No. 19 / January 2020
Mihai Plămădeală, art critic – article published in Arhitectura magazine, no.3/2015
Through his work, Dan Vişovan is an atypical sculptor, in the sense that for what he does there are no classically accepted references. The artist focuses on closures and openings, the resulting visual forms being logical consequences of the binomial outside / inside. Geometric and modular are just two of the attributes of his work, conceived in principle as nets and metal braids.
Textures play an important role in the equation of episteme and reception, the way they receive light being one of his artistic stakes. By extrapolation, we can talk about the Op Art component of Vişovan’s creation.
The so-called industrial aspects of the artworks, such as threaded connections, have the function of counterbalancing the total non-functional character of the assemblies, increasing the ambiguity and inviting the exploration of the plans. The liquid model and the parabolic shapes designed by the artist are in antithesis with the steel used, a quintessentially hard, heavy and non-malleable material.
The absence of pedestals or mounting systems invites unconventional exposure strategies. In outdoor public spaces, such pieces will always raise questions.
In a national and international context in which the android & animal form and the everyday object, possibly ready-made, have, from a statistical point of view, a victory over non-Euclidean geometries, the direction in which Dan Vişovan has inscribed himself is as surprising, so commendable. The artist from Timisoara somehow continues a segment of the preoccupations that the artists of the creative groups 1 + 1 + 1 and Sigma had half a century ago.
The idea of expanding and compressing space is extremely generous. Artistic ideas can provide architectural solutions, especially as current materials and technologies allow them to be put into practice. It is enough to look at the buildings signed by Zaha Hadid to realize that architecture can be considered in some respects inhabited sculpture.
