Agata Agatowska, a sculptor whose unique style is characterised by, on the one hand, referring to classic sculptural patterns and, on the other hand, searching for a new formula for her works. The artist subjects her works to constant transformations and distortions. Her sculptures, as a living organism, change. The Manggha Museum of Japanese Art and Technology presents the first such cross-sectional exhibition of the sculptor’s works.
Dominika Górowska: I am always interested in beginnings so that I will ask about these artistic beginnings. How do you remember your study period at the Wrocław Academy of Fine Arts and then at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf? Was it in any way formative for you to study in the same place where Joseph Beuys and Gerhard Richter studied?
Agata Agatowska: I graduated from art studies at the Wrocław Academy of Fine Arts, where I developed my fascination with sculpture and I also got involved in pantomime. Back then, Wrocław was quite a turbulent city, still famous for the earlier activities of the LuXus group, Orange Alternative movement (eng. Pomarańczowa Alternatywa), but also Jerzy Grotowski’s Laboratory Theater and Henryk Tomaszewski’s Pantomime Theater. Because I was interested in sculpture and theatre at the same time, I participated in pantomime classes. I shared this activity with studying and experimenting with sculpture. It was time for the first experiments with ideas of processing reality using camera obscura and television interference. Based on these transformations, I created subsequent sculptures that moved from the analogue world to three-dimensional reality. After graduating from the Academy in Wrocław, I moved to Germany, where I got into Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, the famous Beuys and Richter school. During my studies in Düsseldorf, I used my theatre experience in my professional practice. At that time, I was working at Velvets Theater in Wiesbaden, the black puppet theatre. It was a time of constantly intertwining theatrical and sculptural threads in my life.
DG: The experience of being a pantomime actor is an important stage of your artistic life. How did it influence your further artistic path?
AA: It was my first encounter with a puppet as a theatrical form and, at the same time, a sculpture. From my pantomime theatre experience, I became interested in costumes and poses. I used these elements in my later figurative sculptural works, drawing from contemporary fashion, pop music, pop culture as a whole and Japanese manga.
DG: Agata Agatowska’s sculptures are both gigantic and small. Figurative and completely abstract. Sometimes, they result from a long reflection, sometimes a coincidence (a “Rabbit” from the COSMIC GENERATION exhibition, editor’s note). They are subject to transformations. What does the entire creative process look like, from the stage when you come up with the idea to the finished sculpture? Could you take us through this creative path?
AA: My sculptures are a kind of collage of reality, this is one of the methods I use in my work. I combine various elements, such as costume, fashion, comic book characters, certain characteristic elements of these figures. In terms of music, in my sculptures, threads are referring to the work of David Bowie or Grace Jones. Another method is reality transformation, which involves transforming a previously sculpted work using various media. In the past, these were distortions of the camera obscura, while now it’s mostly transformations in 3D programs based on a previously scanned sculpture. This is where I see the evolutionary nature of my work and as a result of these transformations, a new form is created between reality and the virtual world. For example, the word “Cristal” was the starting point for my next sculpture, “Cristal Transformation”. In the first one, we are dealing with a geometricised form resembling a static crystal, while the second is different. I introduce movement into it, a disturbance, an undulating shape, like a gust of wind. Movement does not show a person’s feelings or internal mental states, but the change of form, the motion of all matter.
DG: It is important for you to take your sculptures beyond the walls of the studio or exhibition halls, and you pace your work in different locations. Does the environment in which your sculpture appear define its final form in any way?
AA: Certainly, the surroundings and the context in which the sculpture appears influence its reception. Sometimes, the sculpture is in harmony with the surroundings to some extent and other times it contrasts with the surroundings, which may cause some unease in public perception. I will give an example of two of my works presented in public space, which illustrate these situations well: the first of them is “Athena de Futuro”, which appeared near the Faculty of Art at 43 Mazowiecka Street in Krakow. I made this sculpture for the celebration of the 75th anniversary of the Pedagogical University (today UKEN, editor’s note). “Athena…” fits in extremely harmoniously with the surroundings of the Faculty of Arts – the Goddess of Wisdom in modern armour fits the research and scientific role of the University. However, my other sculpture, “Untitled / Red”, appeared on the market square in Oświęcim many years ago as the first sculpture in this place since World War II. Its purpose was to introduce modern, futuristic themes into the city’s historical context. The sculpture aroused controversy among the residents due to this contrast, ultimately leading to the removal of it from the market after three years. Oświęcim, marked by the history of World War II and the Auschwitz concentration camp, is struggling with the stigma of its past. The presentation of modern sculptures, as part of the “Sculptures from the Future” exhibition, was intended to change the perception of the city through the prism of war history and to look into the future. The exhibition covered all the city’s most important cultural institutions.
DG: I consciously refer to your sculptures in public spaces because one of the examples of such is located near the entrance to the Manggha Museum.
AA: This is a significant thread – a few years ago, my sculpture “Ice Cream” appeared in the Manggha Museum in Kraków. In its streamlined form, the sculpture refers to Japanese art; it depicts a girl holding an ice cream, which melts and takes the shape of a puddle from which the dog drinks water. It is a poetic story contained in a sculpture. Made of polished aluminium, it perfectly emphasises the modern character of the work and fits perfectly into the context of the Manggha Museum.
DG: The place where your COSMIC GENERATION exhibition is currently being presented is not accidental. The Manggha Museum has been a bridge between Western and Eastern art for almost 30 years. The collaboration you established a few years ago must have given the beginning of thinking about a solo exhibition here, especially that your sculptures also combine various inspirations, including those taken from Japanese pop culture. Where does this interest in patterns so distant from Europeans come from?
AA: The topic of a broader presentation of sculptures at the Manggha Museum became clear a few years ago. My works are inspired by, among others, Japanese culture and art, the origins of which can be traced back to my early stay in Germany. Nana, a Japanese girl I met during a German course, became my first friend back then and this friendship was the starting point for my interest in Japanese culture. In Düsseldorf, where I was studying, I came across a large exhibition of works by the Japanese artist Yoshitomo Nara. I saw contemporary Japanese figurations, paintings of girls taken from manga but painted using European, classic, multi-layered techniques, and on top of that, Yoshitomo Nara, like me, studied at Kunstakademie Düsseldorf.
DG: As some may know, apart from Nara, you are also inspired by the works of Takashi Murakami.
AA: After Nara’s art, I started to look at what contemporary Japanese pop art looks like. I liked introducing a fictional character into contemporary figuration, in which a fairy-tale character exists on the same terms as the “Venus de Milo”. The art of Japanese artists, past and present, differs from the classical canons of beauty known to some of us from the European art history. It is associated with a flat woodcut, a specific representation of contemporary figuration. This type of fictional toy character is an image of the existing reality on the border of the real and virtual worlds, the boundaries of which often blurr. Fiction becomes a reality through the medium of art, while telling us a lot about our world today.
DG: The COSMIC GENERATION exhibition consists of two seemingly independent parts: “Earth” and “Space”. Your works, surrounded by Ola Sikora’s vivid, light-filled installation, seem to resonate both in terms of content and form. This is the first such cross-sectional, narrative exhibition of your works. Can you tell us more about the exhibition itself?
AA: The exhibition is planned over two floors of the Europe – Far East Gallery. In the lower part, called the “Earth” level, there are works that could be described as more “earthly” than the sculptures from the “Space” area on the second floor. The women’s figures in the lower hall were arranged in a circle. Dressed in outfits inspired by the fashion shows of Thierry Mugler and Alexander McQueen, they resemble heroines of the future. Here, a figure is combined with a costume, which becomes armour to reality. Armour is not only protection against the world’s dangers, but also a manifestation of strength, power, determination, and readiness to take on challenges. Just outside the women’s circle, there are two sculptures talking about infinity and transience – “Double” and “Fashion Memento Mori”. “Double” represents a mirror image of a small child’s head, showing the closed circuit of infinity. “Fashion…”, on the other hand, is a sculpture inspired by Murakami’s graphics, depicting the explosion of an atomic bomb. I saw one of my girls, every time I looked at this work. The sculpture “Fashion…” is a model whose dress transforms into a skull. This work emphasises the transience of fashion, the fact that it is always set in a specific time, and depicts a specific era, although sometimes it looks into the future. By illustrating the ephemerality of fashion, the transience of human existence was shown. Then, there are human figures disintegrating into atoms. They show atomic power and might through pose and, yet disintegration into atoms, impermanence. In this series, I wanted to show the figure with its maximum reduction.
DG: The top part is “Space”…
AA: “Space”, because there are sculptures related to space, sculptures that are a hybrid of a machine and a human, spaceships from Star Wars and a human figure, e.g. “Cybertorso”. The robot “Robosmoothhead” appears with the head of “Cosmic Girl” processed in a 3D transformation. The distinctiveness of these two spaces is built not only by the conscious selection of works but also by special light: in the lower room. There are streaks of light moving from red to blue, reminiscent of a psychedelic Earthly sunset. The upper part of the exhibition, inspired by Fritz Lang’s film Metropolis, is immersed in black, reflecting the silver and gold surfaces of sculptures placed on round pedestals, illuminated at the base with LED light. The arrangement of sculptures in this room refers to the stars orbiting around a single superstar, “Cristal Transformation”, the largest sculpture in the exhibition. Lush “toxic” greenery seeps into the room, drawing the viewer in and surprising with its content. In contrast to the cosmic space and scale of the works, a small sculpture called “Lollipop”, referring to kawaii aesthetics, is presented in the green room next door. The independence of these two levels, “Earth” and “Space”, is also marked by a different sound created by Justyna Banaszczy, specially for the exhibition k. The final effect is the result of cooperation between the arranger, curator and sound designer who managed to bring out the content of my pieces.
DG: As Barbara Trojanowska wrote in the exhibition catalogue, the women in your sculptures rejected old systems and built their own new ones. Your heroines are evolving, which is clearly visible in the way you tell the story around the exhibition. You mainly sculpt female figures, but not exclusively. The heroines of your sculptures are strong women. Androgynous warriors, fearless conquerors, brave forerunners, pioneers, troublemakers. With your works, do you enter into a dialogue with the contemporary definition of feminism and argue with the traditional roles assigned to women, which are more or less fading into oblivion?
AA: If I were to talk about feminism in the context of my works, it is undoubtedly not a fighting, brutal, ruthless feminism associated with naked protests and vulgar language. The women in my sculptures are proud, well-dressed, self-confident and determined, but this does not mean they represent a fighting attitude. This representation is a manifestation of the fact that they have achieved their potential and don’t have to fight for anything anymore; they are valuable, proud, strong and admirable in themselves.
DG: It is clear that through experimenting and breaking convention, you are looking for a sculptural form that suits you. On the other hand, you use the form of busts, known since ancient times. How do you approach combining modernity with the traditional form of a sculptural work?
AA: That’s right. On the one hand, I use traditional artistic techniques as all my works are cast in resin, bronze or aluminium. Secondly, he deals with the figure, i.e. the whole figure or its fragment, the head, bust and torso, very classic representations. My search for a modern form manifests itself in the desire to change these classical structures, e.g. by reducing feelings. I do not show the characters’ inner emotions, as art used to do up until the 19th century. In the “Cybertorso” sculpture, I combine a spaceship with a head transformed in a 3D program and create a new torso, a hybrid of a machine and a human, which does not resemble anything from the past. Through such connections and the search for a new form, I also show the development of humanity, in which machines have an increasing share. Creating a new form always involves observing reality and drawing out threads that interest us and merging them. So, in a way, I combine tradition with modernity. Using traditional techniques, I realise my vision of the future. I neither recreate reality as such, nor copy it; I only draw from it and process it, thus creating a new quality.
DG: You have presented your works in over a hundred individual and collective exhibitions. You are an incredibly hard-working artist. Does art fill your entire life?
AA: That’s true. Being an artist means constant work; even if I’m not making sculptures at a particular moment, I’m thinking about them. Artists don’t have holidays.
DG: You immersed the heroines of your sculptures in the future. What artistic plans does Agata Agatowska have ahead of her this upcoming year?
AA: I want to develop a series with 3D transformations. I also have some older projects that I want to continue. One of them is based on the materialisation of shadows and develops endlessly. I will continue the fashion thread as well. Apart from creativity, I dream of my own Sculpture Center.
DG: Thank you for the interview, and I wish you further success in your artistic explorations.
COSMIC GENERATION
Manggha Museum of Japanese Art and Technology
Europe–Far East Gallery
08.11.2023 – 04.02.2024
Curator: Barbara Trojanowska
Exhibition design: Aleksandra Sikora
Coordination: Aleksandra Kalfas
Graphic design: Marta Szmyd
Sound design: Justyna Banaszczyk aka FOQL
Financed by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage of the Republic of Poland
