According to Krystyna Gay-Kutschenreiter (a long-serving commissioner of the plein airs), the works from the 48th International Ceramic and Sculpture Plein Air (MPCR) are still better than last year. The artist did not want to comment on the quality of individual works; she only added ironically that she liked one work most of all – the one that looks like a copy of her own sculptures.
Indeed, the work “Aspiration” Elina Titane from Latvia strikingly resembles Gay-Kutschenreiter’s works from the “Whims” or “Cage” series. Knowing that imitation is the highest form of flattery, the Bolesławiec artist did not hold a grudge against her young colleague from Latvia.
A similar opinion about another work could have been expressed by Bronisław Wolanin (a ceramic artist honoured with Gloria Artis). Eva Pelechowa from the Czech Republic used the piggy-bank form created by him in her work “That’s Me”. She did not explain where she had taken the model for her work; instead, she focused on describing its idea. The pigs by Bronisław Wolanin, from which the artist created her own composition, are meant to symbolise a silent prayer for individuals undergoing a process of searching for their identity.
The 48th MPCR was intended from the outset to focus more on design than on sculpture. This followed from the declaration by the plein air commissioner Joanna Opalska-Brzecka and from the design exhibition by the “Lessdesign” Design Brigade, which opened the plein air (Design for Madame de Sade). The question, however, is what we expect from an event with the word “international” in its title, and whether the works created this year live up to the aspirations of the prestigious event that MPCR in Bolesławiec wants to be known as.
The exhibition at the BOK-MCC gallery can be viewed until the end of January 2013, allowing visitors to form their own opinion.
(information: GH)