... and countless other interesting places.

THE BALANCING SCULPTURES

I encountered the artist’s gravity-defying sculptures for the first time in Tomaszowice, as I was looking with my family for interesting manors and mansions to take a closer look at. After Balice with a beautiful palace and a far-too-modest park, we went to Tomaszowice. Let me just say that both the manor and the park were nothing but magnificent, but the park would not be as interesting as it was if it weren’t for the gallery of sculptures by Jerzy Kędziora.

I have to admit that seeing the human figures hanging on... or rather balancing on ropes over our heads stopped us dead in our tracks. I experienced something I love the most about great art – I was struck and taken out of reality.

Following the artist’s intent, we took our eyes off the ground, took a look to the sky and saw this magnificent mastery.

 The Balancing Sculptures are Kędziora’s original design. The artist likes to highlight the fact that his pieces aren’t hanging, since the world abounds in hanging sculptures. His sculptures stand on ropes, subjected to the whims of nature, in a form of a balancing act. The first works from this series were created as Poland joined the European Union. The Man Crossing the River was commissioned by the city of Bydgoszcz, as the topic of the accession to the European Union pushed the artist to come up with something new and unique. In one of his interviews, the artist shared some insights about his reasoning. After concluding his art studies, dominated by classical education, which entailed working on the human body, complete with anatomy classes at the Medical University, he decided to refrain from showing the human beings in a traditional shape and form. The accession to the European Union spurred him to return to the theme of the human body in his sculpture, although not without a certain modification of the classical thinking. His Man Crossing the River tries his hardest to keep his balance, both metaphorically and literally – just like many Poles at the time of the political transition. 

The figures sculpted by Kędziora are dynamic – they show movement, but their balancing act on the rope also encompasses movements caused by wind, rain, temperature or – for example – the vibrations of the Father Bernatek Footbridge in Krakow. The artist’s fascination with dynamics is probably one of the reasons why his sculptures are presented in public spaces.

Some claim that each of the figures sculpted by the artist has a face of a specific person, every single one of them tells a story, they all have their past and future. They drive imagination, and for some, they show the act of balance between heaven and earth, others believe that they depict walking the line between life and death or good and evil. The artist himself wonders with a smile on his face, not sure if all these things are in his works.

BEING AN ARTIST IS A STATE OF MIND

Kędziora conflates life and work, for him there is no difference between the two, and he works all the time. If he doesn’t spend time in his studio, he works with his imagination, and rests only when he changes the artistic material and picks up stone.

 Perhaps that is why he decided to get involved in art therapy classes at the Józef Babiński Psychiatric Hospital in Krakow?   The Vivisection gallery located in the hospital park is both an element of therapy, as well as – according to the hospital’s press officer – a way to destigmatise the psychiatric hospital, whose patients are commonly referred to as unbalanced. The therapeutic effect of balancing sculptures is about helping people find their balance. 

BRONZE OR NOT?

This particular exhibition is also the answer to a frequently asked question about how the sculptures are actually made,   which is hardly a surprise, given that the sight of bronze figures balancing on a rope is nothing short of amazing. The artist uses the so-called cold-cast bronze, which is a mixture of bronze powder combined with resin. All the stages of the work of the sculptor can be seen in the building of the old boiler room, where the artist shares the secrets and mysteries of his work, showing the process step by step.

Kędziora is one of the most distinguished Polish artists. Personally, I believe that he deserves the highest of prizes and praises – if only for the fact that he decided to leave the stuffy galleries and show his works to the random audience and to passers-by.

By Paweł 'pbm' Szubert (talk) - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=20184355