BRONISŁAW KRZYSZTOF. A TOUCH OF LIGHT. Sculpture - Medals - Drawings catalogue edited by Józef GRABSKI Cracow-Warsaw 2003 232 × 252 mm, Pages: 196 37 full-page colour plates, 220 colour photographs + 158 b&w photographs laminated hardback ISBN 83-918454-0-0 On the cover: From the Cycle "Gesture", 1985, bronze, h 46 cm

Catalogue of an exhibition of sculpture, medals and drawings by Bronisław Krzysztof (b. 1956), held at the Polish Auction House "SZTUKA" galleries in Cracow and Warsaw. Apart from the full-page colour plates illustrating (from various angles) all the thirty-seven exhibited sculptures, the hundred medals and a several drawings, the catalogue contains nearly full photographic record of the artist's sculpture works, a comprehensive bibliography, list of exhibition, both home and abroad, and a richly illustrated biography of the renowned Polish sculptor.

[...] Although, unfortunately, some insensitive critics and curators
do manage the trick, no true sculptor can never ever forget that he is
producing the most tactile of all art works. The spectator should feel a
tingle in the hands as they long to touch and caress. The monumental forms
of Bronisław Krzysztof have this quality in abundance, and his awareness of
the importance of tactility is surely indicated by the extraordinary beauty of
his sculpture hands, and the importance he gives them in his compositions.
[...] Concentration on the inner life of his subjects is implicit in his
technique of building up sculptures in layers, which can be removed, as a
surgeon peels away skin, flesh and muscle in a dissection. [...]
He is able to move seamlessly from the classical to modern,
blurring the distinction between abstraction and representational art, while
never departing from the theme of humanity. Like many of the greatest
Renaissance sculptors he is able to work both on a monumental scale and in
miniature, as a most effective medallist. Often, especially in medals and
plaques, the image seems to be struggling to emerge from the metal, just as
Michelangelo's great Slaves struggle to be born from their stone. The
artist's reverence for his material is one of the key elements of sculpture. A
great African sculptor once said to me 'The stone tells me what it wants to
be', and this can be true of metal as well as of stone, clay or wood.
Krzysztof's reverence for his materials is always evident, and it is
the reason that he is able to conjure metal into the illusion of flesh, and in
so doing provoke deep emotions in the beholder.


(from the essay by Huon Mallalieu)


CONTENTS

Krzysztof KRZYSZTOF — Dad

Janina ŁADNOWSKA — Between the Baroque and Modernity

MASHIKO — The Work Emits a Constant Movement of Silent Rhythm...

Huon MALLALIEU — Bronisław Krzysztof

Hella NOCKE-SCHREPPER — 'Show Me Your Wounds' - the Body as a Sign in Bronisław Krzysztof's Sculptures

Tadeusz NYCZEK — Vacuum Seeks Fullness or a Comment on the Sculptures of Bronisław Krzysztof

CATALOGUE

Drawings

Medals

Record of Sculptures

Biography

Exhibitions

Bibliography