Stanek Jakub visual artist
To do list - To father a son, to build a house, to plant a tree
2017-...
The Ball
2025
A light, child’s ping pong ball becomes a vessel for a weight no child should
ever have to carry. Inside it are fragments of burned court documents re-
cords of a conflict into which the child was drawn.
A symbol of carefree play takes on a new, layered meaning: its delicate form
stands in stark contrast to the trauma hidden within. The ball evokes the
image of a child being “bounced” back and forth between adults caught
in a process where every decision deeply affects their emotional world and
sense of safety.
The final act of burning the ball becomes a symbolic closure of that painful
chapter. What remains is an empty space open to the possibility of rebuil-
ding, understanding, and healing.
How long have I been a dad
How long have I been building this house
2025
Numbers handwritten on the surfaces of the bricks function as a record of
time: the days of being a father and the days spent building a house. Time
is treated here as a fundamental construction material, equal to brick and
expanding foam. Each number marks a unit of duration a repeated, every-
day act of presence and labor that accumulates to form a structure.
The bricks, a traditional building material, are deformed and partially bound
together with expanding foam a provisional, technical substance used to fill
gaps and stabilize construction. Rather than building form, the foam exposes
fractures, absences, and misalignments. The work thus reveals a tension
between permanence and temporality, between architectural intention and
the lived process of building.
The numerical inscriptions introduce a biographical and performative di-
mension. Home and fatherhood are not presented as the result of a single
decisive act, but as the sum of repeated actions unfolding over time. The
work interprets masculinity as a process of accumulation grounded not in
symbolic declarations, but in counted days, sustained gestures, and assu-
med responsibility. The structure becomes a record of duration, in which the
materiality of both the house and the relationship is built from time itself.
Structure
2025
A single brick is cut and reassembled using dozens of small metal nails. A
traditional building material is disrupted, and its stability no longer relies on
mass, but on a dense network of fragile connections. Each nail on its own
remains insufficient; only their accumulation allows the structure to hold.
The work refers to the idea of the home and masculinity as an internal con-
struction not monolithic or inherently stable, but sustained through a sum
of small, often invisible acts of responsibility, presence, and care. Structure
exposes the tension between material solidity and the underlying fragility of
what is meant to support what matters most.
The core of the bond
2026
The work presents a fragment of matter suspended within a delicate, geometric structure made of thin metal rods and joints. The heavy, irregular coreresembling a piece of rock or a charred remnant is held in space not by
mass or solidity, but by a precise network of tensions. The construction does
not protect or enclose the object; instead, it supports it point by point, at the
threshold of stability.
The Core of Bond examines the nature of connection as a relationship based
not on full fusion, but on a fragile balance between weight and trust. The
central element functions as a metaphor for experience, trauma, or emotio-
nal burden that cannot be carried alone. What is most compact and “heavy”
exists only through a system of connections thin, vulnerable to rupture, yet
collectively capable of sustaining the whole.
The work refers to human relationships, fatherhood, and masculinity under-
stood as tension-based structures that require constant attention, precision,
and balance. The Core of Bond reveals that the durability of a bond does not
arise from the strength of a single element, but from a configuration of dependencies in which every point of connection matters.
Hunter
2025
A miniature fishing rod with bait, cast in resin, refers to the long-established
image of the man as provider. For centuries, fatherhood has been defined
through the obligation to secure material stability and safety for the family. The worm on the hook becomes a sign of care, but also a materialization of the weight of social expectations.
Encased in resin, the fishing rod reveals how deeply this model has been fixed and how it restricts the understanding of fatherhood to an economic role.
The work challenges this framework, pointing toward an alternative vision of
masculinity and fatherhood based on presence, emotional engagement, and
relational responsibility. The rod functions as a question about redefining care beyond the act of “providing” alone.
Genealogical lineage
2025
A miniature genealogical tree, made of thin sticks and preserved in resin,
symbolizes the family deeply rooted, yet shaped by social ideas about
roles. The branching roots refer to the father’s act of “planting a tree” the
desire to build a solid foundation based on values and relationships.
The resin highlights both the strength and rigidity of this structure frozen in
cultural patterns that often overlook the emotional role of the father.
This work offers a new perspective: fatherhood not just as a biological func-
tion, but as an emotional bond built on presence, care, and shared expe-
rience. The tree becomes a symbol of the fight to recognize fathers as equal,
loving, and active members of the family.
Genetic material
2025
A miniature fishing rod with bait, sealed in resin, symbolizes the traditional
image of a man as the provider. For generations, fathers have been expected
to secure food, safety, and stability for their families. The little worm on the
hook represents both care and the pressure of those expectations.
Encasing the rod in resin shows how deeply this idea is rooted but also
how it limits the meaning of fatherhood to just a financial role.
This work suggests a broader view: a father can be present, caring, and
involved in a child’s life. The fishing rod becomes a question about a new
model of masculinity based on closeness and shared responsibility, not
just providing.
To plant a tree
2026
A dried and charred bonsai tree cast in resin functions as a museum relic of
masculinity a frozen trace of an unfulfilled obligation. The object refers to
one of the canonical tasks inscribed in the cultural “to do list” of manhood:
planting a tree. Suspended in resin, the bonsai becomes evidence of an in-
terrupted process of growth, exposing the tension between an inherited ideal
and lived experience. The act of preservation transforms the organic form into an artifact, attempting to conserve meanings that have lost their vitality and questioning the durability of models of masculinity built on symbolic gestures rather than sustained care.