The opening of the personal painting exhibition of artist ION LAZAR

The first exhibition dedicated to the memory of the well-known plastic artist Ion Lazar, who passed away in August 2014, took place at Senso Gallery held between November 10th to December 4th, 2015.

Cuvantul de deschidere a expozitiei a fost sustinut de criticul de arta Dr. Doina Pauleanu, director al Muzeului de Arta din Constanta.

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

Iacob Lazar, the artist’s father, relentlessly laboured in shaping and creating the exhibition and his mother Rodica watched over from above; the son has entered since childhood their workshop full of utensils, canvases, colours and promises, namely into the world of painting, “this enigma old as the world, which will not cease to charm us to the end of history”, as the artist himself utters in one of his writings.

This enigma – Ion Lazar shares with his art – must be approached with shyness,  caution, divested of pride or prejudice; one can do it from the outside, and then the painting reveals itself (by contemplation) to the eye and senses, generating aesthetic emotions, or from the inside, where one cannot enter by any means whatsoever, but slowly, gradually, through daily labour and meditation, as into an initiatory journey; “Those who have  eyesight’s weak, polishing it, built a ship and sent it … to the waters. Might the ship with colourful sails, that bring light on foggy seas have sunk, or was denied access to the harbours of the world when it came to deliver gifts?”, wonders the artist, gravely and restlessly. Through this exhibition and with the works of the cycles that have now been completed, the answer is self-evident: its gifts are received and the work left behind has already gained prestige and the museum aura.

Entering the Senso Gallery, visitors will understand how the background of his works can be equalled to a palimpsest that preserves, decanted, memories of the painting eras he has appreciated so much as to have worked in their sense. “I felt the joy of creation repeating another one (which, in my conviction, repeats itself another one), reinterpreting it, rearranging it, remodelling it, and I learnt that I am rather fond of the rigour of creation and then to its fervour” the author tells us in a suitable wording”. – Doina Pauleanu PhD.

About the painter Ion Lazar

Painter, professor, restorer, art expert, designer and writer, Ion Lazar passed away in August 2014. He graduated “Nicolae Tonitza” Art High School, the “Monumental Art” Department and “Nicolae Grigorescu” Institute of Fine Arts in Bucharest, the “Easel Painting” Department. Doctor of Visual Arts and writer, Ion Lazar was a member of UAPR (“Painting” Branch), a professor at the Bucharest Academy of Arts and a consulting member of the Association of Art Experts and Evaluators of Romania. He had numerous personal and group exhibitions.