Ceramic mosaic “Four Sides” decorated the wall of a tenement house in Łódź

The ceramic mosaic ‘Four Sides’ decorated the side wall of a tenement house at 17 Struka Street in Łódź. Its surface area is more than 100 square metres. The design of the mosaic was made by the artist Otecki from Wrocław , while the tiles used for the work were prepared and fired by Łukasz Karkoszka from the Academy of Fine Arts in Wrocław.

The mosaic was initiated by the Łódź Events Centre. Work on the work took more than four weeks. Finally, we can see the effects.

We have been planning to create a classic ceramic mosaic in the urban space of Łódź for a long time. Anextremely noble technique, popular in Poland mainly in the 1970s and 1980s, today slightly forgotten, but definitely worth presenting again. Finding and gaining permission for a suitable wall that would meet the necessary requirements for this type of implementation was not an easy task and took several months. We succeeded in inviting Otecki, whose subtle, graphic form of work perfectly correlates with the immanent artistic qualities offered by this technique. We alsowanted thework to be unique because of the ceramic material used. That is why Łukasz Karkoszka, who created most of the tiles himself, especially for this realisation, was invited to collaborate. So we have a unique symbiotic combination of two artists – Otecki in the design layer and Łukasz Karkoszka in the technological area – whose work we can see on the wall at 17 Struga street – says Michał Bieżyński, curator of the project on behalf of Łódzkie Centrum Wydarzeń.

The mosaic project was created by Otecki – that is Wojciech Kołacz. The artist lives in Wrocław. He has been active in the field of large-format painting, graphic design, illustration and artistic graphics for over a decade. His murals can be seen, among others, in Helsinki, Buffalo, Lyon, Dresden, Kosice, Wrocław, Warsaw and Gdańsk. Otecki is a graphic designer by profession and works in relief printing techniques. He explores the possibilities and relationships of these techniques in the contemporary world, especially in the field of illustration and street art, and investigates the possibilities of combining traditional media with contemporary technology. He is interested in the role of visual arts in building human relationships. He also runs the Oficyna Mnogo studio, where he produces limited editions of original prints. His murals have been featured in articles HERE and HERE.

In the mosaic design, botanical forms are interspersed with the figures of four figures. They have their eyes closed, which symbolises withdrawing from the world of the senses and going within. Although what is within us is not visible, it provides a compass for our behaviour, giving it direction. Two faces face downwards, two faces upwards, suggesting a certain harmony. Looking up is hope, gratitude, inspiration, courage, but also pride or thoughtfulness, while looking down is humility and sadness, but also concentration, focus or pondering. In this dance of opposites we find a balance, a cycle of life in which joy is intertwined with pain and hope with melancholy. As a muralist, I focus on simplicity of form and refer to the architecture on which I paint. Hence the presence of geometric figures, which combine realism and abstraction in my works. Mosaic fits perfectly into this aesthetic, as it enlivens flat surfaces thanks to the multiplicity of elements,’ explains Otecki, the project’s author.

Most of the ceramic tiles used in the mosaic were prepared and fired especially for this project. Their author is one of the best specialists in ceramics in our country – Łukasz Karkoszka from the Academy of Fine Arts in Wrocław.

I made the most important parts of the composition, i.e. colours such as violets, turquoises, greens, roses and small bright decorative elements by myself, so that the mosaic would acquire a high artistic quality of its author’s dimension. I began my work by making the first patches from plastic grog paste, which had to be meticulously cut and numbered. After the clay was properly dried, the product went to pre-firing at 1000 °C. This stage was followed by glazing. The colour in ceramics is created by chemical reactions, some shade mixtures are not obvious, the selection of a colour palette took a month. Most of the glazes purchased had to be skilfully blended so that their shades matched the colour scheme of the project. I also made many of the glazes in-house, using previously learnt technological recipes. I fired the glazed pieces at 1200 ºC. The composition was divided into parts, sorted and packaged. Everything described in detail allowed the composition to be assembled smoothly on the wall. Thepreparation of the entire ceramic material took four months,” explains Łukasz Karkoszka.

The mosaic has an indefinite duration and is part of a broad programme of activities related to art in the urban space, which the Łódź Events Centre has been organising for 10 years. The aim of the programme is to create modern artistic objects that become a permanent or temporary part of the city’s landscape.

An important premise of the project is the creation of an open art gallery made up of works that are as diverse as possible. In the streets of Łódź, you can find excellent quality murals, but also artistic installations made of various materials, bas-reliefs, sculptures or, most recently, neon signs. This time, we are expanding the formal suit of artistic realisations even further and a classical ceramic mosaic is joining the artistic map of Łódź,’ says Adam Pustelnik, the first deputy mayor of the City of Łódź.

Some of the best-known realisations include the relief made of 1,300 steel rods titled “The Silence”. “Silence” on the wall at 13 Wólczańska Street; the floral installation “Nostalgia” on the tram stop at Dąbrowskiego Square, the neon sign “Inspiration/Exhalation” on the wall at 21 Narutowicza Street, the neon sign “Seagull” on the chimney at 10 Tuwima Street, the ceramic mosaic entitled “State of Mind” on the wall at 10 Tuwima Street. “State of Mind” on the wall at ul. Zachodnia 93, the neon sign “Każdy chcieć jakoś nie żyć” on the wall at ul. 6 sierpnia 21/23 or the sculpture entitled “The Wrong Weight” on the ground. “Wrong weight” on the grounds of the Łódź Fabryczna railway station. The artistic activities are not organised on the basis of a festival that takes place at a specific time. They function as a programme of urban art in which individual realisations are created in different months.

Title: Four Sides
Address: Struga 17
Author of mosaic design: Otecki
Author of ceramic tiles: Łukasz Karkoszka

source: Łódzkie Centrum Wydarzeń(https://lcw.lodz.pl)

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