Sylwester Ambroziak, Looking Upward
Patinated bronze, cast iron base
Work signed,
Height: 160 cm
Year of creation: 1999
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Sylwester Ambroziak was born in 1964 in Łowicz. He studied at the Department of Sculpture at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw, and defended his diploma in 1989 in Prof. Grzegorz Kowalski's studio /in the so-called "Kowalnia" next to Kozyra, Althamer or Żmijewski/. He presented his works in more than 100 solo exhibitions and participated in more than 150 group exhibitions in Poland and abroad. He was a multiple scholarship recipient of the Notoro Foundation and the Center for Polish Sculpture in Oronsko, the Culture Foundation or the Kulczyk Foundation, among others. He was nominated three times for the "Paszporty Polityki" award in 1994, 1999 and 2008. His sculptures are primarily sizable figures in wood, although he now also uses silicone, acrylic masses and epoxy resin.
His debut works were part of the New Expression trend in youth art. In his later work as well, the artist bases his style on expressionist means of expression: simplification and brutalization of shapes, exaggeration of proportions, and contrasting polychromy. The expression of his sculptures was influenced by primitive, archaic and folk art, including the characteristic formal features of African figures and masks. Ambroziak compares the role of the contemporary artist with the activities of a shaman - an artist, priest and healer.
In 1993, the artist spoke of his creative aspirations in this way:
"The shape of my sculptures is the result of several years of searching for a form that would best suit my temperament. I look for elements of the first in man, so I turn to religious primitive cultures: African sculpture or the art of the Amazon. Everything has a deep meaning there, there is no coincidence in them."
In his works, he likes to take up ancient motifs and themes, presenting them in a completely non-classical form. His second favorite motifs are biblical and Christian themes, often subjected - starting with a drastic diploma - to interpretations and updates far from canon and doctrine.
The political situation in Poland in the 1980s and the dominant role of Catholicism in Polish society played an important role in Ambroziak's work. On the other hand, the artist reacts to contemporary mass culture (including comic books, cartoons, sci-fi films) and aggressive media messages. He uses the figure of the doll to confront unfettered childish imagination with a constant struggle against brutal reality. Ambroziak's grotesquely deformed, overscaled and uncut figures are almost provocatively ugly. Called by the artist "Minotaurs" and "Dolls" - humanoid creatures with anonymous faces - simultaneously bear witness to and challenge our contemporary times.
He has often exhibited abroad, especially in Germany, France and Italy. His works have also been exhibited in review or issue-based exhibitions of Polish art.
Bronislaw Krzysztof on Sylwester Ambroziak:
"Consistency" is the word that expresses the artist's attitude.
He defines his artistic statements in original forms, coming from his world.
This world changes, along with the composition and the idea that the artist wants to present to us.
He is original, individual, in his artistic forms.
This allows for a wide field of personal interpretation of the sculptures realized by this artist, exquisite in his attitude.
