Nature is a temple
Craftica
opening at 19.09.2025-
Zofia Sobolewska Ursic, La Nature et un temple, 2025, rye straw, hand-carved fire-charred oak, coated with wax, straw fringes, 155 x 104 x 42 cm. Courtesy of the artist and Craftica Gallery. Ph. MoodAuthors -
Zofia Sobolewska Ursic, La Nature et un temple, 2025, rye straw, hand-carved fire-charred oak, coated with wax, straw fringes, 155 x 104 x 42 cm. Courtesy of the artist and Craftica Gallery. Ph. MoodAuthors -
Zofia Sobolewska Ursic, La Nature et un temple, 2025, rye straw, hand-carved fire-charred oak, coated with wax, straw fringes, 155 x 104 x 42 cm. Courtesy of the artist and Craftica Gallery. Ph. MoodAuthors -
Zofia Sobolewska Ursic, La Nature et un temple, 2025, rye straw, hand-carved fire-charred oak, coated with wax, straw fringes, 155 x 104 x 42 cm. Courtesy of the artist and Craftica Gallery. Ph. MoodAuthors -
Zofia Sobolewska Ursic, La Nature et un temple, 2025, rye straw, hand-carved fire-charred oak, coated with wax, straw fringes, 155 x 104 x 42 cm. Courtesy of the artist and Craftica Gallery. Ph. MoodAuthors -
Zofia Sobolewska Ursic, La Nature et un temple, 2025, rye straw, hand-carved fire-charred oak, coated with wax, straw fringes, 155 x 104 x 42 cm. Courtesy of the artist and Craftica Gallery. Ph. MoodAuthors -
Zofia Sobolewska Ursic, La Nature et un temple, 2025, rye straw, hand-carved fire-charred oak, coated with wax, straw fringes, 155 x 104 x 42 cm. Courtesy of the artist and Craftica Gallery. Ph. MoodAuthors -
Zofia Sobolewska Ursic, La Nature et un temple, 2025, rye straw, hand-carved fire-charred oak, coated with wax, straw fringes, 155 x 104 x 42 cm. Courtesy of the artist and Craftica Gallery. Ph. MoodAuthors
Our proposal for Warsaw Gallery Weekend + 2025 is a solo exhibition by Zofia Sobolewska Ursic, an artist whose work lies at the intersection of artisanal craft, design, and sculpture. The presentation will focus on a new series of works that further develop the artist’s distinctive visual language, based on experiments with straw marquetry and spatial forms crafted from wood and metal.
The starting point for the exhibition is the object La Nature est un temple, a contemporary interpretation of symbolism and ornamentation inspired by the polychrome decorations of Stanisław Wyspiański. This intimate, closable cabinet functions as a storage piece and serves as a medium for blurring the boundary between utilitarian object and vessel of narrative—visual, cultural, and emotional.
The exhibition continues a dialogue built on contrasts and tensions: between folk and bourgeois aesthetics, between the rawness of material and the decorative nature of marquetry, between geometry and the organic. Sobolewska’s signature straw marquetry technique—traditionally used on flat surfaces—is here transferred onto curved, three-dimensional forms. As a result, the soft, lustrous straw acquires new sculptural and light-reflective qualities, creating unique visual effects in dialogue with natural light and the texture of wood. In contrast, elements made of raw, fire-charred wood will appear—unglazed, geometric, and materially assertive. This dualism of form and texture reflects the broader context of the artist’s practice, where aesthetics serve as a tool for storytelling about memory, nature, and the transformation of tradition.
The planned exhibition will include a series of functional-sculptural objects: a display cabinet, a folding screen, a table, two contrasting cabinets, and a small vanity. All works will share a cohesive, muted color palette—ranging from steel green, anthracite, and deep black to silvery greys. Floral motifs inspired by Wyspiański's work become a point of departure for constructing more surreal narratives. Ornamentation transforms into a poetic gesture—open to interpretation rather than literal.
Zofia Sobolewska Ursic’s exhibition invites viewers into an intimate encounter with material, form, and symbolism. It creates a space where tradition meets contemporary sensitivity, where craft meets art, and where the everyday merges with the metaphorical.