Stanisław Cukier

“A sculptor who works without declarations, without a word of introduction before the sculpture is created, but also without comment afterwards. Today weird, but not before. It is not old-fashionedness that characterizes Stanisław Cukier, but the good taste and sense of appropriateness of the means he uses. Because his penchant for deriving the form from modeling as if in the oldest intention, the deepest tradition, according to which the layers of clay or wax had the power to invigorate the spirit into plasmatic matter (…) does not agree with verbal declarations. (…) There are criteria that are so forgotten: skill, accuracy, liveliness of emotion and shape ”.

Born in Zakopane, he graduated with honors from the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw, where he worked as a lecturer in the 1980s. However, he returned to his homeland. He continued his pedagogical mission, taking the position of director in the Complex of Art Schools. Antoni Kenar in Zakopane, where he lives and works to this day.

The artist describes his craft as follows: “Thanks to the technique of casting in bronze for lost wax, I was able to hold a moment, a thought, something elusive, difficult to stop. Sculpture is space, it is space-time, it is shape, form, and most of all a system of light … One could say that a bronze casting or forging in stone is a material trace of a human being on Earth. ”

His works are exhibited throughout the country, are in the collections of, among others, the National Museum in Wrocław, the National Museum in Krakow, the National Museum in Warsaw and the British Museum in London. The artist also takes part in numerous group exhibitions of sculpture and medallic art in Poland and abroad. He participated in FIDEM (Fédération Internationale de la Médaille d’Art) congresses – Florence, Italy, USA, Helsinki, Finland, Budapest, Hungary, Switzerland, Germany, France, Portugal, Great Britain.

The principles of Stanisław Sugar’s work were beautifully named by prof. Jerzy Stelmach: “[Sugar] uniquely combines metaphysical elements and his understanding of the sacred with a special ability to simplify an object. (…) Distancing myself a bit from classification and divisions, I could say about Cukier that he is a sculptor of the classic (main) current of Polish sculpture (…) he is a sculptor “wonderfully out of date”. He knows what he does – he can simply sculpt, has his own technique and technique. He doesn’t need to shock and organize happenings, and he certainly wouldn’t be able to do it. He does his job well: extraordinary works which, although so varied, always remain recognizable – on the one hand, thanks to the special presence of God in them, and on the other, through the unique “Sugar Form”. (…) The subject of his interest is man, or more precisely: God and Man. The search for a universal language makes sense precisely because it allows it to explore the mystery and grasp the essence of humanity. Sugar believes in God, and this, in his opinion, places everything in the right place and in the right proportion, both in life and in art. ”

Bronisław Krzysztof also wrote a few words about the artist: Simple means of expression.

Cukra’s original attitude, no concessions to the world that he creates in his sculptures. He takes themes and problems without fireworks, but by carving, he transforms them into forms full of expression and plastic sensitivity. He pampers the resulting sculptures with a “living” patina, which adds new light and atmosphere. The artist’s works are of a rare and unique quality in contrast to fashions and common imitation in the field of art.