Congratulations to Paweł Patrzyk for earning his place as a winner in the Boynes Monthly Art Award February 2023!

Who are you?

My name is Paweł Patrzyk. I was born in 1985 and live in Częstochowa, Poland.

I am a self-taught artist.

Ever since was a child, I had a great need for expression, which expressed through poetry and music. I became interested in sculpture later. For many years it accompanied me sporadically. Entered my life for good a few years ago, helping me to cope with the grief following the death of my sister. It was a form of therapy. Shortly afterwards, the pandemic of covid 19 broke out. During my isolation, I had a lot of time to sculpt and experiment with it. Also became interested in stop-motion animation and photography to complement my wire work. Eventually I felt that this was what I wanted to do in life and that it gave me fulfilment and satisfaction. Since then, I have consistently followed my chosen path.

What inspired you to utilize sculpture as a medium?

The first time I felt tremendous enthusiasm back in elementary school from a homework assignment for a geography lesson. It was to be a sculpture of a geological cross-section of a mountain. In my imagination the work looked phenomenal . Then thought, not very wisely, that the best idea would be to melt the plasticine with a lighter. I ended up with a painful burn and forgot about the sculpture until a friend showed me a small statue of a man made of wire.

Hip hop was in fashion at the time. It gave the kids an opportunity to express themselves. Without special schools, without expensive instruments. I had a similar impression with the wire. Anyone could buy the wire and anyone could try it. For many years, wire sculpting served me only as therapy, a form of meditation.

How would you describe your work?

The creative process is to give steering wheel to the right hemisphere of a brain , which cannot articulate , but can generate non-obvious neuronal pathways that can lead to brilliant ideas and turn them into a story. I am fascinated by life. The whole process that led to us being here. How many coincidences had to happen for life to take hold, survive and adapt to an ever-changing environment. Everything that lives is made up of the same molecules and encoded by the same DNA letters. It's a fascinating chain of life in which we are a very delicate link. Fewer and fewer people have more and more , the regions of the brain that we needed tens of thousands of years ago and allowed us to survive are being stimulated harder and harder. Now, it may lead to the collapse of civilization as we know and which we wrongly identify with the measure of humanity. 

In retrospect, it will be another lost civilization for the people who will come after us . But I believe that we will understand that above competition we should value cooperation . Instead of forcefully looking for differences and tear down, see what unites us and create better world. This philosophy accompanies me in the creation of each work .

Can you discuss the inspiration and thought process behind your winning work?

Ehecatl is an ancient American deity associated with wind and creation. His calm face symbolizes our ability to survive. Closed eyes stimulate curiosity. Single strands of wire laid in all directions are concentrated at one point, drawing attention to our role in the equation. Ehecatl is part of a larger collection that is still being created.

Can you walk us through the technical steps of creating your winning work?

The work was made of double threads of different lengths (from 0.5 to 1.5 m) of 0.6 mm galvanized steel wire. I intertwined them together, first forming the shape and then the features of the face, which over time gained more and more details. The eyes were made of 0.8 mm wire. An important element of the whole is the carved oak base into which the Ehecatl grows.

What do you hope to communicate to an audience with your work?

Calm.

Can you talk about your biggest learning experience during the process of creating your work?

Quality is work multiplied by time. By adding patience and consistency to the equation, you can learn a lot, including about yourself. Failures reinforce this learning. A very important lesson that taught me a lot is to never think that you are done learning.

Have you experimented with other mediums?

Yes, I experimenting with different media, making up for lost time and trying my hand at clay , concrete, wood, wax and other. Really want to try working with marble . Actually, properly given , anything can be art , if it is unique and tells a story .

Wire can be combined with everything. That, among other, is what I like so much.

Can you discuss your biggest success since starting your artistic journey?

Winning the Boynes Monthly Art Award is my first significant success, real and tangible, which has significantly helped me to believe in myself.

Can you tell me something you wish you had known before or when you began your career that would have really helped?

Hope to be able to answer this question in a few years. I am only at the very beginning of my journey, which I hope will turn into a career.

What projects are you working on currently?

I am currently working on several projects. One of them, is “Eve”. There is a hypothesis that we all descend from one mother who lived about 200,000 years ago. I like to wonder what she would say if she had already become accustomed to the inventions of our civilization. Waiting for their moment are “Aging”, “Critical Mass” and “Searching”.

What is your dream project or piece you hope to accomplish?

I can say that I know what proficiency in wire work I dream of. I cannot imagine an ideal chain of events that would result in the sculpture of my dreams. On the other hand, a opus magnum can be the consequence of a confluence of events from the other pole.

I am in love with classical sculpture.

As a winner, do you have any advice for artists who want to submit to awards, competitions, residencies, etc.?

To be honest, I don't feel qualified to give this kind of advice. This is my first contest. I just dared to do it and was persuaded to do it by my beloved wife, who helped me a lot to believe in myself. In conclusion, the only advice I can give at this point is simply to "believe in your art".

Lastly, I like to ask everyone what advice they would give to their fellow artists/photographers, what is your advice?

Demand more from yourself than from others, learn from your failures .

Give your whole heart to what you love and don't look for excuses.

To view more of Paweł Patrzyk’s work.

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