Marius paints Romanian diary

Hyderabad: Romanian artist, Marius Bercea was witness to a lot of changes in his country. At the age of 10, Marius experienced the Romanian Revolution of 1989 and later the collapse of the USSR. Marius recalls, “It was still a paradox for me, because my childhood, the most delightful time of my life overlapped serious social and political issues.” It is no surprise then, these experiences have impacted his work. His works show recurring themes of belonging. He says, “Overall, the things I have done in recent years centre on the feelings of belonging and reflects on how the political, social and cultural rights have evolved.”

Marius, along with three international artists Ali Banisadr, Angel Otero and Fiona Rae will display their works at the upcoming exhibition titled Between Worlds. The show, organised by British curator, Jane Neal will start from June 27 at Galerie Isa, Mumbai The exhibition will present the Marius’ recent work on landscapes as the subject matter. Talking about the collection, Marius says, “I believe that the visible landscape in painting stimulates an atmospheric response from the viewer; it is a painterly image that is metaphysically charged. My paintings contain a balance between emotion and rationality; there is a taut line between abstraction and figuration.”

The artist has experimented with his palette to introduce “radioactive colours.” He elaborates, “The palette I’ve used while painting the landscapes is somewhat improper in this painterly genre. Instead of subtle harmonious hues, the viewer will find fluorescent, neon-like, radioactive colours which envelope the landscape. Painting results from the combination of air and light. I describe the visible being invaded by a clear and engulfing light that is as suggestive of the metaphysical realm as it is the earthly.” The artist draws a lot from childhood. While nostalgia was a recurrent theme in his early works, he later experimented with migration as a premise.

He recalls, “I always relied on the test of time and leaving a gap to allow time and memory to do their work. The ’80s represent the vivid childhood years from school: Scenes from the classroom, schoolyard games, and the hot summer atmosphere. Pictorially, many of my images derive from sources such as photographs and newspaper articles dating from, 1986, the year of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster.” He continues, “I then moved on to tackle the migration theme which was typical of the 1990s, in which dots on the canvas can be taken as metaphors for the simple things: joys, tragedies and the disappointment of a new political system that did not live up to expectations.”

The artist is inspired by the everyday life, and he lists them out for us. “I’m inspired by the light, places of extremes and contrasts, oscillations, worries, purity, reading, driving, the instinct of my immediate decisions, the duality between appearance and reality that comes from proximity. However, there are probably more which are constant ingredients for my practice but I’m not able to name them.”