66. Time and Space [1987]

1932, Dobriceni, Olt - 2008, Bucureşti

Estimate

EUR 10.000 - 18.000

Sold

EUR 22.000

Session

Thu, 19 October 2023 19:00

Raised in the world of Oltenia’s fairy tales and celestial beings, Sabin Bălașa developed a deep connection with nature and the cosmos from as early as his childhood. The connection with fundamental values of culture, religion and classic art was mediated by the vast library established by his father in their house from Olt County. A multifaceted artist, with a clear humanistic openness, Bălașa gradually established himself as a painter, filmmaker, and writer. He built his own magical and transcendental universe, with spiritual elements deeply embedded in the depths of his being. Starting from the belief that the theme of art is life itself, he used all his knowledge accumulated in his childhood and in his youth years. He assumed the social-artistic mission commonly reserved for creators and foreshadowed the artist's exaltation before the infinite cosmos. Most of his works are set in a fantastic space, a choice determined in particular by the use of blue, the dominant colour in his creations. The blue used by Bălașa renders art the feeling of eternity. His colours became a spiritual matrix of Romanian people, having its origins in Eminescu's lyricism and the myth of Miorița. The artist encoded visual metaphors through a series of archetypal symbols that he translated into contemporary allegories. However, the essential theme of the cosmic romance pictured by Bălașa remains the human figure. The painter depicted man in his youth and offered the feminine character a leitmotif status in his work. Captured in the nude, with more or less articulated physiognomies, Bălașa's models acquire, one by one, the statute of muses of the rain, mothers of the earth, goddesses, or caryatids of civilisation. Man is therefore devoted to the artist's dreams and desires. Bălașa’s fantastic art, unquestionably oriented towards the universe, is often subject to an unknown place and an uncertain timeframe. The affective value of his works is intensified by the visual coagulation of the myth, of history, and of the boundless expanse of his imagination. (D.C.)

References

DEAC, Mircea, "Sabin Bălașa", Meridiane Publishing House, Bucharest, 1984. BĂLAȘA, Tudor, "Sabin Bălașa", Monitorul Oficial Publishing House, Bucharest, 2013.

Dimensions

width 99.5 cm, height 61 cm

Description

oil on canvas, signed and dated bottom right, in violet, "Sabin Bălașa, (19)87"

Dating

1987

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