Tomasz Górnicki (B. 1986), X, 2018

Sculpture, unique, artificial stone/bronze, 26cm high, steel pedestal 100cm high, signed: 'GÓR NIC KI+'

Tomasz Górnicki | In his work, Tomasz Górnicki seamlessly combines workshop proficiency, classical inspirations and formal, visual and conceptual experiments. The artist creates in a wide range of media, from classical bronze and stone to aluminum and photography. Many of Górnicki's works are a syncretic combination of different materials, yet form a coherent whole. Privately an immigrant from Warsaw, he has settled with his family in the Mazovian countryside, where he not only creates sculptures, but also organizes happenings for the benefit of his family and the residents of the village of which he is mayor. His creative attitude is marked by uncompromisingness - often called an urban guerrilla, he places his sculptures in public space without permission, in places that draw the viewer into a surprising game. In 2019, he illegally placed sculptures of his sons in the Lebanon quarries, which were part of the former Kraków-Płaszów concentration camp, in Kraków's Podgórze district. With this work, the artist posed a big question mark about the future that awaits his children - what kind of world will they meet when they grow up? How will they behave as a family in the face of systemic violence? After much discussion, it was allowed to leave the sculptures in this location. Górnicki became one of the protagonists of a book titled No Mariusz Szczygiel. The work presented at our auction comes from the well-known series of so-called heads, combining a variety of materials typical of the artist. In 2010, Górnicki graduated with honors from the Faculty of Sculpture at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw, in the studio of Janusz Antoni Pastwa. He is the recipient of an MKiDN scholarship (2009). The artist has taken part in many solo and group exhibitions, and his works are in recognized public and private collections, in the country and abroad.