In an extensive 1994 interview with Artur Żmijewski, Stańczak mentioned his sculptures, referring to the ready-made tradition and his use of ordinary objects subjected to unusual, almost magical procedures:
As my medium I chose commonly used, everyday objects present in many houses. By using these objects I activate people’s imaginations about these things. I use objects as carriers of information. I express my opinion about the world through interfering with objects, which can take the form of, for instance, deforming. After I’m done with an object it starts to create a new situation. A person who uses a kettle, chair or bathtub encounters in a completely new reality an object he or she has been familiar with for many years, which I hope is surprising. That split second of surprise is a doorway through which I can access a person’s subconsciousness.
In order to transform, turn inside out or 'skin' these objects, the artist subjected them to brutal procedures. This was linked to his almost mystical approach to reality, to his asking about the meaning of life, death and the existence of God. Stańczak’s art has an air of spirituality and contains religious elements, which seldom is the case with the works of other critical artists from his generation. Stańczak believed that his kettle and bathtub and the process of transforming prepared him for the death of his loved ones and his own death, for encountering the other world: 'My sculptures speak of living not among objects but among ghosts'. His actions were marked by a will to alter reality and a desire to cross to the other side.
One of Stańczak’s diploma works was entitled Rachunek z miłości platonicznej (A Bill for Platonic Love). It consisted of a performance recorded on video tape and the effect of an action created by the artist – a spatial form mounted on a metal construction. When the artist was making this work he made use of women's tights which he received from a friend who collected them for years from rubbish bins. They were all dirty and bore traces of human use.
I thought about the tights and the one who gave them to me and I came to the conclusion that Krzysztof put deep and hidden emotions and meanings into his unusual passion and into these rags that were so repellent to everyone. Through his actions he expressed emotions – desire and unfulfilled adoration of all the anonymous persons linked to these special garments. Tights envelop legs and are in very close relations with the intimate parts of women’s bodies. These articles of clothing can become a second skin that 'grows onto' the stomach, buttocks, calves, feet and toes. Tights become soaked with human smell and secretions: sweat, organic fluids and often blood. When this nylon substance ceases to perform its functions it is taken off like snakeskin, thrown away and substituted with a new one.
Stańczak put the used tights on his bare body, one after another, until they put so much pressure on his legs that they started to go numb. After the shell created in this way was taken off it resembled a stump. Stańczak repeated this procedure three times until he ran out of pairs of tights. The original spatial work was lost, only the videotape documenting the performance remains. (The soft objects created as a result of removing the multiple layers of tights and the metal framework/display case were re-created for Roman Stańczak’s exhibition at the Stereo Gallery in Warsaw, VI 2014).
In 1996 Stańczak disappeared from the art circuit. He hadn't, however, ceased to work creatively. He drew, made notes and sketches and kept a diary. He also made money conserving religious sculptures at churches. He worked for instance on the sculptures on the façade of St Martin’s Church in Warsaw. He claims that he was realizing a personal project inaccessible to the public, the title of which was The Life and Work of Roman Stańczak.
In 2013 the artist met Paweł Althamer by chance, who invited Stańczak to create a new sculpture (a figure of an angel) for a park in one of Warsaw's districts – Bródno. Karol Sienkiewicz wrote that:
One could say that the new sculpture in Bródno is a monument dedicated to a meeting with a friend, that ended a certain stage of Stańczak’s life. This sculpture may also be kind of an exorcism, an attempt to conquer one’s demons.
Roman Stańczak’s Anioł Stróż (Gardian Angel) is a three meter tall figure, placed on a high base. It has the form of a traditional sculpture, was made out of wood and covered with gilded metal.
