No. 45 / February 2021
Mihai Plămădeală, art critic
The postwar Romanian School of Graphics, beyond being internationally recognized, has good traditions and a level to match. I am referring both to artists, lined up with their abroad counterparts, and to university education, especially in Bucharest and Cluj. Vasile Kazar, Ion State or Octav Grigorescu left a good legacy in this regard. Closer to the present day, Mircia Dumitrescu, Nicolae Alexi, Dan Erceanu, Ion Panaitescu, Ioan Atanasiu Delamare or Ioan Horvath Bugnariu are just some of the names that honor local graphics. Of course, the lists are not edifying, however extensive, but the artwork itself.
In this favorable context, Cristina Bacicu Botez, trained in Cluj, has her own artistic individuality, joining the artists who have something to say and carry on the relay of value. A characteristic of the graphic designer is her special relationship with the narrative, of course, a relationship of nonverbal origin, but extremely direct. The type of narrative I am referring to, in fact an idea or a cultural reference, represents not only the point from which it starts in the realization of some artistic projects, but their very substance. Interpreted as metaphors, the ideas behind the works find lyrical transpositions, not at all explicit, in visual signs corresponding to them. The algorithm by which the artist operates with the line, the dot and the spot is related to a compositional sense that is both discreet and refined.
Geometry plays an important role in the artist’s creation, whether it is straight lines or ellipses, triangles, rectangles or circles. They have the role of dividing and implicitly of delimiting various areas of the compositions, compositions characterized by rigorous organization. The fluid interferes with the geometry in an organic context.
Extremely versatile, the artist expresses herself as well in the area of traditional media and techniques as in the experimental one. Her artistic trajectory presupposes diversity, as a form of transcendence.
Cristina Bacicu Botez’s artworks are a world in themselves. Seen as windows to better, more beautiful, more interesting horizons than the mundane ones, they tell you the truths revealed through art. Last but not least, the artist is a real intercessor between verbal and visual language, with an emphasis on the second element.