Some sit, immobile and alert, some lie on the floor in boredom, some spring up to vivaciously on their hind legs, each as though frozen in movement, these animals made of colored glass. They glitter seductively like precious stones: ruby red, cobalt blue, emerald green. Yet their edges are razor sharp.
It is not necessary to actually touch Marta Klonowska’s sculptures in order to sense their ambivalence, joining danger and beauty – not to mention irony and humor.
Polish artist Marta Klonowska continues her unique sculptural technique of using thousands of shards of glass to form colorful animals. Many works are based on animals found in paintings from the past, and the artist often situates her sculptures in proximity to the inspiring artworks.
Using carefully broken shards of colored glass, Marta Klonowska assembles translucent animals in life-like proportion and size. Almost all of her sculptures are based on animals found in baroque and romantic paintings by such artists as Peter Paul Rubens, Francisco de Goya or Albrecht Dürer next to which they are often displayed.
For me, art is a source of joy. Whether through experiencing it, or creating it. Art enriches our lives, renews the spirit, and in a larger sense, the spirit of ‘humanity’ as well. It brings us into contact with the thoughts of others, transporting us into different ‘worlds,’ awakening us to experience, to emotion. And that is what is important to me.
Klonowska resides in Warsaw and is represented by Berengo Studio in Venice and Lorch+Seidel Contemporary in Berlin.
All images courtesy of Berengo Studio
Via Colossal, Marta Klonowska
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