Today I'm going to show you an exhibition that anything but usual. Is not like any other exhibition, for many reasons.
The artist is Ion Vlasiu (1908 - 1997) a Romanian sculptor, painter and writer. As usually, I had no idea what kind of exhibition I'm going to see, but that's never a problem for me.
When I arrived to the gallery, had a look inside to have an idea what I was about to see and to my surprise, this is what I saw. My first thought was, that I went there at the wrong time as the exhibition is not ready for the visitors, but then I saw the door open and thought let's ask what's going on as I had nothing to lose. Another surprise was for me to hear the exhibition was open and ready. Then what was that mess I was thinking? Well, come with me and I'll tell you.
As you already know, the artist is not among us, he passed away in 1997, at the age of 89.
This is his story, I took a photo of the poster for you to have an idea about his life.
Simion Suciu, with the press he made, photography by Ion Vlasiu. The shapes of the place, source of inspiration for the artist.
The artist was a sculptor, painter and writer, but he also liked to take photos. So the exhibition had photos, paintings, sculptures and different objects from the artist's workshop.
Spirits In The Artist's Paintings
If you have a close look at these paintings, you can see that these are particular and similar in a certain way.
Take a close look. Have you ever seen such paintings? Have you ever seen this style? it's like there are several layers and none of them covers the one beneath.
Another detail worth mentioning is the frame, which, in this case was perfectly chosen in my opinion. As the canvas is a bit roughly painted (this is not a critique, it's a simply observation), the frame has to be a match, otherwise it captures the eye and takes away the focus from the painting. The focus should be on the painting, not on the frame. I'm not sure if it makes sense to you.
Spirits In His Graphic Art
Spirit Of War
The most impressive work of the author, which was brought to life by the Art Department of Mures County Museum.
This is the story behind the exhibition.
It's a heartbreaking story, if you think of it. Imagine your dad creating such an artwork, which after his passing, sits in a warehouse, dismantled. The artwork is quite big, it's heavy too, plus it's made of wood, which we know it's not easy to preserve. What are the chances of the artwork to be exhibited somewhere? Slim to none I'd say. Then life gives it a chance, a huge one.
This is how the artwork looked like in the warehouse, dismantled.
Photos documenting the reconstruction of the artwork.
When I stepped into the exhibition room, I heard some chatter, a man talking very loudly. There was no one in the room, so I was thinking maybe there's a group with a guide in the next room.
Then when I stepped into this room, saw the screen and the video playing. That was a documentary they made in 1988. It was impressive to see how they worked, what they done to restore the artwork. It was basically tribute to the artist.
They did it! The pillars were finally in place.
And this is the big mess I saw from outside and I thought the exhibition is not ready. I asked the supervisor lady, what's with that and found out they set up this room, as the workshop of the artist, which makes perfect sense.
This is a story with happy ending and I hope it's not the only one. How many artworks are not getting the well deserved attention for various reasons. It's admirable what the organizers did, how they set up the exhibition and showed visitors how the restoration works were done.
Have you ever seen such an exhibition? I haven't, this was my first, but I liked it.
I have an obsession for wood, so I truly hope one nice day I'll have the chance to create something, to have a taste how wood is worked.
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