Xawery Wolski
Retablos, set of 10, 1994-1997
Terracotta
Each 11 x 9 1/2 x 5 1/3 inches
Installation dimensions vary
Installation dimensions vary
This is the last of the set made in 1997. The series of RETABLOS was created during my scholarship from the French ministry of Culture in Peru in 1994. The...
This is the last of the set made in 1997.
The series of RETABLOS was created during my scholarship from the French ministry of Culture in Peru in 1994. The aim of the scholarship was to investigate pre-Columbian sculpture making a parallel to the contemporary work of art. I was
inspired by the humble anonymity of ancient artworks, which do not loose its meaning. Some ideas and questions continue to be valid throughout the centuries and in the different parts of the globe. Terracotta, a natural material with millenary tradition seemed to be most appropriate for expressing the universal themes. The idea of repetition, the subtle dialogue between the shadows and the void, white patina applied on the surface of the pieces seem to bring hope enchanted by equality. The emptiness is an element of our existence, it complements our presence and attempt to believe in the power of matter, which can evoke dematerialisation.
In this sculpture I have reached for the motif of a reliquary or a small portable altar for domestic liturgy deprived from the Christian tradition. However, the artistic removes all the decorative and even religious features that would define its function, yet the absence of figuration does not mean the lack of faith.
The humble, glued clay boxes are empty. Some remind half opened, others fully closed. I tried to somehow reconcile the flame of trust in God´s goodness, taken from my motherland and still burning inside, with the bitterness of knowledge. With this timid gesture I wanted to recall the memory of a distant holiness, tainted with obsessive faith and shrouded in the shadow of mystical restlessness.
The series of RETABLOS was created during my scholarship from the French ministry of Culture in Peru in 1994. The aim of the scholarship was to investigate pre-Columbian sculpture making a parallel to the contemporary work of art. I was
inspired by the humble anonymity of ancient artworks, which do not loose its meaning. Some ideas and questions continue to be valid throughout the centuries and in the different parts of the globe. Terracotta, a natural material with millenary tradition seemed to be most appropriate for expressing the universal themes. The idea of repetition, the subtle dialogue between the shadows and the void, white patina applied on the surface of the pieces seem to bring hope enchanted by equality. The emptiness is an element of our existence, it complements our presence and attempt to believe in the power of matter, which can evoke dematerialisation.
In this sculpture I have reached for the motif of a reliquary or a small portable altar for domestic liturgy deprived from the Christian tradition. However, the artistic removes all the decorative and even religious features that would define its function, yet the absence of figuration does not mean the lack of faith.
The humble, glued clay boxes are empty. Some remind half opened, others fully closed. I tried to somehow reconcile the flame of trust in God´s goodness, taken from my motherland and still burning inside, with the bitterness of knowledge. With this timid gesture I wanted to recall the memory of a distant holiness, tainted with obsessive faith and shrouded in the shadow of mystical restlessness.
