Norbert Delman (B. 1989), After Longing, 2020

sculpture, wood, foam, plastic, 77 x 55 x 39 cm, signed:
'DELMAN | 2020'

Norbert Delman | Sculptor and performer, creator of videos as well as installations and prints. From 2008 to 2014, he studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw, where he defended his diploma in Prof. Mirosław Bałka's Studio of Spatial Activities. In 2012, he studied for a year at University College Falmouth in the UK. In addition to his artistic activities, he also works as a curator of experimental exhibitions. He is the co-founder of the Stroboscope Art Space exhibition space in Warsaw (2016). In his work, the artist alludes to issues of corporeality (such as S/S/S - Sweat / Suffer / Success; Sparing, SPA), gradually moving away from the notion of the physical body (Body Over) towards the 'over body' or a more universal, philosophical understanding of corporeality. The artist's most recent sculptures such as We (shown, among others, at Forced Field in Venice in 2019, owned by the Starak Family Foundation) or the just-presented work titled After Longing refer precisely to this conceptual presence of the body, incorporating basic, fundamental concepts. After Longing is an extremely expressive and powerful work, the building blocks of which are synthetic sponges, polyurethane foams, from the inorganic world. The only perhaps final link between this work and the old world is wood. However, this is industrially processed wood, mixed with synthetic materials. All these plastics and materials suggest a new, constructed entity that no longer yearns, no longer even relates to the old physical body. As the artist puts it: "My explorations are an insight into the future, a narration of the conflict and tensions occurring between different corporealities and their relation to the environment. It is a form of visualization of the fears that appear on the horizon. Fears of what human beings will have to face in order to survive. I believe that humanity will survive anything. Maybe not in such numbers, maybe in a different shape, in a different environment, but it will survive. In the meantime, this thought is more frightening to me than the prospect of extinction." Norbert Delman's works have been presented at: Galeria Foksal (2019), CCA Ujazdowski Castle Warsaw (2018, 2017, 2014), Biennale de la biche (2017), Warsaw Museum of Modern Art Warsaw Under Construction (2016), Museum of the History of Yugoslavia (2016), LUDWIG MÚZEUM in Budapest (2016), Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop (2014), MODEM CCA in Debrecen in (2011). The artist has participated in many residencies at home and abroad. He is a recipient of a 2016 scholarship from the Minister of Culture. His works are in recognized public and private collections, nationally and internationally.