Sapere Blachera Illumination. Andrzej Wrona. Brąz. XX wiek.

Sculptor Andrzej Wrona is hard to find in places illuminated by the spotlight of fame and recognition. He lives and works in Tomice near Wadowice. He is well known there. He is involved in social projects. He exhibits in local galleries. Alone or together with other artists from the region. He is like his sculptures. He blends into the crowd. I looked at photos from the opening of his exhibition in Szymbark. You had to look carefully not to miss his sculptures blended in with the people viewing them.

Because Wrona mainly sculpts people. Carved from wooden trunks, large, static human silhouettes. Devoid of excessive detail and visible emotions. Colorful because they are dressed in the simple clothes of our everyday life. Sometimes, somewhere in the corner, a wooden dog scratches itself for fleas. The artist arranges his sculptures in groups because the relationship between them is important to him. It is a theatrical record of reality.

Some seek inspiration for his sculptures in ancient Romanesque art. Personally, I don't think so. Others, and I am closer to them, in folk art. For me, it is the return of an artist with an academy diploma to the world of a boy raised among local saints.

Andrzej Wrona was born in 1959. He first graduated from the Secondary School of Fine Arts in Zakopane and then, in 1987, he obtained a degree from the State Higher School of Fine Arts in Gdańsk. In Adam Smolany's studio. His sculptures have been exhibited in Germany, France, the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Belgium. He has participated in international open-air sculpture workshops.

Personally, I suspect that the sculpture I am offering is the result of outdoor work in France. Perhaps made for a competition, it differs slightly from what he usually does. Although, in fact, the silhouette is the same as those made of wood. The bronze sculpture is 35 cm high and 11 cm wide. It forms a whole with a bronze base measuring 9 x 9 x 3 cm. It is signed.