15 artists at SENSO GALLERY

The Collective Decorative Art Exhibition 2015 represented a new opportunity to introduce a significant number of artists and the objects they created with ingenuity and boosts of fantasy that seem unstoppable. The exhibition combined, under adequate display, pieces of copper, bronze and brass, sandstone, porcelain, glazes, metal oxides and pigments, wood, optic glass, opal-like, fused and crystal, wool, cotton, silk and embroidery, made with techniques of an inexhaustible variety, ranging from specificity, tradition and experiment.

The visual artists participating in this exceptional event were Anca Boeriu, Aniela Ovadiuc, Arina Ailincai, Cela Neamtu, Cristina Bolborea, Costel Iacob, Dan Bancila, Daniela Fainis, Dionisie Popa, Manuela Botis, Sanda Bucur, Lucian Butucariu, Nicolae Moldovan, Dumitru Traian Tili and Mihai Topescu.

Doina Pauleanu PhD, art critic and director of Constanta Art Museum, delivered the opening speech of the exhibition.

“Finis coronat opus” As last year, and the years to come, the consistency with the self-imposed standards (and already recognised in a demanding and dynamic consecration field), the final exhibition, which is also an inaugural exhibition, brings to the attention of the viewers too beautiful objects of decorative art, crafted with recognised manoeuvrability, hard to anticipate imaginative power, with finesse and accuracy.

In alphabetical order, the manifestation from Senso Gallery starts with the porcelain works signed by Arina Ailincai. They are called Mirroring – two heads of expression in which states of mood or different ages willingly disturb the symmetry and Vestige; (…).Dan Bancila’s Mornings are exuberant; it is enough to look at the work Dawn to convince us that glass, crystal and bronze used in ascension rhythms, with straight or curvilinear lines, suggest a clear and serene diurnal journey. (…) The Fulcrum of exclusively female characters created by Anca Boeriu in engraved copper lies inside or outside them, in which latter case it can be the man, the tree, a handhold, maybe a gun or a not suitable place – topos atopos. (…) The admiring exercise of Cristina Bolborea for the masters such as Van Eyck or Rubens finds its original shape in the fabric and motifs of carpet presented as l’oeil tiles on various supports; three-dimensional, recognisable transpositions, these spatial objects made of clay tiles feature a visual pithiness that endures on the surprised, lively, charmed retina. (…) Manuela Botis brings to this exhibition a single piece – The Carol – endowed    with conclusive valences. The rhombus-shaped support is a type frame much favoured by the artist. (…) Sanda Bucur’s tapestry, Phoenix II, is part of a thematic cycle inspired by the mythical bird endowed with virtues such as sacrifice, freedom, creativity, boldness, faith, rigour and vigour; (…) The material and technique used by Lucian Butucariu allow him to create pure, intensive colourful, vaporous or compact forms, as appropriate; his spatial forms evolve according to the principles of phototropism (motion of pointing the vegetal elements towards the source of light) and take over, orderly and energetically, the surrounding space; this source is usually outside the object that rises, with effort and through profound changes, towards the light. (…) The works of Daniela Fainis of the Milestones cycle stylistically and technically related – it is hand-made porcelain, incised and painted in successive layers of the same material burned at 1,340 °C. – with Window, introduce us into the mysterious atmosphere of rites of passage. (…) In the works of Costel Iacob time has stopped dead, vulnerable Sagrada Familia  found shelter under a glass bell without thinking about Gaudi, and Traveling Machine – in fact the resonant box of a violin in which the pieces necessary for the suggested incursions were deposited, with orderliness and in perfect order – lure all those interested – connoisseurs, art lovers, intrepid pioneers, music lovers, visionaries, explorers, simple or very complicated people – to choose where and when to start the journey. (…) The austerity of the works signed by Nicolae Moldovan expresses his monumental vision, interested in how the elements of reality can be assembled to suggest the idea of growth. (…) In the parsimonious landscape sprinkled with first-rate figures of contemporary Romanian tapestry, Cela Neamtu undoubtedly occupies a preeminent place; she has secured it through natural endowment for visual arts, restless work, by activating long forgotten techniques, interpreted, adapted by originality and style will. (…) Aniela Ovadiuc  likes porcelain, sandstone, oxides and glazes (and the list could continue, but we limit ourselves to the materials used for the pieces presented at the  Senso Gallery exhibition), works with obvious joy, feels how to handle matter, and adjusts its techniques. (…) The works of the late decorative artist Dionisie Popa (1938 – 2005) come from the collection of Daniela Fainis; works form two cycles were chosen for this exhibition: Insects (made in bronze / optic glass) and Spinner (glass / opal glass). (…) A Song Above the Nest is the name given by Dumitru Traian Tili to the artwork at Senso Gallery exhibition. (…) Mihai Topescu manifests its unequivocal predilection (which is not exclusive, as shown by two other works entitled Eve) for closed, compact, oval forms,  the vibrated, geometric-like, lighted background of which, co-opted in the plastic show, features the expressive elements with symbolic coverage (…) Thus the viewer is allowed to penetrate the interior, to listen and to be fascinated by the verses of the troubadours, to be present at the royal rituals, to be part of the miracles of the faith“. – Doina Pauleanu PhD.

This event was conducted with the support of Catena Group, through Catena for Art Program, and the Fildas Art Foundation.