A relative newcomer to sculpture, Stanislaw Trzebinski's youth belies a deep and intense connection to his subject matter.
Growing up in Mombasa, Kenya, grounded him in nature - from tracking game and looking after pet snakes to diving off the coast as a boy - his upbringing was inextricably interlinked with the natural world, and the ocean in particular. His youth also saw him surrounded by creatives - his father, Tonio, was an artist and his mother, Anna, is a fashion designer.
"I think the upbringing that I had made me realise the joy and freedom that come from leading a creative life early on. Both my parents were encouraging of my creativity and fanned those flames. Besides my immediate family, their circle of friends were also creatives and in a sense it felt inevitable."
Trzebinski's connection to his place of birth and nature are also his primary sources of inspiration for his work. And it's this connection between man and the environment, his personal connection more specifically, that he explores in his latest solo show In the Absence of Light for Southern Guild Gallery.
The series of works - an installation of standing chandeliers (some as tall as 3.6m), suspended "sea heart" lights, a series of tables, and other works - together create an immersive underwater world that evokes the otherworldly, suspended experience of being beneath the waves.
Light is a recurring theme and many of the pieces include small LED lights that create the effect of bioluminescence. It's a continuation of the exploration Trzebinski began in his Extra Terrestrial series from 2018 and is simultaneously a homage to the personal relevance the ocean holds for him, as well as a message of its great importance.
"The sea for me has a deeper meaning. It's my muse, but it's also always been a place that I have gone to be closer to my father in his absence. Like me, he spent his weekends and free time in the sea surfing, diving, fishing. He was tragically killed when I was nine years old, so it's a place where I have always gone to seek solace. It saddens me to see how we are negatively impacting the oceans, and even in my lifetime I've seen how dramatically things have changed. I've tried to use my work to bring people closer to a world that would otherwise be alien to many," he says.
The artist moved to Cape Town in 2012 to apprentice in sculpture and bronze casting at Bronze Age Foundry under the guidance of Otto du Plessis and it's become his preferred medium, one that enabled him to capture the weightlessness of life under the water.
"Making something appear weightless when it is actually quite heavy is a challenge, but as a medium bronze is amazing because it is both workable and strong," he says...