Bestiary 2.0 - Exhibition of Mariola Wawrzusiak’s Sculputures

The exhibition that has come to our campus, was is presented in Poznań, in a public space between the Bałtyk business center and Concordia Design. The choice of the exhibition place was not random. The sculptures shown in the city center become a common good, just like nature, which is the source of inspiration for Mariola Wawrzusiak, sculptress and lecturer at the Academy of Fine Arts (ASP) in Kraków. 

Mariola Wawrzusiak finds her inspiration in nature. She often spends time in Beszczady, a mountain range in South-East Poland, where she listens to the sounds of the forest and closely observes its inhabitants. She expresses her love of nature in her art. The current exhibition reflects her interests. Giant ants, crying monkeys, owls spreading their wings and a moose resting in the grass look alive, though they are made of iron, a material often used by the artist. She finds her art supplies at scrap yards, because ecology is as important to her as her artistic expression. For her, the human world is closely related to nature and its inhabitants. Bestiary is supposed to remind us about this link.

Mariola Wawrzusiak studied at the Faculty of Sculpture at the Academy of Fine Arts (ASP) in Kraków, where she currently teaches drawing. Her art was shown at numerous individual and group exhibitions. She is a recipient of many grants, including: Cultural City Network – Graz (1998 r.), miasta Krakowa [grant from the City of Kraków] (1999 r.), and Ministra Kultury i Dziedzictwa Narodowego [grant from the Minister of Culture and National Heritage] (2000 r.). Her artistic interests revolve around nature, people and their complicated personalities, urges and instincts.