Piotr Owczarek
The starting point for my artistic practice is the human body – its fragment, trace, or outline. My works do not refer to anatomy in a literal sense, but rather to the experience of corporeality understood as matter subject to transformation, tension, and gradual decay. The body present in my works is a reduced body – deprived of full integrity, brought down to a fragment that becomes a carrier of meaning. In my practice, I strive to combine different media and techniques: sculpture, drawing, and watercolor – treating them as coherent tools to explore the relationships between matter, form, and space. My works focus on examining the condition of contemporary humans, with particular attention to the tensions related to corporeality and the experience of masculinity.
In sculpture, I primarily work with wax, wood, and fabric, although I also often return to working with plaster. The fragmentary forms of the objects I create, with their distinct texture and color – which is also an important element of my practice – become records of the tensions inherent in the material itself and attempts to reach the essence of form. The objects retain an echo of anatomy, yet remain detached from literal representation of the body, gaining autonomy and new significance. The aim is not deformation for its own sake, but the attempt to capture the moment when a form loses its stability and to reveal a truth that emerges not in an ideal shape, but in its disruption.
In drawing, the central role is played by the interplay of mark and line and the tension that arises between them. I mainly work in watercolor, which allows me to build form through glazing, as well as to incorporate chance and partial loss of control over the medium. The line can organize, intersect, or emphasize parts of the composition, while the mark becomes a carrier of rhythm and weight. Corporeality in my drawings is not depicted directly, but suggested – present as a residue or echo. As in sculpture, I aim to examine not the perfect shape, but its reflection and trace.
piotr.owczarek.93@gmail.com
Piotr Owczarek. Born on April 29, 1993, in Bartoszyce, in the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship. From 2009 to 2013, he attended the Fine Arts High School in Gdynia-Orłowo, majoring in artistic photography. He is a graduate of the University of the Arts in Poznań, where in 2020 he defended his diploma project “Źrzadło” under the supervision of Prof. Wiesław Koronowski. He was awarded an honorary distinction in the Best Diploma Competition at the Academy of Fine Arts in Gdańsk. In 2021, his diploma project was also nominated for the 40th edition of the Maria Dokowicz Competition, where it received two special awards. During his studies, he was also an active member of the Pigmalion Brigade and the Sculpture Scientific Circle.
His artistic interests focus primarily on the human figure and broadly understood figurative sculpture. In his practice, he reflects on corporeality, the fragmentary nature of form, and the relationship between matter and its processes of transformation. He combines classical sculptural techniques with contemporary materials such as silicone and resin, using them as tools for experimenting with texture, structure, and the physicality of form. In his most recent works, he concentrates on reducing the figure to a fragment or trace, exploring the tension between organic shape and its decay.
