„Firul cu plumb” - Marcela Rădulescu
13TH DEC - 20TH JAN
„Firul cu plumb” - Marcela Rădulescu
01.-
Context
The exhibition "The Lead Line / Drawings" by artist Marcela Rădulescu at Scemtovici & Benowitz Gallery celebrates the art of drawing, her favored practice. For Rădulescu, drawing is not merely a form of expression but a space for experimentation, where each piece becomes a dialogue between the material and immaterial, between order and chaos, highlighting the subtleties of the visual world and human fragility. The display is structured around themes reflecting the artist’s beliefs, artistic pursuits, and perspective on the surrounding world, observed both introspectively and publicly: The Staff of Moses, Fragile Equilibriums, Knots, her own Studio, and her alter ego as a viewer scrutinizing and analyzing the world. Though not intended as a retrospective, the selection spans over three decades of her artistic exploration.
The lead line — a tool for any budding artist—establishes verticality, bringing stability and order to other lines and shapes. Its visible thread, anchored by a weight, metaphorically evokes gravity’s force, connecting us to the world’s surface in an assured uprightness. Around this central axis, Rădulescu’s compositions unfold, harmonizing curves, horizontals, and obliques in a balanced interplay of ideal proportions.
Marcela Rădulescu’s work delves into the nuances of the visual world, exploring themes such as vulnerability, time, and memory. Her hallmark lies in crafting pieces that not only provoke aesthetically but invite viewers to contemplate deeper, philosophical dimensions beyond the surface. Sensitive to social realities, her creations metaphorically narrate horizons, layers of memory, contemplation, communication, history, and contemporaneity. From intimate scenes and reflections on media saturation to layered textures evoking ecology and memory, her works prompt reflection on the complexity of contemporary life. Her visual lexicon draws on diverse sources: ancient Greek and Oriental column motifs, Catholic miniatures, classical painting, televised imagery, and urban furnishings.
Rădulescu weaves a tension between individuality and conformity, melancholically examining the role of standardized images in shaping identity. Employing mixed techniques and an approach free from stylistic constraints, she forges new meanings while maintaining a delicate balance between lyricism and concept.
In The Staff of Moses, she alludes to syncretism—the fusion of cultural and spiritual beliefs. Moses, both historical and spiritual, becomes a symbol of this blending, while the cable-like decorative structures in her works metaphorically represent the flow of information through the invisible networks of our time. This creates a parallel between the ornamental motifs of ancient temples and the modern cityscape’s overhead cables, which recently shaped urban skies, transmitting internet, television, electricity, and communication.
A master of ink, pastels, charcoal, and graphite, Rădulescu balances technical precision, pencil-drawn arabesques, internal structures, and the fluidity of diffuse gestures and nearly abstract forms. Her textures oscillate between organic materiality—fabrics and fibers—and mechanical elements like cables and metal grids. Some pieces evoke the appearance of X-rays, offering glimpses into centrifugal elements fractured and reshaped.
Curator Raluca Ilaria Demetrescu
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Born in Brașov in 1942 and a graduate of the “Ion Andreescu” Institute of Fine Arts in Cluj, Marcela Rădulescu is a pivotal figure in Romanian graphic arts, particularly in Brașov, where she lives, creates, and has exhibited frequently at the Museum of Art. As a visual artist with an extensive teaching career, her creative universe revolves around the home, her personal studio, and intimate spaces, which she interprets lyrically and transcendently through a richly varied visual language.
Her works grapple with the tension between order and disorder, symbolizing the duality of material and spiritual life, societal realities, and shared aspirations. Defined by her dedication to drawing as a practice and expressive medium, Rădulescu effortlessly combines techniques and defies stylistic dogma, boldly generating new forms and meanings. She uses drawing as a field for experimentation and immediate reinterpretation, crafting works that uncover fresh perspectives on the relationship between the material and immaterial, the organized and disorganized.
Recently, Marcela Rădulescu received an award from a panel of art specialists during the second edition of the Contemporary Drawing in Romania competition. The prize, granted by the Art Movements Foundation and Scemtovici & Benowitz Gallery with support from the Ministry of Culture and ALERT Studio Artist-run Space, recognizes her artistic value. The winning piece is included in this current exhibition.