Artist: Piotr Lakomy
Exhibition title: One Foot Bone Box
Venue: The Sunday Painter, London, UK
Date: April 26 – June 8, 2019
Photography: all images copyright and courtesy of the artist and The Sunday Painter, London
In the morning I wake up hearing pounding coming from behind the window. It grows. Normal: a bum takes the find. I approach the window. A yellow container, eight, maybe two strollers, couple of already familiar faces. A few larger ones, as if too large. One is frightening: tall, hunched, with a pronounced eyebrow, prominent cheekbones, dusty complexion. A thick chain dangling from a dirty, baggy jeans in the rhythm of hits on a washing machine drum. Blunt tapping. The old man tries to separate the plug from the cable with a rusty hammer.
– Poznań, October 2014
The work of Piotr Łakomy explores the relationship of sculpture to the human body, architecture, and the environment. Influenced by the rationalism of Le Corbusier and the biomorphism of Frederick Kiesler, the artist uses both organic and industrial materials in his work. Within Lakomy’s structures he regularly folds panels of aluminium honeycomb—a material used in the aerospace and construction industries—in a way that suggests a natural formation. By including ostrich eggs in his work, the artist refers to the sphere as a fundamental architectural form and as a shelter for life. Traces of life and death are suggested through the modification of body bags; bags are melted together, while a skeletal frame is left behind by the insertion of bamboo, umbrella and tent poles, speaking of both the body and the built environment. Further traces are evident in a series of dry pastel drawings, created during a stay in Spoleto. All forms presented are variations on the subject of divisions, body, architecture and landscape. The textures on them are the result of pastel rubbings, of shapes taken from familiar materials such as aluminium honeycomb and also from the textures of the immediate surroundings; the architectural details of the city.
Piotr Lakomy, Born 1983, Poland, Lives and works in Poznan, PL. Recent solo exhibitions include From the Tenth Floor People Seem Smaller, Stereo, Warsaw, PL, 2017; Pale House, Galeria Labirynt, Lublin, PL, 2017; Endless Room, BWA Zielona Góra, PL, 2015. Recent group exhibitions include Metamorphosis. Art in Europe Now, Foundation Cartier, Paris, FR, 2019; Orient, Kim Contemporary Art Center, Riga, Latvia, LV, 2018; Half-Truth, Xawery Dunikowski Museum of Sculpture, Warsaw, PL, 2017; Views Art Prize, Deutsche Bank Foundation Award, Zacheta National Gallery of Art, Warsaw, PL, 2015; Private Settings, MOMA Warsaw, PL, 2014; Private Settings, MOMA Warsaw, PL, 2014.
Piotr Lakomy, One Foot Bone Box, 2019, exhibition view, The Sunday Painter, London
Piotr Lakomy, One Foot Bone Box, 2019, exhibition view, The Sunday Painter, London
Piotr Lakomy, One Foot Bone Box, 2019, exhibition view, The Sunday Painter, London
Piotr Lakomy, One Foot Bone Box, 2019, exhibition view, The Sunday Painter, London
Piotr Lakomy, One Foot Bone Box, 2019, exhibition view, The Sunday Painter, London
Piotr Lakomy, Chicken or King, 2019, Umbrellas, aluminium tent pole, aluminium honeycomb, glue, bone ash, oil paint, 63 x 65 x 42 cm
Piotr Lakomy, One Foot Bone Box, 2019, exhibition view, The Sunday Painter, London
Piotr Lakomy, One Foot Bone Box, 2019, exhibition view, The Sunday Painter, London
Piotr Lakomy, Untitled, 2018, Pastel rubbing on paper, 114 x 87 cm
Piotr Lakomy, Untitled, 2018, Pastel rubbing on paper, 114 x 87 cm
Piotr Lakomy, Untitled, 2018, Pastel rubbing on paper, 114 x 87 cm
Piotr Lakomy, Untitled (body – stick), 2019, Aluminium, body bag, paint, bamboo pole, framed (oak), glass, 186 x 89 x 8 cm
Piotr Lakomy, Untitled (body – head), 2019, Aluminium, body bag, paint, ostrich eggs, framed (oak), glass, 186 x 115 x 8 cm
Piotr Lakomy, Untitled (body – head), 2019, Aluminium, body bag, paint, ostrich eggs, framed (oak), glass, 186 x 115 x 8 cm
Piotr Lakomy, Untitled (body – stick), 2019, Aluminium, body bag, paint, bamboo pole, framed (oak), glass, 186 x 89 x 8 cm
Piotr Lakomy, Untitled, 2019, Linen, coffee sack, oil paint, oil sticks, alumini- um wire, 140 x 114 cm
Piotr Lakomy, Chochoł (Strawman/Scarecrow), eggs-eyes, 2019, Linen, coffee sack, bamboo pole, ostrich eggs, oil paint, 140 x 87 cm
Piotr Lakomy, Bone Tongue Land, 2019, Linen, coffee sack, 3d print (plastic), glue, bone ash, cotton (t-shirt), oil paint, 85 x 120 cm
Piotr Lakomy, Yellow Cemetery (After yellow jesus), 2018, Linen, coffee sack, aluminium, inkjet print on paper, aluminium honeycomb, oil paint, lacquer, 86 x 70 cm
Piotr Lakomy, Skelet Frame, 2017-2019, Aluminium, aluminium honeycomb, aluminium wire, bees wax, pigments, spray paint, oil paint, 139 x 113 x 4 cm
Piotr Lakomy, Planet Bone Dome, 2018-2019, Umbrella, aluminium honeycomb, glue, bone ash, leather, oil paint, ostrich egg, 43 x 93 x 102 cm
Piotr Lakomy, Planet Bone Dome, 2018-2019, Umbrella, aluminium honeycomb, glue, bone ash, leather, oil paint, ostrich egg, 43 x 93 x 102 cm
Piotr Lakomy, Chicken or King, 2019, Umbrellas, aluminium tent pole, aluminium honeycomb, glue, bone ash, oil paint, 63 x 65 x 42 cm