Last night I dreamed that I was in Sopot walking in a park. A large stone lay in the shade of the old trees. I saw that someone had carved a comfortable seat into it. But the most surprising sight was the two-dimensional copper contour of my favorite four heroes standing at the back. Suddenly a group of children climbed onto the sculpture, and I woke up! Sopot, Aug 09, 1981.
Sorry to spoil the suspense; it was my dream, not Christa’s! It came to me when I started writing The Spirit Journey in 2015. It took me a while to bring it into the storyline, but here it is (uncovered by Kajtek and Koko between the pages of Christa’s sketches and drawings).
I fervently subscribe to Na plasterki and read almost every post Kapral and Łamignat wrote in the last 12 years! One day I stumbled across an article informing me that there might be a memorial bench created for Christa in one of Sopot’s beautiful parks https://na-plasterki.blogspot.com/search?q=park. Kapral wrote that article in 2011, and as far as I’m aware, nothing has been created yet.
Of course, this stone bench was only part of my vision because the central element of the composition was the copper, two-dimensional contours of Kajtka & Koka and Kajka & Kokosza. These life-size silhouettes are based on actual drawings of Christa, and cross-dressing (their hats) light-heartedly emphasizes the brotherhood of these four of Janusz Christa’s most famous and beloved characters.
Considering that this week we will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the first appearance of Kajko and Kokosz on the pages of the old Wieczoru Wybrzeża, let’s reignite this unrealized (yet) idea of a park bench for our Christa, OK?
The stone seat I used in a drawing for “Christa’s dream” was based on one of this year’s commissions created for a client in Portsea, Victoria, Australia. This particular stone is big enough to seat four people. It weighs 4.5 tons.
Melbourne Royal Botanical Gardens have commissioned some previous works of mine, others by public and private parks and museums. Each sculpture has a copper plaque with the benefactor’s name for whom the work was commissioned.
And if you ever wonder, they are incredibly comfortable too!
To see other seats I’ve created, look at my website: https://www.embraceart.com/ashika/sculptural-seats/
Excerpt from my journal, Yandoit, Australia 2022.