Dariusz Kaca’s creation has always been rooted in his admiration for the logic and beauty of nature but also in the need to understand it and to find the beneficial order in it. It expressed the desire to discover a universal rule hidden in the immensity of space and the infinity of time. Moreover, it encouraged to launch a search of the area of widely comprehended spirituality.

His graphic works were filled with the forms expressing eternity, the artist tried to recognize and describe the rules and laws that govern the universe. Images of star constellations, those having their counterparts in real celestial bodies as well as those astral objects which originated from the imagination permeated the works. Sculptures and spatial objects referred to the problem of changeability, transformation, cyclicity of phenomena, renewal. The motives that appeared in the areas under consideration endowed them with the value of mythologized space, raised questions about the source, character and continuity of our culture.

The early works, being the effect of humility of man facing the mystery, were full of graphic moderation as far as the form is concerned. Later more sensuality and freedom turned up, a more spontaneous gesture, greater differentiation of plans, unrestrained creation of shapes, brave enrichment of the palette of colours.

In his latest works Dariusz Kaca also considers issues referring to the primeval logic of the world and the primitive truths. His graphic works are still a great performance in the sky, but it is expressed in black and white or, less frequently, colour compositions closer to the monochrome. As if the artist wanted to express his belief that the magnificence of the universe does not require any scream, but rather silence, reflection and humbleness, which also means modesty of the artist who should be realistic about the goals he wants to achieve.

The means of expression applied here are paradoxically the reason why the message seems to be incredibly varied. The method which the artist uses to express the magnificence and complexity of all kind of phenomena is a real tribute to nature. Dariusz Kaca precisely builds his universe, using juxtaposed, regular, small, modular elements densely filling the plane. Each of them is a sign of the graphic artist’s interference, a little disturbance on the surface of the matrix, a trace of creation. From the very first touch of a chisel shapelessness is transferred into a form, after the first move – something derives from nothing, built on around the initiating causative movement. The module created by the artist, a tiny particle building his cosmos on the plane, is like an atom or its components, which decide about the structure of the whole reality.

The space of the images is gleaming with thousands of stars, milky ways crisscrossing the sky, spinning planets, beaming suns. It is the world of inexhaustible power, the world of the beginning and the end of the matter, its weakening and consolidation. The forms appear and vibrate, or they perish in the abyss of black holes. The sun explodes and radiates with energy. Everything pulsates, goes away and gets closer – a space whirl is created where everything comes to existence, lives and passes away. The universal harmony gets the measure of mysticism.

What is transcendent does not stop being created in the already-existing space, and that space is bustling with life. That is the way the Absolute becomes the cosmic, solar or star revelation.

The works of art have also an intensive and dynamic life, not only because of the use of concrete pictorial motives associated with movement; oval shapes – circles and ellipses whose form is adopted by the sun and stars, space nebulae, and not only because of appropriate compositional measures but also due to the magma of particles on the plane, being in the continuous apparent movement.

The vision of space created in this way includes some culturally well-known motives and symbols. Here come the actors of a great performance in the sky: a Fallen Angel falls on the ground, dispersing the space dust, the archangel rushes to help, the light symbols appear in the sky as a sign from God. As it is the sacrum space too. The space of myth and the space of culture in which we are suspended and in which we are active.

The images of the sky are obviously neither its realistic representation nor even a mathematical manifestation of the relations and functions prevailing in its space. They use the language of art: graphic motives and signs to express and specifically interpret what is transcendent. Like in the Celtic book painting or in abstract nonanthropomorphic oriental compositions in which, during meditation, the man falls into a kind of trance caused by what is intuitive, spiritually sensed and not recognized by reason.

Dariusz Kaca’s graphic works are not the only ones to create the image of the universe. The spatial objects created by the artist refer to that issue too. The wooden – ‘ready-made’ objects selected from the surrounding, fragments of boards, pieces of wood become the mediators between the earth and the sky, emphasizing that they are the components of the same cosmic, hardly comprehensible reality.

The combination of a physical object, which becomes a printing matrix and introduces a new visual quality, with a graphic print makes up a congenial complementary whole. The part of cosmos visible above is completed by the element of nature on the earth, confirming the complexity of nature and its simultaneous unity. We notice that the printing grain of the tree, the edges of boards reminding the irregular coastline of the land, openings and upliftings of the surface kept the memory about the nature of the visible world and its structure, like the single lights of stars visible in the sky account for the structure of cosmos. And in this sense all the components of the world explored by the artist contribute to the coherent whole.

We try to comprehend and explain it; we undertake complicated investigations, we make thorough observations, we build optical instruments, we construct models of the universe. Like in the process of art interpretation, we discover mysterious relations between the form and the meaning.

However, mystery is the fact that can not just be explained by means of traditional research tools. The very intellect and rational attitude is not enough here. The intentions of the transcendent Spirit or the Prime Mover go far beyond human understanding. Fascinated by the logic of the universe, the artist dares create its representation, closing all its components in the time capsule made of paper, supporting it on a special tripod out of necessity and playfully (according to many common views in different cultures the Earth was supported e.g. by giants or elephants). He does not forget about a variety of contradictions that are typical of some phenomena, about the dichotomy of all kinds of phenomena. Therefore he enriches the model with its supplement, a reflection, a shadow, with its dark side.

The array of objects includes the motif of the blue whale, the animal venerated and adored in cultures of the people living in the Pacific Ocean area. It stimulates our imagination even though it is deprived of the ability to communicate with us in any language we could understand. It will represent the mysteries of the depths, the symbol of what is enormous and eternal, yet solitary.

Eventually, in order to take in the logic of the space order we are inclined to the Divine, adored, we look for the explanation and sense there. We do it because we feel that we are attracted by some mysterious supernatural mystery whose manifestations evoke admiration and awe. We need support in our earthly existence. From the earth – like from the interior of a temple – we send the message to the skies. We submit ourselves to religion so that we could find some maintenance and alleviation, tame what is unknown. The sculptural form, taking the shape of a Gothic window, soars as if it was to reach the sky, the thing the builders of the medieval cathedrals wished to achieve. The depicted image of the church on earth indicates the space where the desire for cognition is generated. The totem made by the artist, in some religions the greatest material expression of sacrum, combines – again – the motives connected with the earth and the sky.

Another object also looks like a totem (or a prehistoric weapon), though perhaps it is a kind of tool for observing and mapping the trajectories of celestial objects. The aperture located in the upper part of the object is like a window with the view to the universe.

A wooden matrix placed in it, changing its position, differentiates the size of the opening, which alters its shape like the image of the Moon in the sky changes its form. There are traces of the matrix print at the bottom of the composition; they take the visual form corresponding to the translucence in the upper part of the work. There is something pagan in this work of art, like in astrology that combines celestial bodies with what exists on earth and postulates The character of the reality in Dariusz Kaca’s works, his graphic works, spatial objects, sculptures and artistic books, is never ultimately defined, complete, closed and unambiguous. To some extent the way in which the artist treats the image of man – rather exceptional in his creation – is compatible with this diagnosis. The shape of a found wooden object encouraged the artist to create the vision of a three dimensional image of man (Turned).

The object together with the prints made with the use of it comprises a multi-figure, taking many shades and hues – from grey to black (and red!) – portrait of a man. The Dialectical Object, which is composed of varied manifestations of the same form, also draws our attention to the meaning of complementary distinct values, significant for considerations concerning the dynamic aspect of reality.

In these works the world is presented as the mythological Ouroboros, the symbol of infinity, the eternal return and the unity of opposites – the serpent which constantly devours and re-creates itself. Introducing that motive into one of the compositions is an important hint which lets better understand the vision of the world expressed by the graphic works as well as the spatial objects – artistic books, sculptures or installations.

Some works can be interpreted in various ways. The intuitively sensed whole is sometimes vague, not obvious, can not be fully articulated. In the semantic space of Dariusz Kaca’s output we come across numerous translucent areas (both in the literal and metaphorical meaning), an entrance to the metaphysical dimension where what is inconceivable appears in a non-verbal (ambiguous) imagery.

In the mythological sphere, which the artist often refers to and which also projects eternity, there is also the ‘vague’ (as it can not be explicitly articulated) sense of the presence of the Absolute.

The contemporary decline of sacrum had a significant influence on deterioration of religious mettle. The present way of thinking regards some contradictory notions as natural: logical/ illogical, possible/impossible, science/mysticism. Issues that are not covered by our experience are defined as fantastic.

Dariusz Kaca belongs to those artists who attempted, by a variety of means of artistic expression: images, symbols and others, to convey what in their experience is unutterable. They prove that some truths can be revealed by emotions and intuition, not only by rational cognition. Then creation means that you participate in the liturgy of the Universe, a kind of grace and prayer, and the way to confirm the existence of transcendence is close to mysticism (at least the one that is secularized). It is a sign of going away from the mere rational-positivist cognition and of accepting other forms of acquiring knowledge. Nowadays that kind of approach is even manifested by the intuitions of contemporary physicists drawing mystical conclusions from their research practice.

The statement that in penetrating the spiritual space it is more important to travel through it, to face the mystery than to achieve the ultimate cognition and to reach the end – seems to be a cliché. What can this journey be like? The spiritual journey to a sanctuary is a pilgrimage. The motivation to go on a journey is based on the awareness of transcendence, confirmed by everyday miracles of existence, even those of the lowest rank. The road is delineated by the Milky Way. Thus the search for direction has a vertical dimension here.

Thanks to a discovered sign-post we are not travellers lost in the labyrinth but the ones who, going deep into mystery, broaden their awareness in that search. Each artistic act is such pursuit of the axis of the world. In Dariusz Kaca’s work the Earth unites with Heaven not only physically, but also in imagery motives. The artist draws a line bridging the gap between the elements of microcosm and macrocosm, the earthly existence rises – in the mythological language – towards things that are unattainable and for that reason longed-for.

Dariusz Kaca is still searching for new means of expression, new inspirations, and despite that search his hitherto existing works seem to be coherent indeed. The trajectory of his doings, like in one of the latest works (My Trajectories), crosses diverse areas, from the physical to cultural sphere. The artist is consistent in the way he combines the course of his thought and artistic activities with the subsequent stages of his creation, materializing the spirit and spiritualizing the matter. He simultaneously looks for a place for man (for himself) in a variety of the Universe manifestations and its mysterious sense

Dariusz Leśnikowski