PRESS RELEASE
FLORIAN WOZNIAK
Apr 15 – May 9, 2026
Everard Read London presents a collection of Cape Town-based artist, Florian Wozniak's sculpture, spanning more than thirty years.
The human form is the nucleus of Wozniak's expression. His work has an earthiness of form, and his sensuous, voluptuously proportioned sculptures deploy subtle gesture to depict human beings in relationship with each other and the greater world.
Wozniak has a deep sense that he is, both in spirit and practice, integrated into the arc of history and the ancient tradition of sculpture. It follows that his sculptural figures are part of the historical flow and, as such, they are never monumental or static. They exist in their own intimate world, but they are also in dialogue with someone or something beyond themselves, something not shown.
Themes of reflection and redemption are key to understanding the passion Wozniak experiences in the world and captures so eloquently in his sculpture. This infuses his work with a sense of serenity and tranquillity which permeates the physical spaces his sculptures inhabit.
Wozniak's sculptures can be tender and endearing, playful and witty, his figures often evoking pathos or humour. His sculpture, Waiting, encapsulates this succinctly. As Medardo Rosso did with his Impression of an Omnibus (1884-89), Wozniak has materialised a fleeting moment of common experience, and he does so with empathy and sensitivity.
The artist acknowledges a rejection of what he describes as "self-indulgent post-modernism, which often explores misery for its own sake." Instead, optimism is implicit in every piece Wozniak sculpts and is palpable in the finished objects, with titles such as Hope, Mirth, Couple and Dreamer. It is no surprise Wozniak identifies so strongly with the sentiment of 20th century, Italian sculptor, Arturo Martini, when he said, "In this Babylon, where everyone has lost his senses, my sculpture could bring them some joy in its clarity and vibrancy."
