“The complexity of people’s behaviour has always intrigued me and inspired me to visually express the range of human emotion.” – Barbara Licha

Barbara Licha was born in 1957 in Poland before moving to Australia in 1982. Licha studied Graphics and Sculpture at The Academy of Fine Arts in Wroclaw, Poland from 1979 to 1981. After moving to Australia, Licha got a BA (1985 – 1988) and a Graduate Diploma of Fine Arts (1989) from the City Art Institute in Sydney, Australia.

Licha uses various mediums for her work from painting to sculpture, but her favorite material to work with is wire because it is a material she has worked with for more than a decade and has never had any reason to complain about using it. This seems to track given that the majority of her works use a lot of wire to create her meaningful sculptures.

Licha has expressed that she has “always been interested in the complexity of human condition and the variety of human behaviour” and emotions. She explores that in her work through the use of human-like figures to represent “symbols of emotions” so that they can represent everyone and let viewers project themselves into her work. As Licha has expressed, her favorite thing about being an artist is the dialogue between herself and her work and how that transforms into the dialogue between her finished work and the viewers. This communication is what makes her enjoy creating her work and being an artist.

Sculpture Pictures from Barbara Licha – Contemporary Art Website