The exhibition, entitled “Kitchen Robots,” is a series of more than 200 ceramic masks created by the sculptor over the past two years. The works were made from ceramic-brick clay in the artist’s studio, and their final exhibition venue was his kitchen—hence the title of the exhibition.
Czesław Matyjewicz admits that these masks initially began as a game, a kind of “epigram.” Over time, more and more of them appeared, until the desire arose to explore the physical and technological possibilities of this form and to exhaust the subject completely. The experiment, as the artist says, is not yet over.
The results of the “research” into the form of the mask conducted so far will be presented during the exhibition at BOK-MCC. At the opening, a meeting with the artist will also provide an opportunity to inaugurate the opening of the author’s ceramic and sculpture studio, which Czesław Matyjewicz has been running at BOK-MCC for a month. The event will also include a happening prepared by the cultural center’s theater workshop. A small gift will await guests. The exhibition will be open until April 30.
Czesław Matyjewicz graduated from the State Higher School of Fine Arts (now the Academy of Fine Arts), Faculty of Sculpture, in Wrocław. After completing his studies, he served as an assistant at the university’s Faculty of Sculpture. In the 1990s, he worked on stonework and conservation projects, initially at the Monument Conservation Workshop and later at the “Grossular” company, which he co-founded. He took part in restoring the stonework decoration of Edith Stein’s chapel. From 1995 to 2005, he ran a sculpture and drawing studio at the Bolesławiec Cultural Center (now the Bolesławiec Cultural Center – International Ceramics Center), where he returned in 2015 to once again educate young aspiring sculptors.
He has presented his work at numerous group exhibitions in Poland and abroad, including in Bolesławiec (BOK-MCC, Museum of Ceramics), Bolków (Castle), Český Krumlov, Kliczków (Castle), Kraków (Bunkier Sztuki), Książ (Castle Gallery), Legnica (BWA), Poznań (Castle), Warsaw (Ochota Cultural Center), Wrocław (Ossolineum, City Hall), Prague (Polish Cultural Institute), Dresden, Berlin (Polonia Haus), Nowogrodziec (Municipal Culture and Sports Center), Parzyce (Creative Work House), and Zgorzelec (Cultural Center).