AXIS SCULPTURE BY MAREK CWIEK

The Vertical Stoneware Sculptures by Marek Cwiek rise as solitary presences that recall architectural fragments, primeval monoliths, and emissaries from another world. Comprising the one-of-a-kind works COALESCENCE, ANCORA, PILASTRA, and AXIS, the series draws its vocabulary from the foundational language of architecture. Ancient temples, ruined columns, Brutalist stone blocks, and monumental substructures echo as palimpsests of collective memory. The works suggest remnants of a civilization not fully known, poised somewhere between excavation site and futurist laboratory. They do not imitate architecture but distill it, abstracting its logic into sculptural form

Across the series, surface is treated with deliberate restraint. Cwiek avoids glaze entirely, allowing the stoneware to speak in its raw state. Through layered and filtered applications of the same material, subtle variations are introduced during firing, producing surfaces that recall weathered stone. The texture is porous, mineral, and tactile, evoking structures shaped by wind, water, and time. These sculptures feel like the last remaining elements of a larger architecture, fragments that have survived while the rest has fallen away

The sharpness of architectural geometry is tempered by rounded edges that soften transitions and introduce movement within the mass. These curves echo the rounded bases of the sculptures, visually binding top and bottom into a single continuous gesture. The result is a balance between severity and fluidity, between monolith and vessel. Scale plays a decisive role in the experience of the works. Their proportions recall carved stone blocks whose transport once demanded collective effort. Weight and volume are not symbolic but physical realities, reinforcing the sense of permanence and endurance embedded in each sculpture

In PILASTRA, COALESCENCE, and ANCORA, elongated, phallic forms operate as columns, grounding the composition while supporting sharply defined geometric volumes above. These vertical bodies taper and expand with measured rhythm. Their rounded bases lend an unexpected lightness, creating the impression that the sculptures are momentarily released from gravity. The upper sections form a structural passage through which a geometric block appears to pass, recalling a fragment of architrave suspended within the form

In AXIS, that signature form becomes denser and more compact, a foundation displaced by immense forces. It appears twisted and compressed, like a substructure subtly deformed by terrain and time. The sculpture feels geological as much as architectural, shaped by pressure, erosion, and movement rather than by construction alone. It stands as a record of forces acting upon matter, frozen at the moment of emergence

Hand sculpted in Spain, the Vertical Stoneware Sculptures exist as singular presences. They blend ancient architectural memory with contemporary abstraction, speaking quietly but insistently of time, resilience, and the enduring human impulse to create permanence in ephemerality