A dramatically posed, sharply suited figure jostles rather elegantly atop a chaotic groundscape, a deconstructed, geometrical plinth that breaks apart underfoot, lifting his arms and contorting his torso to stay upright as he negotiates the troubled terrain.

Chazme and Tomasz Gornicki for UNIQA Art Łódź project in Łódź, Poland. August, 2017. (photo © Michał Bieżyński)

The metal pillar below appears to bend and contort under the figure’s weight, unable to withstand pressure from above, an uneasy weakness beneath. Lofted above the street near the recently refurbished Łódź Fabryczna railway station and able to be seen from a long distance, the new sculpture in Łódź, Poland captures one’s eye and draws you nearer to inspect the near-tumbling man.

Chazme and Tomasz Gornicki for UNIQA Art Łódź project in Łódź, Poland. August, 2017. (photo © Michał Bieżyński)

“Wrong weight”, by sculptors Tomasz Górnicki and Chazme is the sixth in a series of public works around Łódź organized by UNIQA Art Łódź project with Łódź Events Centre. A surprisingly 3-dimensional outgrowth of a successful multi-wall mural program that has brought much attention to the city, you may say that somehow these sculptures contain within them the seeds of Street Art and its discontents.

The “Wrong Weight” title is derived in opposition to the sentiments of permanency and strength expressed by the Roman lyric poet Horace in “Ode 3.30 – More Lasting than Bronze”

Horace, Ode 3.30

Exegi monumentum aere perennnius
regalique situ pyramidum altius,
quod non imber edax, non Aquilo impotens
possit diruere aut innumerabilis
annorum series et fuga temporum.

translated as:

“I have finished a monument more lasting than bronze
and higher than the royal structure of the pyramids,
which neither the destructive rain, nor wild Aquilo
is able to destroy, nor the countless
series of years and flight of ages.”

Chazme and Tomasz Gornicki for UNIQA Art Łódź project in Łódź, Poland. August, 2017. (photo © Michał Bieżyński)

But that is not where we find ourselves now, say the artists of this new sculpture. Rather it is quite the opposite, according to their statement, which we paraphrase here:

“Man and monolith are falling apart in front of our eyes. We do not know whether the base is breaking up causing the fall of the figure, or the figure collapses within itself. the proper mass of its ego absorbed into its surroundings. Both matters interact, one destroying the stability of the other. Impermanence, invalidity, diminishment.”

Chazme and Tomasz Gornicki for UNIQA Art Łódź project in Łódź, Poland. August, 2017. (photo © Michał Bieżyński)

“Wrong Weight” by @chazme718 and @goornicki.tomasz

Location: Łódź Fabryczna station, at Rodziny Poznańskich Avenue
Curator: Michał Bieżyński @lodzmuralsProject: UNIQA Art Łódź
Organizer: @lodzkiecentrumwydarzen
#uniqaartlodz