Hello everyone. Today, another episode of the Rafał Brzoska Foundation Scholars series. We have Julia, who is a sculptor, an artist, and super talented—I'd say an artist of the new generation. Introduce yourself, tell us a bit more about what you do. What kind of sculpture, where do you study? How did you end up at the foundation?
Sure. So my name is Julia Ornaf and I've just started my fifth year of sculpture studies at the Academy of Fine Arts in Wrocław. Right now, I'm focusing all my energy and mental resources on the projects for my thesis. Because this year I'll be defending my master's.
What's the title of the thesis?
The title isn't there yet. I've got two weeks to finalize it, so I have a few proposals, but none has been chosen yet, so for now it's a little secret. It'll probably become clear soon what it's going to be.
Okay. And what's your idea for this work?
My idea is that I'd like to work a bit with deformation. I also work a lot with self-portrait, so I'd like to place myself in these works—but maybe in a slightly broader context of what surrounds us in the media, social media, and how we perceive our own image. And I'd also like to experiment a bit with new techniques.
What materials are in play?
Well, at first I'd like to do 3D scans, photogrammetry, so I plan to scan myself, and then—also thanks to the scholarships—I managed to buy a 3D printer, so I think that printer will get used, and soon I'll be able to print some first models. And then some casting—castings in different materials. For now I also have silicone for making molds, so I'll play around a bit with multiplication here.
Do you have a favorite material, or does everything fit for now? Are you testing everything?
Okay—then which fits the least?
The least? I don't like techniques where you have to subtract, so stone and wood unfortunately aren't for me, because the margin of error is very small, and I prefer adding. So clay, plasticine—you can then take different molds, pour different materials inside, so rather plastic, malleable sculpting.
How long? Because I think this bothers each of us. How much time on average does a sculptor spend creating, well, a sculpture the size of half a person or a whole person?
So a nude study. In our studio we had about a month and a half allocated for such a nude study that was half a person, so from the first sketches, which were supposed to take three hours. Then building the armature, because in sculpture the structure is very important, without which for example such a person would just collapse. So the armature in my case also took quite a lot of time, because you also have to cut different kinds of—well.
And I have a question right away. When you create an armature, are there some basic principles, I don't know, physics, engineering, mechanics—do you cover that kind of thing in your studies?
I mean, with us it's more a method where you just approach with a ruler the model, you measure, you take real dimensions from the model, and then you simply have to scale it. If it's one-to-one, it's easiest, because they're real, but if we're making something reduced, then math comes into play to measure the armature properly too. Sometimes a wire can come out of a leg and it doesn't look very good.
The most interesting piece—something that when you invite friends over, you're proud and you show it, saying 'this is mine.'
And recently—maybe it's not at my place yet, because I haven't cast it—but recently I sculpted a self-portrait that I'm very happy with, because I feel I refined it well, realistically. And I also have one favorite ceramic piece that I made in class—'coexistence.' It's a modular work, two black-and-white elements.
The basic tools today for a sculptor are—
Oh Jesus, that depends on the technique. When I sculpt in clay, my basic tool besides my hands is just an ordinary kitchen knife, or a big one for cutting, because it gives you a lot of freedom: you can quickly cut something off, stick it on, pat it down, so I most often just use hands, a knife, and then some more precise tools.
Who is an icon who really inspires you—someone you'd like to be like?
Oh, that's a hard question. But maybe I'll go a bit into the Polish classics. I think of Ms. Alina Szapocznikow—her beautiful works—or Ms. Abakanowicz. Those are icons, very inspiring, and their works reflect their character strongly.
People often say that art today may or may not have to be liked. And now the question is: are you closer to abstract art, which you understand and artists understand, or to art that appeals to the average Rafał Brzos—sorry, Kowalski—so as not to offend?
I think first and foremost a work of art should be able to stand on its own without a huge description. If I like something because it looks good, then I like it because it has an interesting form, nice materials were used, not because there's some huge description. I also really like when works have that added value—when there's a deeper concept behind them—but for me, as an artist, a huge value is that visual layer.
So it should be pleasing.
Yes, it should please me.
