ArtistPolish
Stan Wys
3 active items
Stanisław Wysocki, who signs his work Stan Wys, was born on 15 August 1949 in Ełk, a city in the Masuria region of northeastern Poland. His path into sculpture was not direct. He began extramural studies at the Państwowa Wyższa Szkoła Sztuk Plastycznych (the State Higher School of Visual Arts) in Poznań between 1978 and 1980, then moved to West Berlin, where he studied at the Hochschule der Künste under Professor J.H. Lonas, completing his diploma in sculpture in 1986. The Berlin years were decisive: during his studies he worked in the ateliers of Bildgießerei Hermann Noack, the foundry near Berlin that has cast works for Henry Moore, Eduardo Chillida, and Georg Baselitz, among many others.
The connection to Noack's foundry led directly to a meeting with Henry Moore, and in 1990 Wysocki spent time working at Moore's studio in Perry Green, near Much Hadnam in Hertfordshire. The influence of Moore's approach to mass, surface texture, and the relationship between interior space and exterior form can be read in Wysocki's own work - a body of bronze sculpture that moves between figurative representation and geometric abstraction, with the human figure, particularly the female form, as its dominant subject. His surfaces range from high-polished mirror finishes to dark patination, often combining both treatments within a single piece.
Based in Wrocław, Wysocki has maintained a practice that encompasses both gallery sculpture and large-scale public commissions. His public works in Wrocław include a figure known as "Powodzianka" (Flood Girl), the "Siberian Cross" installed in the Church of the Redemptorists, and a monument to Marshal Józef Piłsudski in the nearby city of Lubin. A monument of Pope John Paul II was installed at the Church of St. Maurice in Wrocław. These commissions place him within a distinctly Polish tradition of figurative public sculpture, working through national and historical themes while his gallery work moves in a more international, abstract direction.
His exhibition record spans more than 30 solo shows and numerous group exhibitions across Germany, Poland, Denmark, Sweden, Austria, Belgium, Italy, England, France, and Turkey. In 2009 he received the Wrocław Award and in 2011 the Silesian Cultural Award, both recognitions of his contribution to the cultural life of the region. His sculptures are cast in limited editions and have appeared at auction and in galleries across Europe.
In the Nordic auction market, Wysocki's bronze sculptures have been offered at several Swedish salerooms, with 29 items in the Auctionist database - all catalogued under the sculpture category. His work has appeared at Bukowskis in Stockholm and Malmö as well as RA Auktionsverket Norrköping, Halmstads Auktionskammare, and Stockholms Auktionsverk Helsingborg. Top recorded prices in the database include a patinated and polished floor sculpture at 25,000 SEK and a signed and numbered bronze at 18,000 SEK, reflecting steady demand for his limited-edition foundry pieces.