Olgierd Truszynski (1931-2020), BRAMA, circa 1992

bronze, height: 41 cm, width: 19 cm, depth: 21 cm

Olgierd Truszynski studied at the State Higher School of Fine Arts in Poznan since 1950. In 1955, he moved to Warsaw and continued his studies at the Warsaw Academy of Fine Arts. He received his diploma in the studio of Prof. Marian Wnuk.
At first he created figurative sculptures - synthetically framed figures of "Circus Men," "Jugglers," and "Dancers." In the 1960s, he began to combine figuration with abstraction ("For example, "Alleged," 1967; "Conversation," 1967; "Womanton flying I," 1969). The following decades saw the creation of purely abstract compositions with metaphorical content ("Adoration," 1974; series: "Gates," "Stairs"). He created in various materials (bronze, plaster, wood, ceramics), making objects of various sizes (from three-meter-high sculptures to small formats, such as "Mycenae III", 1987, 21 cm). He is the author of multi-element compositions, the parts of which were connected by ropes. An important place in Truszynski's art is occupied by drawing, which is a full-fledged field of his work.
The artist has had many solo exhibitions and participated in numerous group exhibitions, both at home and abroad. In 1964, at an international plein-air workshop in Sankt Margarethen, Austria, he realized the sculpture "Sign of Culture (Contrasts)." In 1998, the Polish Sculpture Center in Oronsko published a monograph of Truszynski's work (L. Wilkowa, J. Wasilewska-Dobkowska, Olgierd Truszynski, Series: Monographs of Polish Sculptors, Orońsko 1998).
"Now my "Gates." This is a series created from thinking about the behavior of sculpture in space. These are quite large wooden structures, often colored, with quite different names and purposes. With these "Gates" it was like this. We were in Masuria in a small house, belonging to my late Brother: in front of us a beautiful view of blue sky, forest, storks. And suddenly this view was marred by something, some cloud, something that is only inside me. And then I realized that I had to make such a "Gate", something that would stand against the background of this sky, this brightness, but which would be something closed, something imaginary. And so the first "Gate" was created, beautifully colored in pink (I know that this pink does not speak well of me, but it's hard!), girded with strings [...]".
Olgierd Truszynski (artist's statement from the 1990s)