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JON KRAWCZYK : SMOKE MIRRORS AND PLANES

3,336 views · Published 13 June 2016 · 6:10 · Indexed 8 November 2026

Channel: ERIC MINH SWENSON ART FILMS · 2016 · Education

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Film by Eric Minh Swenson. 

Evocative and ethereal, sculptor Jon Krawczyk’s artwork engages its viewer and its environment in ways that most artwork is incapable of. Working mostly with steel, Krawczyk manipulates the metal to a high finish, and is able to bend and move it into unique abstract forms that can attract and reflect like a mirror. His work finds a particularly beautiful balance between the object and the audience. His shining monuments live on their own, but also interact with their surroundings—reflecting, blending, altering, even heating and cooling—they are not stagnant in any environment, and when engaged with viewers, appearances can be transformed and deconstructed.

Krawczyk, a highly sought after sculptor has been showing his fine art works all over the world since the early nineties. Krawczyk’s work pushes and pulls between the organic and the constructed. The current work on exhibit in “Smoke Mirrors and Planes” include three major categorical bodies of work. 

His Smoke works are roller coaster-like ribbons, primarily dealing with defining forms in space through the use of dramatic curves, angles and mass. His looping pieces provide large open spaces within themselves, like living creatures, and are intimately intertwined.

The Cube pieces synthesize the forging opposites—mass and space—within a form that’s partially dematerialized by the polishing of some sides and not others. The highly reflective polished sides read as discrete planes that capture the eye and consequently elude the three dimensional form. Acting as a vessel of sorts, they have the potential, like us, to hold unique and intimate details inside themselves. 

His Text-based works are asymmetrical parabolas of metal that taper quickly on one side, stretch out and curl back into themselves to hover above their own centers. He utilizes particular words and the scientific magic of geometry to emphasize, diminish and play with the verbal relationships present in our own understanding of language and space. 

Playing with shape and form and fabricating every aspect by hand, Krawczyk feels inspired by the process of making these intensive works. Much of the process of this kind of work is simply laborious—grinding, welding, sanding, buffing. He admits that his process is a continual experiment as he searches for the perfect form to fit each and every idea. Meandering between geometric forms and fluidity, he is inspired by the battle of these two opposing forces, and how they flow together.  Intrigued with the reflections and the notion that he could transform appearances to the viewer, to add another dimension, his process highlights the actual form being an important feature, but the underlying significance in the experience of engaging with the physical works allow for the environment to converse with his creations all on their own. 

His work can be seen all over the country, including a masterful 9/11 memorial piece at Ground Zero in New York City. In the shape of a giant cross, Krawczyk fabricated this large scale metallic cross to reflect and inspire, evoking a deeper understanding of humanity and community through altered reflections and environmental engagement. 

With many corporate clients and being a part of massive national collections, Krawczyk finds the most joy in making art that lives in a fascinating environment, inside or outside, as long as it gets to interact with its surroundings in an interesting way.

The bright and shining visual aspects of the cubes, the smoke, and the text-based parabolas all attract, like a beautiful magnet, pulling us closer to the works by sheer force. However, it is the complex additional dimensions in his work that help viewers to see not only themselves more clearly, but to consider the world from another point of view, in turn adding introspection and engagement within the existence of the work as well. 

For more info on Eric Minh Swenson visit his website at thuvanarts.com. His art films can be seen at 
thuvanarts.com/take1

Eric Minh Swenson also covers the international art scene and his writings and photo essays can be seen at Huffington Post Arts : http://m.huffpost.com/us/author/eric-minh-swenson/

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