THE SPIRIT OF THE STONE  

What is the world made from? Some forms and substances we consider as noble and precious. Others are nothing more than useless rubbish. We often forget that a dignified form may hide emptiness. We also forget that the beauty of the world is a conventional category. Some important ideas can be found in the rejected and despised space. We forget that the wholeness of the world consists both of a golden crown and a withered stick. In this way we not only neglect the aspects of the visual world but we also hold our sensitivity and the substance of reality in contempt.

When we come into contact with Krzysztof Solowiej's work we are always struck by his perfection of craft and his unlimited imagination. The selection of materials he uses to create his sculptures-objects is very careful. The artist's ability allows him to benefit successfully from their formal, technological sides and their symbolic meanings. He does not hesitate to use wood, metal, stone or unexpected things like bottle caps and plastic. His works are beings that exist on the borderline between traditional sculptures and the spatial objects often called installations. An element typical for sculpture that occurs in his objects is their interior cohesion permitting their independent existence without any significant impact of the surroundings. However the artist often uses ready-made forms (plastic figures, fragments of ceramic, lamps) that he re-evaluates in new complex arrangements what is characteristic for the "installation". Due to the context of arrangement the ready-made forms familiarity is a subject to doubt and it undergoes semantic transformation. The most tempting in his art is the enormous emotional content. It must be like that, as his object-cum-sculptures are assemblages of symbols closed in refined forms full of references to products of culture. They also reflect his admiration for nature.  

Krzysztof Solowiej is very conscious of the esthetic aspect of his work. He knows that the esthetic is a basic category to encourage participation and an active reception. He treats the esthetic as an outer layer that must be crossed. When we have done it we may concentrate on a considerably more important level of symbolic meanings. The artist's objects are esthetically transparent and the esthetic surface only invites to focus on essential dimension of art. We easily transfer our perception from visual impressions to the area of imagination. The sophisticated objects of Krzysztof Solowiej make us ask questions and construe our own free associations. We are inclined to embark on a journey from the author's subjective vision to our equally subjective answer. His creations are extremely complex but compact and suggestive what permits us to confront his attitude with our individual histories and experiences. 

How rich and unusual is Krzysztof Solowiej's imagination we see when we try to analyze his work "The secret of double delights". Sculpted in wood, a figure of a probably teenage child stands on a wooden box. Looking at its face we cannot define its sexuality but we may guess it will be determined soon as the child seems to be starting the period of maturing. The carefree world of indefiniteness will pass away irretrievably. The child's gown is also sculpted. There is a kind of crown on its head and its palm is holding something like a sheep-hook (crook?). The child's silhouette resembles both a sacral figure and an androgynous angel. It stands on toes and it is a little bit stretched. Its posture is in contrast with its closed eyes and a calm face. There is a wooden donkey partly entering the wall of the room on the child's left side. The donkey reappears with its head and a leg on the left side of the child. We can assume the donkey is the child's subordinate and a messenger. The donkey's task is to penetrate the space inaccessible for the child what is emphasized by the exit-enter opposition and partition of the animal. The donkey often symbolizes stupidity but it was also an animal that carried the Christ to Jerusalem. In Muslim (Sufism) tradition it is a symbol of a physical body where a soul is imprisoned. Using the mentioned interpretative trail we may admit the donkey/servant will help the child to adapt to the coming world of grown-ups.
The surprising imagination, collisions of context and blurring of meanings can be found in every work of the artist. Only our sensitivity and attention determine how we receive the symbolic content. In "Anamnesis" we see a Negro head combined with universal shapes of ceramic pots and jugs. In wooden "Christophoros" we find a figure of the saint with a dog's head positioned on a child's wooden cart that is controlled by strained reins. Moreover the "Christophoros" is an attempt of creating a supposed, but never existing before, Byzantium sculpture.  

Krzysztof Solowiej's objects are not models intended to illustrate an idea. He is never confined to initial foundations. A recipient always faces a live art that evades simple definition and interpretation. The artist himself trusts his imagination that lures him. The same happens to a viewer. The artist proves that art is still important and it can have some meaning.  

Dariusz Glowacki