Czeslaw Podleśny, Golemy
Wood, granite,
Height: 180 and 190 cm
Year of creation: 1996
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Both works were created in 1996, during an art symposium held in Germany. Exhibited at several exhibitions in Poland and abroad. The last place where both works could be seen in the Office Island building in Gdansk.
"When my sculptures appear in public space, my commentary falls silent: the viewer and the sculpture have more to say to each other than my narrative would. They are faced with many questions to which they have to find their answer, but in doing so they discover layers of emotions that I missed by focusing on form and message."
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Czeslaw Podlesny (born 1959 in Rybnik), son of a miner, sculptor, draughtsman, painter, poet. He studied at the Antoni Kenar High School in Zakopane, the State Higher School of Fine Arts in Gdansk and the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw. Diploma with honors in the studio of Prof. S. Kulon.
Together with Jerzy Fober and Andrzej Szarek, he is a co-founder of the art group "...Who you are". He was a resident of American universities min. Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore, where he taught students. Five-time scholarship recipient of the Ministry of Culture and Art. A participant in many sculpture exhibitions and symposiums, his works are in museums and private collections. Since 2015, he is the originator and coordinator of the WL4 Art Space artistic initiative in Gdansk. Czeslaw Podlesny creates intriguing metal figures, which are sculptural collages composed of various materials and found objects. They are heavy with grotesque, yet full of expression and dynamism. They often assume disproportionate forms. They are associated with characters from comic books, movies and games.
In 2018 he received a doctorate in art from the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw.
Stanislaw Seyfried on Czeslaw Podlesny:
The artist believes that the climate of the Coast, the atmosphere of the ubiquitous Free City of Gdansk creates enormous opportunities to find new stimuli, inspiration, possibilities, and as a searching, restless, unruly artist he has finally found his place. He believes that art has a national dimension, and encourages young artists to leave their studios and try their hand somewhere else. He himself travels a lot, participates in art symposiums, exhibits all the time in Germany, Austria, Italy, Slovakia, and does not lose touch with reality, does not consider himself the navel of the world. Gdansk airs his outstanding original art further asking the fundamental question "Who are you?"
