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Lifelike Animals Formed From Shattered Glass


Polish artist Marta Klonowska's lifelike animal sculptures are often directly connected to historical paintings, serving as a three dimensional extension of the original flat surfaces. Her inspiration comes from the secondary characters in a painting, for example an owner's companion dog or a wild animal in the background of a scene.

From a distance, each furry little animal appears almost soft and fuzzy, but, upon closer inspection, viewers will recognize that the sculptures are actually formed with colorful shards of rigid glass. The artist selects a simple color palette for each creature, and attaches the pieces of glass to a metal framework that is covered with wire gauze. For presentation, she pairs the lifelike sculpture with the corresponding painting.

Klonowska features a wide variety of animals, including a lemur, a rabbit, a lynx, and several types of dogs. She says, “I create installations which should lead the audience into a new universe,” and she follows by saying that the combination of “the sitters in the painting, the animals, and the audience of my art perform in a kind of theatrical stage, where the different levels become indistinct. This clash of realities should make us think about the uncertainties of life.”



















Marta Klonowska on Lorch + Seidel Contemporary
via [Lustik], [Colossal]

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