135. Totem [1982]

Going through a multitude of stages of artistic development, Ion Țuculescu stood out as a prominent figure in the local artistic space, proposing a fusion between experiment and modernity in art. Driven by an exacerbated passion for painting, the artist takes archaic elements from the people whose language he knows best, and brings them into contemporaneity. Thus, we can observe in Țuculescu's mature work, especially in the series of works from the totemic period in the second half of the '50s, an overlap of spiritually charged elements. This period of creation is characterized by the integration of a new system of meanings and symbols in his work with the aim of transcending beyond the canvas. Using a personal morphology, Țuculescu vehemently refuses the socialist realism current imposed in painting, and continues to create and organically absorb traditional and spiritual elements in his work. Thus, the pillars of death, as the artist used to call them, have a totemic and deeply symbolic role in this period of artistic maturity. In the present work, "Totem", which is part of the artist's final period, we can observe a framework rich in symbols and meanings. The work draws the viewer's attention to the column with hyperbolized eyes. Totems function as a metaphor supported by folk superstitions, also building an abstract space, devoid of perspective, geometrized in its structure. The colors chosen by Țuculescu for the works from the totemic period are vibrant, exacerbated and visibly radicalized on the canvas. The color palette abounds in strong tones of green, orange and blue. The artist will come to detach from real life, abundantly using the decorative element, in agglomerations of concentrated shapes.

References

COMĂRNESCU Petru ”Ion Țuculescu”, Meridiane Publishing House, Bucharest, 1967. DAVIDESCU, Cătălin, "Țuculescu", Romanian Writing Publishing House, Craiova, 1988.

Dimensions

width 26.5 cm, height 30.5 cm

Description

ulei pe pânză, signed at the bottom right, in black, with monogram, "Tuc"

Dating

1982

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