Named the father of socially engaged art in Poland, Zbigniew Libera in his practice has focused on questioning and subverting the status quo of societal and gender norms. His provocative video, performance, and photography pieces of the 80s, have led the artist to experiment with three-dimensional forms in the 90s. As a result, these experiments have become prototypes of fictional toys and games for children, which were based on popular children's products of the day.
The 1997 drawing we offer, during our “Contemporary Masters” sale, was created by Libera as a preparatory sketch for the “Eroica - Toy Solderi Set” piece. Wanting to create a toy analogous to classic toy soldiers and superhero figures that are usually marketed to little boys, Libera created small bronze figures of naked women. Those figures, frozen in motion, are captured as in a middle of an expressive dance in a spotlight. On a closer look, however, we may notice that the gestures of those nude women also resemble people in a state of panic and flight or even submission.
With this work, Libera comments on how the societal rules and the rhetoric of gender hierarchy “train” boys to act with and upon women. The female figures here are shown as submissive and vulnerable. They put the person playing with the toy (implicitly, the little boy) in the role of the oppressor who has total control over women's bodies.
