Marzena Hettich-Uryszek

Graduate of the Faculty of Painting and Sculpture at the Academy of Fine Arts in Wrocław. She obtained her diploma, supplemented by a sculpture annex, in the painting studio of Professor Krzysztof Skarbek. She lives and works in Poland and Germany. Alongside her artistic activity, she taught art subjects for many years. Her work comprises, in parallel, painting and sculpture, mainly ceramic, and she also readily combines the two, creating so-called interdisciplinary art. While valuing classical painting, the artist makes use of other creative techniques. She readily turns to collage. On the one hand, collage is an opportunity to use various "by-products" of civilisational development (cigar bands); on the other, it offers the possibility of recontextualising them, which expresses the artist's intercultural and intertextual explorations. A series of works created with this technique can be described as cultural recycling. At the centre of her interests are the human being and his or her various emotional states. These interests are reflected in her artistic output, firstly, in vivid and bold colours and, secondly, in the strong presence of the portrait. The latter seems to suggest references to the tradition of figurative painting, but the artist does not shy away from veering towards abstraction. In sculpture, her speciality is intimate sculptural forms and bas-reliefs, most willingly created in ceramics. She also has works in bronze to her name. The material in which she works dictates her artistic form. In her creative work she is inspired by the human being and by nature. The sculptures are a pretext for painting, which allows her output to be linked with the trend of so-called hybrid art. While evoking the beauty and ideal proportions of classical sculpture, she at the same time reinterprets and modernises it. She emphasises the imperfections of human nature through cracks and deliberate damage to the surface of the sculpture. As she says herself, "I would like my figures, besides a beautiful body, to have a soul as well." In her sculptures, which strive for the ideal of classical beauty, though undermined by frailty, one can find one's own weaknesses and the difficulties of everyday life. These flaws and stains are, to quote the author, "really signs of fragility, a story about human transience and existence. They are our scars, which cause suffering, but at the same time give us strength, nobility and beauty." - Unveiling of the monument "To the Victims of the Bombing" in Wieluń. - Unveiling of a commemorative plaque – "To the Fallen 18-/1920" 2009 - Unveiling of a commemorative plaque for the Lower Secondary School named after the Wieluń National Defence Battalions 2010 - "Graffiti on Giewont" campaign – idea, coordination and execution, together with secondary school students, of graffiti at the PKP railway station in Wieluń. 2011 - Design and execution of the "Memorial Room of the Years 1939–1945" at the Janusz Korczak 2nd General Secondary School in Wieluń 2009 2009 2009 2010 2011 2009 - Design and execution of a "Memorial Room" at the Tadeusz Kościuszko 1st General Secondary School in Wieluń 2012 - Execution of a bronze-cast model of Wieluń, standing in the town centre at Plac Legionów. 2016 - Execution of a model of the town in Wieruszów 2018 Selected exhibitions of painting and sculpture: - "Art Presentations", BWA Sieradz (2012 and 2016). - "Still Life Triennial", BWA Sieradz. - "New Avant-Garde", Katowice (2017). - "In the Service of Art and Politics", Paris (2018). 2012 2016 2018 3 – permanent exhibition in Haslach, Germany - participation in the ArtBox art fair in Zurich 2021 - exhibition at BWA Sieradz 2021 - participation in the Art Box art fair in Venice 2022 - exhibition "Her Portrait", Warsaw 2022 - participation in the Art Box exhibition in New York 2023