ROMANIAN SCULPTURE EXHIBITION NOVEMBER 18 – 22, 2005

ROMANIAN SCULPTURE EXHIBITION

CONSTANTIN BRANCUSI – PATRICIU MATEESCU

November 18 – 22, 2005

AT California State University Northridge Art & Design Center, North Campus

RECEPTION: 5:00 PM – 8:00 PM, NOVEMBER 18, 2005

Romanian classical music by famous Romanian
composer George Enescu

ENCOUNTERS proposes to offer you two things: the dedication of the “Heavenly Hangs”, a monumental sculptural group by the Romanian – American sculptor Patrick (Patriciu) Mateescu, located in the Art & Design Center courtyard, CSUN, and a unique exhibition of photography with works by Constantin Brancusi ((1876 – 1957) and Patrick Mateescu (b. 1927), Brancusi has opened a new road in the history of modern sculpture.

Mateescu has understood and followed, in his own personal way, this road. Brancusi settled in Paris in 1904 where his early work was influenced by Romanian folk wooden sculpture, African, as well as Oriental art. His genius consists in a simultaneous coexistence of simplicity, achieved by reducing his work to basic elements while maintaining a sense of gravity, and complexity of thought. He is a pioneer of abstract sculpture, and influenced numerous famous artists, such as Isamu Noguchi, Henri Moore, Modigliani, etc. Mateescu immigrated to the U.S. in 1979 where he has continued his work. He influenced a whole generation of artists by transforming ceramics into a major art, taking it from a decorative craft to the level of bona-fide sculpture. Mateescu’s 3 – dimensional work comes in various styles, ranging from small or large scale cast – porcelain, to abstract composition and the unique stoneware figurative monuments he went to build recently in Romania. In 1999 he was awarded the NJ State Council on the Art Fellowship, and is the recipient of numerous prizes and gold medals worldwide. The photographs will be presented to the American public for the first time, and will include pictures of the restoration of Brancusi’s urban sculptures at Targu Jiu, Romania and stages of Mateescu’s work on the “Heavenly Hands.” Mateescu created this sculptural group at CSUN, in the summer of 2002 while invited as “Artist in Residence” trough a joint project of the AMC and CECS Colleges. At this event, you will have the opportunity to meet this renowned sculptor-ceramist, Patriciu Mateescu.

Event coordinators: Ileana Costea and Ligia Toutant

More information: phone (818) 677-3797 or e-mail: ileana.costea@gmail.com

Campus Map: http://www.csun.edu/maps/cm1.html.