49. Church Interior [1989]

Characterized by a valence, on the one hand psychological, morally motivated, the art of the artist Horia Bernea can be discussed in diametrically opposed terms: pity-cruelty, candor-guilt, asceticism-dionysiac. Horia Bernea is a lover of experiment, absorbing visual elements, which he consumes to exhaustion. "This is what it was about: an attempt to combine things impossible to combine, attitudes impossible to reconcile; a kind of recovery in which a theme is pushed beyond any limit of endurance", declared the artist about his art, born out of an avid desire for rebirth and profound healing. Horia Bernea aimed to convey the origin of emotion through his work, trying to establish the path of matter, which he has been captivated by all his life. The artist's painting is a closed circle, finding its epicenter in a worldly paradise, combining Western art with that of Byzantium. An artist who analyzed the structures of longevity of artwork, Horia Bernea does not document the pivotal moments of history, but seeks to decipher the exceptional tradition with the help of contemporary modalities. The tradition, suspended in time, becomes the main means of communication from his creative universe, the painter seeks to change through his own art. In the '80s and '90s, Horia Bernea dedicated an extensive pictorial cycle to interiors, based on his visit to monastic locations such as Agapia or Văratec. At the same time, his spiritual life springs from the period the painter lived in the area of ​​Poiana Mărului. This period reflects the search for the sacrosanct in the profane, and the endless attempt to reintegrate the spirit into long lost spaces. If the prapor, which is a constant conceptual presence in Bernea's work, impressed the artist with its emptiness, the church interiors attracted him with their complex construction. Considering the church interiors as a total subject, the artist aimed to resacralize them in painting. Thus, the present work "Church Interior" is part of an extensive pictorial cycle, which includes works such as "Iconostasis", "Column in Church". The complexity of the space and the inherent spiritual experience inspired the artist towards this sacred space. Without abounding in a multitude of colors, the space that stretches across the canvas becomes worthy of veneration through the simplicity that is about to be discovered by the viewer.

References

"Horia Bernea", National Museum of Art of Romania. Department of Contemporary Art, Bucharest, 1997 Monograph "Horia Bernea", Noi media print Publishing, 2008.

Dimensions

width 105.5 cm, height 140 cm

Description

watercolor and pencil on paper, signed and dated top left, in pencil, "Bernea, (19)89"; dated top right, in pencil, "(19)89"

Dating

1989

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