Norman Leto, "Bryła życiorysu aktorki Geraldine Chaplin", 2010, photo: CSW Zamek Ujazdowski 

Norma Leto's Lifeshapes are representational portraits created through several stages of a biographical calculation that visualises the particular complexity of an individual's internal life, rather than a precise depiction of the physical. The resulting 3D image is an abstract form, yet its direct correlation to the specifics of the subject's life gives it an aesthetic quality and intellectual authority all its own. The process of creating the work begins with setting up a timeline of 'parameters" of the subject's life and major events that occurred in a highly scientific manner. The data is input into a special computer programme that over several hours transforms the data into a spatial form that is reminiscent of a ghostly cloud, an alien form of seemingly organic composition drifting in an unnamed space. The Lifeshape is a unique portrait that reflects the essence of human existence - from the highest to the lowest vicissitudes of fortune - at once deeply personal and eerily abstract set in a virtual space. Normal Leto draws his subjects from all realms of society, from a man with a life as full as that of Mikhail Khodorkovsky to that of man's best friend - a dog.

Norman Leto, born Łukasz Banach in 1980 in Bochnia, is a Polish self-taught multi-media artist represented by the Kolonie Gallery in Warsaw. Kolonie shares stand number 16 at Art Rotterdam with the Stereo Gallery, which presents works by Iza Tarasewicz. Tarasewicz (born 1981 in Białystok)is an who is also known for anthropomorphic sculptures that combine man-made materials, such as styrofoam and plasticine, with organic elements, such as animal skins and fur.

Iza Tarasewicz, LITTLE MAN, 2009, sculpture, styrofoam, epoxy resin, plasticine, dissected pig bladders, 97 x 22 x 19 cm

Tarasewicz is also an illustrator and performance artist. The physiological connection between the materials indicates a transformation that is a result of the artist's observation of society and the problems human beings face. She juxtaposes various states of being, from what is considered normal to what is extraordinary, inhuman, painful or unhealthy. Her work is in a way reflective of the techniques and meanings contained within the sculptures of Magdalena Abakanowicz and Alina Szapocznikow.

Kolonie Gallery and Stereo Gallery at Art Rotterdam
Stand number: 16
Preview: 8th of February, 2012
On show 9th-12th February, 2012
www.artrotterdam.nl

Source: www.galeriakolonie.pl, galeriastereo.pl