Olaf Brzeski - Artist

Olaf Brzeski (born 1975 in Wrocław) is a sculptor and author of installations and films. He is one of the most original sculptors of the young generation – he experiments with various materials, creates optical illusions, builds untypical relationships between a tangible object, a moment of creation, durability and experience resulting from the exposure of a work of art in the museum space. Brzeski studied at the Faculty of Architecture of the Wrocław University of Technology and the Faculty of Sculpture of the Academy of Art and Design in Wrocław. A large-format sculpture “For the Love og a Woman” was created in 2012 and was presented on the artist’s retrospective exhibition at the Centre for Contemporary Art Ujazdowski Castle in Warsaw. The sculpture is made of painted steel and aluminium, although it looks as if it were assembled from delicate and flexible cereal ears. It depicts two silhouettes interlocked in a fight: three metres tall “straw” giants, seemingly on the verge of disintegration, wrestle with each other defying laws of physics with their size and fragility. Brzeski produces a perfect illusion and at the same time, with unique precision – it took several months of work – sketches a three-dimensional picture that refers to the ancient art. Similarly as in other sculptures of recent years, the artist addresses the construct of masculinity; it is a story about aggression, desire, violence, shame, power and fear of vulnerability.