Untitled

Stankiewicz was born in Philadelphia and raised in Detroit. His experimentation with painting and sculpture began during his time in the U.S. Navy (1941-47). He studied at the Hans Hofmann School of Art in New York and by 1950, traveled to Paris to study at the studios of sculptor Ossip Zadkine and painter Fernand Leger. It was during this time that the artist began welding together discarded machine and automobile parts.

The drum shaped forms of these sculptures result from the use of mill materials: I-beams, angle irons and steel tubing, made available to the artist at a factory in Australia. The use of these industrial components transformed his work from “junk sculpture” into the realm of much more formal, geometric shapes with clean lines and fine craftsmanship.