Honoring a Romanian master

One of the best known Romanian artists, the sculptor Constantin Brancusi (1876-1957), who died 50 years ago in Paris, is being commemorated by the Romanian Cultural Institute in Budapest with an exhibition of 50 contemporary works of art by 25 artists from Timisoara (Temesvár) entitled 50 Abstract Signs - Bowing before Brancusi.

Just a few of the abstract sculptures, paintings, and graphics on display directly follow the `essentialist` work of Brancusi (who didn`t like his art to be seen as abstract, but as a pure and simple representation of reality), but the exhibition is a good opportunity to glimpse the work of these talented artists, well-established in Romania but perhaps less well known outside their home land.

Péter Jecza`s bronze sculpture, raised on a pedestal and entitled Prayer, comes closest to Brancusi`s vision of simple forms.

Here, the gesture of prayer is reduced to a very basic representation, to its very essence, following Brancusi`s unique style of full and uncomplicated forms.

The great master`s apparent simplicity, like Jecza`s, is deeply charged with philosophical and mystical symbolism because of the complexity of thought that has gone into its making.

This paradox of the visual simplicity of the works and their conceptual complexity, allows Brancusi`s monumental but subtle and intimate sculptures to be seen as modern masterpieces.

His work and vision, deeply rooted in Romanian folk art and with a French touch of avant-garde sophistication, became a point of universal reference for the generations of artists who have followed him. Another artist exhibited here who retains some of Brancusi`s elements is Stefan Calarasanu.

He seems to put great emphasis on the interchangeable relationship between the pedestal and the work of art itself. His wood and bronze piece is supported by a neatly cut wooden leg except that the plate of bronze on top is carved with ornamental, eastern- looking hieroglyphs, which distinguishes Calarasanu`s style from the perfectly neat forms of Brancusi.

No longer related to Brancusi as such, but a point of reference in her own right in Romanian fine art, is Suzana Fintinaru.

She exhibits here two of her works, Day and Night. Within the large frames there is a symmetrical display of buttons against a light and respectively dark background.

There is also the work of two graphic artists, whose visual world is similar to one another in their acute sense for detail and texture, but Marcel Braileanu`s posters entitled Mirrors are full of color, while Tila Vica Adorian`s drawings 20/24 are monochrome.

The youngest of the artists exhibited here is the 26-year-old Andreea Teodorescu, whose work is also less abstract and hence a little bit more accessible to those whose eyes are less accustomed to such art.

Sad and Forlorn

Her two paintings, Expression I and Expression II, depict the face of a sad boy against a green background, and the figure of an equally forlorn girl against red paint, both seen through a elusive filter of paint applied over the expressive portraits.

50 Abstract Signs - Bowing before Brancusi was organized within the framework of Francophonie Weeks (March 20-April 2), organized by the French Institute.

Another exhibition commemorating Constantin Brancusi is the display of the photographs he took of his own studios in Montparnasse and on Impasse Ronsin in Paris.

These less known images will be shown at the Central European Cultural Institute.

Infobo
50 Abstract Signs - Bowing before Brancusi
Until May 31
Romanian Cultural Institute
Pest, District XIV, Izsó utca 5
10am-6pm
Tel: 383-2693
Brancusi - The Photographer
Until April 15
Central European Cultural Institute
10am-6pm
Pest, District VIII, Rákóczi út15
Tel: 327-0005

Andreea Anca
www.budapestsun.com - Wednesday, March 28, 2007