I couldn’t resist the five ceramic sculptured busts sitting on a table at the auction house. They resembled those anatomical models with pull-apart heart, lungs, stomach and other parts of the body that are used in health classes.
There was no pulling these apart, though, because they were obviously created as works of art and not for teaching. The colors and style of the busts also reminded me of court jesters, and the look of the pieces resembled the lines and cracks in ceramics called crazing.
I was curious about the artist, and thanks to the auction-house staff I didn’t have to handle the pieces to find out. Someone had placed a catalog on the table with the name: Zbigniew Chojnacki. Each of the 13-inch-tall hollow sculptures was signed, according to the auction house information.
I found the sculptures delightful and different, and could easily have found a place for them in my home. But this was the auction house’s Modern Design Auction, and I was sure that someone on the web would snatch them away from me. So I didn’t wait around for them to come up for bids.
Googling, I learned that Chojnacki was born in Jaslo, Poland, and got a master’s degree in sculpture from the Academy of Fine Arts in Gdansk in 1981. Three years later, he moved to Los Angeles where he began making jewelry out of his home. He returned to sculpting when he moved to Michigan.
Chojnacki says he was influenced by the Gothic art of the 13th century because it “has an amazing timeless quality that relates to everyone with passion, emotion, and speaks personally through plot to the viewer.” He creates his sculptures using the raku method, he says, “because of its dark and ancient feel.”
Raku as it is practiced in the western world is influenced by an early Japanese method. The original process dates back to the 16th century where raku vessels were used in tea ceremonies. It is a low-firing process that “involves removing pottery from the kiln while at bright red heat and placing it into containers with combustible materials. Once the materials ignite, the containers are closed. This produces an intense reduction atmosphere which affects the colors in the glazes and clay bodies.”
Chojnacki, who lives in Philadelphia, notes that each of his sculptures tells a different story and aims to evoke a distinct personal emotion in each person.
On his website, the artist sells lovely artisan jewelry, including rings, necklaces and earrings in gold along with other assorted materials. He also has some archival photos of wall art and freestanding sculptures in raku and bronze. He combines the raku method, he says, with such materials as glass, wood, cement, shells, animal skeletons, insects and metal.
