In 1962, Picelj initiated a series of his self-published “Edition a” art booklets, having released a total of seven publications up until 1964. Each issue of “Edition a” featured the work of one artist —mostly of a colleague whose work he admired.
In 1962, Picelj initiated a series of his self-published “Edition a” art booklets, having released a total of seven publications up until 1964. Each issue of “Edition a” featured the work of one artist —mostly of a colleague whose work he admired.
2020
porcelain, glossy transparent glaze, metal, wood, water, pigment
300 x 160 x 160 cm
Estimate: €20,000–35,000
Wojciech Ireneusz Sobczyk’s work refers to the left panel of Hieronymus Bosch’s triptych The Garden of Earthly Delights, which depicts the creation of Eve. Made of white, gleaming porcelain, the sculpture directly alludes to the Tree of Life, whose fruit, according to the Book of Genesis, bestowed immortality. These fruits, however, do not appear in the present work, but in another piece from this series.
The precisely crafted elements of the Tree – its branches, leaves, and trunk – form a fragile and elegant structure. Delicate roots surround the tree trunk, some of them immersed in a dark red liquid. The whole creates a composition that is at once beautiful and unsettling.
Wojciech Ireneusz Sobczyk (b. 1985) works in sculpture, installation, animation, music, and printmaking. He studied graphic arts at the Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków, where he obtained his doctorate under the supervision of Professor Dariusz Vasina. He works as an assistant professor at the Pedagogical University of Kraków.
Sobczyk has been described as a decidedly un-contemporary artist. His interests revolve around broadly understood humanism, while his artistic practice draws on classical and even archaic techniques, themes, and iconography. Sobczyk returns to fundamental questions about the nature of the human being, the existence of Good and Evil, and the essence of Beauty and Art.
Nominated for the Prix Bob Calle du livre d’artiste in 2019, he won third prize at the 1st Saint Vincent European Art Biennale SVEART, Valle d’Aosta, Italy, in 2012, as well as the Creative Scholarship of the City of Kraków. The artist has taken part in numerous individual and group exhibitions, including at the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw, MOCAK Museum of Contemporary Art in Kraków, LETO Gallery in Warsaw, Labirynt Gallery in Lublin, and Krinzinger Projekte in Vienna. His works are included in the collections of institutions such as MOCAK Museum of Contemporary Art and Bunkier Sztuki in Kraków, as well as the PURO Hotels collection in Kraków.
Work donated courtesy of the artist and LETO Gallery.
