Mariusz DYDO (1979), Lady Marilyn model Burlesque; 2022

Glazed ceramic; 44 x 14 x 16 cm
Sign, date, inscribed on underside, logo, numerical description: 19 x 100 x 2022

Mariusz Dydo is one of the most recognizable sculptors of contemporary Polish ceramics. Consistently with masterful precision, he cultivates the best traditions of European ceramic workshops and manufactories, thus referring with great respect to the medium in which he mainly creates. He studied at the Faculty of Sculpture of the Academy of Fine Arts in Cracow. He earned his diploma in the studio of Jerzy Nowakowski. He has completed many contract commissions for private individuals, film, advertising, the Wieliczka Salt Mine Tourist Route Museum, the Museum of the City of Cracow. He is the author of the sculptural decoration, design and execution of altar furniture for the Chapel of the Holy Cross in the Rosary Road complex in Hlinik nad Hronom, Slovakia. Together with Zbigniew Blajerski, he was awarded a prize in a closed competition for the restoration of figures for the Altar of the Blessed Sacrament in the Church of the Holy Cross in Warsaw. He was twice awarded first prize in the international competition "Crossroads of Freedom." His works can be seen in public spaces and museums: the Historical Museum of the City of Cracow (Rynek Underground), the Brewing Museum in Zywiec, the Tourist Route of the Wieliczka Salt Mine and many others. They are also in private collections in Poland, Israel, Luxembourg, Germany, Italy, Sweden Great Britain or the USA.
Lady Marilyn clearly refers to the famous Paleolithic Venus of Willendorf and popular culture icon, actress and sex bomb of the 1950s and 1960s Marilyn Monroe. A reference to a humorous theatrical form - burlesque - adds spice. Mariusz Dydo's Venus humorously and slightly caricatured exudes sex. Balancing on the border of kitsch, it loses nothing of its cultural function, because although the eras change, and with them the prevailing canons of beauty, they remain unchanged in the circle of the cult of the body and sex.