Patrick Strzelec
“Jack & Jill”, Bronze, 1993
“Jungle”, Painted steel, 2000
A native of Chicago, Strzelec now lives and works in Carversville, Pennsylvania. Strzelec likes to work in a scale that is comfortable for his stature. Rather than laboring on oversized pieces, he feels more connected to the creative
process this way, seeing his process as an extension of him
self.
“Jack & Jill” was realized through his work on simple forms and experimenting with abstract art that referenced figures. “Jack and Jill” were not originally designed as a pair but as two separate works. When placed near each
other, they formed a relationship.
Strzelec worked as a studio assistant for a sculptor doing steel sculpture work. This was a challenging job, and required working within confines of a large rectangular 3 dimensional steel format, and using pipes and supports within this space. Patrick found this to be confining and restricting, both in work and in form, almost like he was stuck inside. A by-product of the sculptures were these lengths of steel that he began to craft for his own art. “Jungle” references a tightness and frustration of the boundaries he was working in at that time. It is also playfully linear, with
people seeing the title “Jungle” as a reference to a jungle gym. The artist’s first works in this style were small and
handheld; he later scaled them to this grander size.