Gradient Sculptures

The statement that Le Corbusier is considered one of the most influential pioneers of the modern art and architecture is as trivial as it is provocative. The story of his creative life has been a subject of countless publications, and it is difficult to find a perspective from which his diverse artistic oeuvre has not been analyzed. Perhaps this challenging starting point inspired Jacek Kołodziejski’s fascination with one of the last buildings that Le Corbusier designed and built for a Dominican order of silent monks between 1953 and 1961 – the Convent Sainte-Marie de La Tourette, in the hills of Éveux, a French town west of Lyon. The hermetic nature of the building, its isolation and quietness stand opposed to the loudness of the legend that Le Corbusier has become.

Jacek Kołodziejski works predominantly with the photographic medium, but also creates sculptures, art installations, and art objects. Diverse means of expression used by the artist and formal resemblances enabled a dialogue, however not necessarily with Le Corbusier as an icon of design, but rather “Le Corbusierian” as a method of creation. Photographic objects and installations serve the purpose of building the worlds that ultimately might be accessible solely to the artist himself but emerged to be viewed by others. Embracing the idea of completeness in his creation, Kołodziejski seems to wonder if it is in fact possible to challenge another creator’s world that is not only hermetic, but is legendary, loaded, contextualized, and – as such – sacred?

La Tourette, the building that was aimed to “create a silent dwelling for one hundred bodies and one hundred hearts” (as expressed by Father Marie-Alain Couturier while commissioning the monastery) serves as a scared space, isolated by sloping landscape, and consecrated by a non-believer for whom architecture was perhaps the only religion. The meanings embedded in the design of the building, that from the outside reflects Le Corbusier’s alphabet of architecture, are revealed in its interior. Natural light in connection to the orientation of the building sculptures its elements depending on the time of day – “light cannons” add to the spiritual quality of the rooms. The geometry is not only an architectural principle, but becomes a musical symphony played with rays of light when they move on the concrete blocks supporting the glass of dividing the corridor from the outside world. Cubes, pyramids, cones, and even the seemingly empty cells for monks that reflect the Modular principles, are as symbolical as utilitarian – giving the whole project a quality of perfection.

The starting point of the creative process for Jacek Kołodziejski is the statement: “color dictates shape”, and the creative framework is based on the analysis of the contrasting colors. Raw and monochromatic façade of the building serves as a perfect backdrop to separate, isolate, and analyze various shades of Le Corbusier’s palette, meticulously blended in the design of the monastery. This is not solely an intellectual endeavor. The aesthetic reflection literally takes shape in form of the installations-sculptures situated in the respective rooms of the convent. According to Jacek Kołodziejski: „By introducing the objects that arise from my own contemplation of the place, and photograph them in connection to the light, and the context, I aim not to praise the great artist, but to enter in a dialogue with him, his world – and mine”.