Janusz PASTWA (b. 1944), From the series: Bodies, 1996

Pastel, paper; 86.5 x 61 cm;
Signed and dated p. d.: Pastwa 96.

Sculptor. Author of monumental and portrait sculptures. A particularly well-known monument by Janusz Pastwa is the quadriga from the pediment of the Grand Theater, made together with Adam Myjak. He is close to figuration, especially the figure of a human, but also an animal (the well-known sculpture of a dog from the "Shadows" series). Pastwa also makes some excursions into abstraction, although even then the elementary outlines of figures are visible in his forms. He is a sculptor who does not work according to a model or design, but his realization is the result of a process of creation, a struggle with matter and form. In his work he refers to antiquity, but also to the works of other artists: Modigliani or Michelangelo. In his achievements there is, as noted by Piotr Szubert, a striving to capture something immaterial, something that lies between the matter of plastic and metaphysics. The sculptor was born in 1944. He studied at the Department of Sculpture of the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw. He received his diploma in the studio of Jan Chmielewski in 1970. In 1974, he began working at the Sculpture Department. He was dean of the faculty three times in 1993-1996, 1999-2002, 2002-2005. a full professor.
(A.W.)

In 2018, Janusz Pastwa was awarded the 17th edition of the Cyprian Kamil Norwid Prize.