33. Column [1994]

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Roxana Scripcaru

Head of the Romanian Postmodern & Contemporary Art Evaluation Office

0736 381 153 [email protected]

33. Column [1994]

Horia Bernea

1938, Bucureşti - 2000, Paris

Estimate:

EUR 4.000 - 7.000

Sold

EUR 11.000

References

"Horia Bernea", National Art Museum of Romania. Department of Contemporary Art, Bucharest, 1997. The monograph "Horia Bernea", Noi Media Print Publishing House, 2008. "Școala de la Poiana Mărului" ("Poiana Mărului School"), Publishing House of the Art Museum Brașov, 2013.

oil on canvas, 65 x 50 cm, 65 Ã 50 cm, signed upper left, in black, "Bernea"; dated upper right, in black, "10.(19)94"

Horia Bernea directs his attention notably towards shapes, with a strong axiality - hence, the birth of the Columns series. He is also preoccupied with the sacredness of the pictorial gesture, therefore he would introduce ecclesiastical motifs into his creation, yet he also aims at the sacredness of the usual motifs. The most important challenge for him consists of joining together some symbols which are, apparently, impossible to combine. Through painting, the artist reveals the essential uncertainties of daily life. He approaches the series dedicated to nature with a mathematical competency. His creation is affiliated both to new realism, as well as to conceptual expressionism. Integrated into a nature that is rich in leaves and flowers, Bernea's enlightened columns remarkably support the galleries of the monasteries where the artist paints. The columns series is rich in colours and patterns, and each work dedicated to the motif acquires meaning through its unique nature. Sometimes simplifies, other times full of apparently complex patters and colour spots, the columns always remain the focal point, impregnated of a celestial luminosity. This series, so rich in clear, obviously geometrical shapes, is dominated by shades of red, yellow and green, hence synthesising the symbolic closeness between the vegetable motif and the religious one. The essence of verticality, the column appears as a means of abstraction, as a meeting point between the abstract and the figurative, and, perhaps what is most important - the series helps the artist reach completion of ascetic life.

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