Lukasz SUROWIEC (1985), Clogs from the series: Nice to meet you; 2010

Bronze; 27 x 10 x 6 cm
Signature, edition marking: Ł. Surowiec / 8/8
ed. 8/8

Graduate of the Department of Sculpture at the Academy of Fine Arts in Cracow, studied at the Academy of
Fine Arts in Poznań and at the Universität der Künste in Berlin. Artist
interdisciplinary: sculptor, performer, author of social actions, creator of videos.
The artist usually addresses social and political issues in his work, examining the condition of the
of man in contemporary socioeconomic conditions. He is the author of many projects,
such as: , "Berlin-Birkenau" as part of the Berlin Biennale 2012, , "Buying Tears" or
, "Level". His works were presented at solo exhibitions in Bunkier
Art in Krakow , "Dziady", at Kalmar Konstmuseum in Kalmar "Swedish Pigeons,
"Nice to Meet You", at Art Agenda Nova in Krakow. He also participated in many group exhibitions in Poland or abroad: "Critical Juncture" at the Kochi-Muziris Biennale in India, "East + Europe - Eastern European Contemporary Art Exhibition" at the City Hall Exhibition Hall in Hong Kong, "Air de Pologne" at De Garage in Mechelen, Belgium. The artist was invited to the prestigious "Baltic Horizons" competition, which is, in addition to the sculpture competition, a broad platform for social and artistic dialogue with the participation of partners from the Baltic region.
"The objects that make up the Nice to meet you series always refer to the context of human corporeality. Their precise form, which constitutes an autonomous aesthetic value, betrays its anthropological references. Whether through the shape inspired by the miraculous machinery of our body, or through the creation of objects that, as prosthesis-substitutes, become part of the body. However, this is art in which physicality (man's peculiar rex extensa) does not manifest itself directly, but rather exists by way of suggestion. Minimalist sterility - the sublimity of small sculptures sits next to unprocessed and primordial matter, indicating seemingly distant spaces: the world of culture and the domain of nature. These are two orders constituting us in the bodily aspect and as cognitive subjects (res cogitans), realizing - or not - the possibility of constructing our own person through transgression in both directions. The situation of " peculiar servicing" through the exchange of parts justified in the perspective of the narrative of science may fulfill the myth of immortality. This story finds its contemporary heroes, whose images can be perceived as devotional, specific "saints", although not without a shadow of irony. In an attempt to give us an idea of ourselves, the artist asks where in the field of potentiality and changeability there is an unchanging essence, something like a true essence, although perhaps only existence is real."

Szymon Maliborski