Csaba Gyori

Romanian Metal Sculpture Between Decorative, Monumental and Architectural

No. 20 / January 2020

Mihai Plămădeală, art critic – article published on Arhitectura magazine, no.3/2015

 

Sculpture is one of the most conservative and, at the same time, innovative arts. In 5,000 years, the questions and issues of sculpture have remained the same. On the other hand, new materials and technologies, such as the 3D printer, allow the volume of ideas that have been impossible to materialize in the past.

Metal sculpture is a special form of art, with its own laws of composition and specific processes, in which nothing is what it seems at first reading. Working with steel, cast iron, copper or various alloys is, if not difficult, at least rough, literally speaking.

Between architecture and sculpture, especially the metal one, there is today a sum of common points, which are not limited to fences, grilles or outdoor furniture, but aim at a much wider area of interference. Next, I bring into discussion five of the Romanian sculptors who work in metal and have something to say on this subject, namely Bogdan Hojbotă, Sorin Purcaru, Győri Csaba, Marius Mureşan and Dan Vişovan. This is not a top and is not intended to cover all Romanian sculpture movement, although the selected artists are from Bucharest, Iaşi, Timişoara, Cluj and Baia Mare, cities arranged radially on the map of Romania. It is time to point out that since 2012 an Annual National Metal Sculpture Salon has been organized.

Bogdan Hojbota - Ascension
Bogdan Hojbota – Ascension

A conclusion of the proposed case studies would be that Romanian artists tend to use metal sculpture as a pretext to highlight their visual ideas, mastery of processing and material qualities. This brings us closer to the architecture. I note that the basic concern of metal artists is mainly towards the morphological side, a morphology that opens and closes at the same time. The positive part is that technological solutions naturally lead to consistent results and that the material is thus revealed to a certain point, depending on the degree of interactivity of the artist with it.

There is no trick here: the physico-chemical properties of the materials make it impossible, from gravity to melting points, welds, mechanical joints. Being able to bring the material where you want, not where it is naturally carried away, is equivalent to the fusion between nature and freedom, via art.

Sorin Purcaru – Iskenderun
Csaba Gyori - Childhood Memories
Csaba Gyori – Childhood Memories
Marius Muresan - The Knight
Marius Muresan – The Knight
Dan Visovan - Recylced Spirit
Dan Visovan – Recylced Spirit
 

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