“Why do I like the work of Joseph Kurhajec when so many of today’s sculptors leave me completely indifferent? Because it is a work that, in many ways, goes beyond purely formal, intellectual or decorative concerns, while demonstrating real artistic qualities and obvious aesthetic qualities.
Highly organic, driven by a vital instinct that boldly combines forces and materials from different realms, Kurhajec’s works, at all his periods, are like objects of power whose effectiveness, often fascinating, comes from the internal tension, or even the short-circuit between the contradictory elements that compose them. To this extent, these are works that, at least ideally, are closer to the primitive conception of art than to contemporary theories of the industrial world. They tend to operate a sort of symbolic regression to the magical and collective roots of creation.”
Text “Statues of Liberty” by Laurent Danchin, p. 41.
Excerpt from the book “Joseph Kurhajec, The evolution of an artist” by Lelia Durkin, 2023.
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