Dimensions: 55 x 34 x 55 cm
Signature: signed and labeled on the artist’s original crate: 1) on the outside: safety instructions, artist’s signature: JAN / BER / DYSZ / AK / POZNAŃ AUGUSTOWSKA / 17 / TRANSPARENT VIII WITH A LINE / 1972-75 / GLASS, CHROME-PLATED STEEL / 55 x 34 x 55; 2) inside: assembly instructions / TRANSPARENT VIIIc / WITH LINE / 1972–75 / 55 x 34 x 55 / JAN / BER / DYSZ / AK
Provenance
Warsaw, private collection.
Exhibited
Toruń, Signs of the Times. Center for Contemporary Art, The Density of Shadow. Between Light and Darkness, March 30–May 13, 2012. Katowice, Silesian Museum in Katowice, Jan Berdyszak. A Retrospective of Selected Works from 1962–1995, April–May 1996.
Reproduced
Dudzik, S., *Rain, Heat, Dreaming…*, published by the Pallottine Fathers of the Province of Christ the King, Warsaw 2022, p. 26. Smolińska, M., The Density of Shadow. Between Light and Darkness [exhibition catalog], published by the Znaki Czasu Center for Contemporary Art, Toruń 2012, p. 46. Jan Berdyszak. A Retrospective of Selected Works from 1962–1995, Silesian Museum in Katowice, BWA Gallery, Katowice 1996, p. 72.
Clarity, transparency—this is how one might describe the sculpture on display, were it not for the steel piercing the glass. This dark element penetrates the form right through, becoming an integral part of it. We might wonder whether this is an allegory of the world’s disrupted order or of a new order permeating our lives. What is certain is that the artist poses a question for us here. By delving into fundamental artistic values such as aesthetics and the beauty of matter, he manifests a new, metaphysical value.
In the 1970s, the artist created a series of works in which he explored various types of space. Berdyszak observes, tests the possibilities of execution, and strives to extract from the material what is most essential to it. In this case, glass becomes the subject of debate. The primary material is thus something that normally does not visually intrude on space in any way but rather harmonizes with it. This blending into space is shattered by metal, a hard material that eliminates the transparency of the whole. Purity is thus compromised and permanently altered.
