The Sculpture International Symposium

Gheorghe Iliescu-Calinesti

The need of offering to Pitesti City a modern aesthetic, in Brancusi International year 2001 – declared by UNESCO – gave us the opportunity to develop the Sculpture International Symposium, in Park Strand , between 2 – 29 of July 2001.

At this ample event, dedicated for developing the local community image in the world, participated six well known sculptors: João Antero (Portugal), Gheorghe Iliescu-Calinesti, Panaite Chifu, Mihai Marcu jr., Dinu Campeanu and Dumitru Radu (Romania), members of creation groups from Portugal and Romania, appreciated in their country and outside the country, because of their works and personal exhibitions.

The Symposium was organized by Pitesti Local Council, City Hall, Art School and Cultural Center, in cooperation with: Minister of Culture, County Department for Culture, Plastic Artist Union in Romania and its branch in Pitesti.

The art works, municipality property, decorated the main areas and neighborhoods in Pitesti City.

The works are non-configured and they are achieved from 2 cub meters of Ruschita marble. Their names are: Generation Nodus – Gheorghe Iliescu-Calinesti, To The Heart of The World – Panaite Chifu, Born Forms – Dumitru Radu, Water Fall – Mihai Marcu jr., Archaic Beehive – Dinu Campeanu and Organic Mountain – João Antero (Portugal). You can view these works by clicking here.

The success of this first edition encouraged us to organize the second edition.

This second edition had the name of the great artist Gheorghe Iliescu-Calinesti (participant of the first edition) because he passed away.

The second edition was between 3 – 31 of July 2002, in the same Park. Also the number of participants was six (one Italian and five Romanians) and they gave life to the blocks of marbles. The names of the works are: Meta Dona, Meta Fiore – Fernando Caciorgna (Italy), Water Spring – Corneliu Tache, The Gate of The Sky – Mihai Marcu, Composition – Vasile Rizeanu, Passing – Nicolae Ghiata and Sun Disk – Ioan Medrut. You can view these works by clicking here.

The third edition was between 7th of July and 2nd of August, in the same location, all the participants being representatives for their valuable creation. Their works are: The Looking of The Hope – Fernando Caciorgna (Italy), Re-definition – Antonis Myrodias (Greece), Fortress – Cristina Iliescu, Dialog II – Doru Dragusin, Old Times Sign – Adrian Radu and Raw Material State II – Ionel Istoc. You can view these works by clicking here.

On the occasion of the opening ceremony there were organized exhibitions with photos, small sculptures and drawings of the participants. It was organized a special moment at the second edition, in memoriam of Gheorghe Iliescu-Calinesti.

Regarding the quality and the dimension of the events, the art critic Pavel Susara remarked the followings: „ Even they represent a short history, those three years, who passed from the first edition, are a remarkable event of today art (…). In the middle of economic convulsion and inside a not encouraging climate towards those events, in a moment of an arrogant and sufficient amateurism, it was possible, in a discrete way, and we can say in an almost suspect normal way, this community construction (…). The Symposium in Pitesti is thought to be as a factor of reconstruction and re-modulation of urban space. The person, who felt the enormous importance of this event for the citizens ' daily life and in the longterm benefit of the city, was the Pitesti City mayor himself, Mr. Tudor Pendiuc, already known for his practical spirit anf for his administrative efficiency”.

Taking into account the dynamism and the specific transformations wich have place, including from the community esthetic perspective – at national and local level – the outgoing of the event „International Sculpture Symposium Gheorghe Iliescu-Calinesti ” has deeply civilizations valences, being a bow over time and culture, in a veritable artistic dialogue, with partners who do not know and do not accept frontiers.

Organized after favorable comments which have followed the first three editions, this year symposium contributes to the making of a tradition. Even though Romanians are having a hard time learning modern art techniques, even though the nowadays do not serve as it should the supreme command of the Creation, four Romanian sculptors, a Portuguese and a Bulgarian one have took their time over the Ruschita marble in a special dialogue with the raw material. An apparently endless white night, in between of which human and mineral would dispute pain and primacy.

The sculptures of the Romanians are particularly detached, giving way to the instinct for monumental works, the characteristic of a special educational way, of a certain group style, of a typical school of spatial views. Their interests and their creative resources are such exploited so that the volum/ornamental relation to be made in an absolute way, outside any tendency of destruction, respecting the principles of art operas dynamics.

Less monumental, less gracious, in the sense of their impact upon the public, as a result less nice – as the art critic Pavel Susara declares – the works of the Romanian sculptors are better fixed in gravitation, much more solid and severe. When talking about Vasile Rizeanu and Cristian Bedivan, we deal with a decisive placement in space, with no need to add detalis (in Cristian Bedivan’s case, the decorative suggestion is absolute, the immage taking shape at the edge of the unravelling). As to Iulian Corut and Marius Ivanovici, they are using a mixture of volum and arrangement, their works are lying on subtle things that search a personal solution of volum/surface relation. For Iulian Corut, the cube is taking an oval shape,which describes the cycle of becoming in this dimention, while for Marius Ivanovici, the condition of sensibility is a reason for high aesthetical fascination.

Paulo Neves şi Milen Vassilev are coming from a cultural space that signals clearly their differences of vision. Both of them are excesively ornamental, compatible, from this point of view, with works of small dimensions. Here to mention the fact that the ornamental type suggested is not derived from volume, but it comes with elements derived from the wide structure the work of art has. This kind of ornament has a bigger impact upon people, is more catching than the monumental type.

Without walking away from the monumental sculpture ethics, Paul Neves and Milen Vassilev have chosen to convince from the outside. The Portuguese has expressed fluid nature, the pure essence of sea civilisation which he belongs to, the Bulgarian has shown the live infinite capacity of transforming, in all its forms, from the primal level of detection to the most profound level of self, betraying its modeling capacity, its formation of ceramics artist.

You are invited, dear plastic artists over the world, to participate at the next editions, enjoying in the same time the wonderful Romanian space. You can contact us at e-mail: primaria@primariapitesti.ro; centrul-cultural@pitesti.ro.