“Gaia of Lipno” is a monumental, openwork sculpture in the shape of a human head. It presents only the head with the neck, without the torso. It is a large form, clearly larger than a human being. It measures 3.5 metres in height and is about 2 metres wide. The object gives the impression of being light and almost transparent, although it is made of metal. Its main building material is dozens, or rather hundreds, of round hoops of different diameters, joined together into one spatial mesh. There are virtually no smooth walls or full surfaces here. Everything is built from repeated circles: small, medium-sized and large. Some are the size of a coin, others resemble plates or small hoops. The closer to the edges of the face, the denser and more precise the arrangement becomes.
For this sculpture, its context and surroundings are important. The object stands at the end of a pier over a lake. The end has a rounded shape. The sculpture has been placed in the geometric centre of the walking surface. The background for the object is the surface of the lake water and, on the opposite shore, vegetation and hills.
The metal mesh of the object has a dark, graphite colour. The surface of the hoops is matt. It is this dark drawing of lines that builds the contour of the head. The empty spaces between the circles remain just as important as the metal itself. Thanks to them, the sculpture is not a closed solid, but a form breathing with light and air.
In some places, coloured, semi-transparent glass discs have been inserted into the round openings. There are few of them compared with the number of empty circles, but they attract the eye. Some of them are intensely blue, like glass coloured with cobalt. Others are yellow, milky white, light blue and red. These coloured applications do not form a regular pattern. They are scattered across the whole head like individual accents or points of light. Most of them can be seen within the face and cheeks, but they also appear higher up, in the area of the forehead and the vault of the skull. When the person viewing the object comes closer, the nature of the coloured applications is revealed. They have a structure resembling minerals or precious stones. They are crystalline. They have an irregular form made up of small facets, edges and breaks. They create sharp projections, crevices and shimmering planes.
The sculpture stands on a low, round base. From it grows a short neck, which raises and supports the whole head. The neck is slender, slightly narrowed. The head has slightly disturbed proportions – this is most visible when viewing the sculpture in profile. The figure’s forehead passes gently into the bridge of the nose, and then into a clearly protruding nose with a straight ridge. Below, the mouth is marked. Beneath it, the line of the face passes into a rounded chin and further into the neck. The back of the head and the vault of the skull form a smooth, domed outline. The skull is as if slightly elongated, raised upwards. This is emphasised by the shape of the ears, which lie close to the skull.
The sculpture does not show a specific person. It is rather a synthetic, universal image of a head, which is calm, and almost meditative. The figure has no hair, nor realistic details of skin. Instead, the artist proposes a pure structure: the rhythm of circles, the emptiness between them and many luminous, coloured accents. Thanks to this, “Gaia of Lipno” combines two orders. On the one hand, it is a clear representation of a human head. On the other, an abstract, geometric and openwork construction, in which rhythm and light seem to be the most important. At night, the object is illuminated. The black mesh of hoops is dominated and emphasised by cold, white light. And the coloured applications gain a glow.