103. On the Water [1972]

Raised in the world of Oltenian fairy tales and terrestrial or heavenly beings, Sabin Bălașa develops a deep connection with nature and the cosmos from childhood. Contact with the fundamental values of culture, religion, and classical art is mediated by the vast library founded by his father at their home in Olt County. A multivalent artist, with a clear humanistic opening, Bălașa gradually asserts himself as a painter, filmmaker, and writer. He constructs his own magical and transcendental universe, with spiritual elements deeply rooted in his being. Starting from the belief that the theme of art is life itself, he will make use of all the knowledge acquired in his childhood and youth. He assumes a social-artistic mission usually assigned to creators and prefigures the exaltation of the artist in front of the infinite cosmos. Most of his works are set in a fantastic space, a choice particularly determined by the use of blue, the dominant color in his creations. Bălașa's blue gives his art the feeling of eternity. His color palette becomes a spiritual matrix of the Romanian people, having its roots in Eminescu's lyricism and the Miorita myth. The artist encrypts visual metaphors through a series of archetypal symbols that he translates into contemporary allegories. However, the essential theme of the cosmic romanticism imagined by Bălașa remains the human figure. The painter captures people in their youth and assigns the female character the status of the leitmotif of his work. Rendered nude, with more or less articulated features, Bălașa's models successively become muses of the rain, mothers of the earth, goddesses, or caryatids of civilization. Captured frontally, imposing like goddesses, seen in profile or rendered from behind, sitting down or riding fantastic animals; the protagonists proposed by the artist captivate us with their body's undulations and arabesques, their long, rich hair that lightly covers their silhouette, and their hypnotizing attitude. In the current work, however, Sabin Bălașa's muse is depicted horizontally, her body resting on the white canvas, her fair hair sliding towards the sea, her hand and foot slightly bent. Set out at sea, guided by waves and embraced by the breeze, the muse invites us to discover the dreamlike setting she peacefully unfolds. Blue now becomes more than a color choice - it will be a state of mind - in which the female character gradually immerses herself, surrendering to the realm of dreams. The person will be consecrated, then, to the artist's dreams and desires. Bălașa's fantastic art, undeniably oriented towards the universe, often submits to an unknown topos and an uncertain time interval. The emotional value of his works is intensified by the visual coagulation of the myth, history, and the boundless scope of his imagination.

References

DEAC, Mircea, "Sabin Balasa", Meridiane Publishing House, Bucharest, 1984. BALASA, Tudor, "Sabin Balasa", Monitorul Oficial Publishing House, Bucharest, 2013.

Dimensions

width 130 cm, height 72 cm

Description

ulei pe pânză, signed and dated bottom right, in blue, "Sabin Bălașa, (19)72"

Dating

1972

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