Untitled, from the Art is Violence series
- type of object: sculpture
- date: 2006 - 2007
- material/technique: ceramics, broken chairs, pedestal
- dimensions: 190 x 35 x 40 cm
- inventory No.: RZ-103
- image licensed under: CC BY-SA
Olaf Brzeski’s series of works consists of ceramic representations of people or animals that are interpretations of classical sculptural themes. Although the objects fit within traditional conventions, they undergo a process of metamorphosis. Violence is a crucial element here, as the title suggests. The artist smashed some of the ceramic sculptures and then glued them back together. In the case of the object from the Zachęta collection, he destroyed a chair, whose remains are displayed at the base of a perforated pedestal and also serve as the horns of a ceramic bull. The enraged animal blows oversized air bubbles from its nostrils, its muzzle bearing a menacing expression. The artist’s destructive behaviour is iconoclastic, seeking to topple the sculpture symbolically from its pedestal sanctified by tradition.