Order in chaos
You are the creator of the Mariusz Walter Award statuette, which was awarded for the first time this year to outstanding journalists and media personalities. Where did the idea for this form of sculpture come from?
Tomasz Górnicki: I was inspired by the description of the award, but Mrs. Bożena Walter's opinion was my starting point. She described the award as a recognition for journalists who think unconventionally and persistently pursue their goals. This unconventional thinking and pursuit of a goal made me realize the essence of journalism. I coined the slogan "order in chaos" to express my perception of journalism as the process of finding patterns and order amid information overload. Journalists must sift through a mass of information and extract the important bits, crystallizing them into coherent stories.
This slogan, "order in the chaos," inspired me to create a form that is chaotic, dynamic, and intricate, yet gradually becomes orderly and harmonious within its chaos. It embodies the peculiar relationship between chaos and harmony, where chaos can easily transform into order and vice versa. Thus, the form appears both chaotic and orderly at the same time. Within its multitude of shapes, you can discern overlapping directions that suddenly give rise to acute and obtuse angles, right angles, and geometric figures.
It is not a large sculpture, and yet its form gives the impression of monumental.
Yes, I kept all the proportions so that even though the sculpture is small and delicate, it seems large.
What are the statuettes made of?
The sculptures were cast in bronze. There are only four such copies. One of them, the main prize statuette, is polished bronze, which makes it look like a gold bar. The remaining three are silver-patinated, with real silver nitrate applied to the statuette.
What was the carving process like?
The most important thing is the idea, followed by putting it into shape, and sculpting is the icing on the cake. First, the sculpture is made of clay. I carved the model on a 1:1 scale, which also has value because it is not a cut or printed model. The statuettes show handmade geometric forms, scratches, and my fingerprints. Once the clay mold is sculpted, the technology begins. We remove the silicone mold from the sculpture and start working on one of the oldest technologies in sculpture, i.e. lost-wax casting. This is a technology that has not changed for several thousand years, since the Bronze Age. Then we cast the bronze sculpture.
But it's not over yet.
No, each of these statuettes is once again polished, and chiseled, air bubbles are welded and only then the final form is created.
This is not a light sculpture.
The mass of the sculpture also holds value. Being bronze sculptures, they exude a sense of substantiality, with their weight and low temperature.
