79. Ballad for Orpheus [2002]

Sorin Ilfoveanu created, in the course of time, a cyclical body of works, in which we distinguish landscapes, portraits or compositions featuring symbolic characters. Shape is the means through which the artist coordinated and articulated the visual; and repetition is used to emphasize symbols. The artist becomes an accomplished master of the construction of shapes and proposes more versions of the human-nature, human-animal relationship. The fascinating intersections of straight and arching, bland or incisive lines that make up the affective narrative of his work are embodied in a plethora of sign-characters. The female character appears in his creation as a graphic element that tends to go beyond the boundaries of the canvas. Most of the time, one or several animal presences complete the artist's compositions, being directly associated with the human plane. Ilfoveanu sketched the woman naked, stripped of all non-essential artifices. In this work, the artist sketched the majesty of the beauty of the peacock, highlighting the telluric identity of the bird by assigning ambivalent metaphors. The "Lace of Lines" making up the peacock, as the artist named it, leads to permanence and to the recording of the feelings of a visual sign that acquires a symbol status. This time, he focused his attention on the Greek god Orpheus, lyre virtuoso, whose song enchanted all living creatures and all the elements of nature. Being a follower of the epic genre and of eloquence: Calliope, but also a god of light and arts, Apollo, Orpheus earned, in history, the title of complete artist. (D.C.)

References

DEAC, Mircea, "Sorin Ilfoveanu. Culori și metafore" ("Sorin Ilfoveanu. Colours and Metaphors"), Sport-Turism Publishing House, Bucharest, 1983. MOCANU, Aurelia, "Ilfoveanu", Square Media Publishing House, Bucharest, 2002. The catalogue "Ilfoveanu. Grife / Bark Blazer", Victor B Victor Publishing House, Bucharest, 2002.

Dimensions

width 140 cm, height 180 cm, custom 180 × 140 cm

Description

acrylic on canvas, signed and dated upper right, in black, "Ilfoveanu, 2002"

Research information

A version of the work is reproduced in the album "Atelier", Sorin Ilfoveanu, UNArte Publishing House, Bucharest, 21010.

Dating

2002

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