Madalina Mirea, Curator, June 2013
Matei Enric work is like a novel by Boris Vian: he
project reality “through sideways and hot atmosphere, an uneven
referential outline, corrugated and presenting distortion, as he said
about himself, the author of the novel The Foam of Days.
At the end of a decade of sketches, texts and drawings, in which the
artist restore the approach of the medieval alchemist , we are facing a
sad poem, full of a profound lyricism and grave. Matei Enric cultivate
with a
default erudition a fundamental ambiguity. Henproposes a mystical
vision, but nondependent on a particular religion, a vision claiming
iconographic repertoire of common motifs to all religions, where each
one read what he want. Beyond the tragic lode, fatalist, perplexed
viewer is in front of its
work, witness a moment of grace. The deep silence and required for
contemplation, reveals to them the most disturbing sense of this works,
the eternal and universal humantruths.
Solve et coagula, is not meant to be the alchemical process
that coagulate philosopher’s stone, to find the elixir of youth, or to
turn a common metal in to a noble one.
Solve et coagula is that magical process, loaded semantic at the sources
of medieval mysticism, where religion and spirituality overlay. And
last but not least, Solve et coagula is a tribute to the artist
attraction to the way of understanding the world of alchemist, to which
everything must go through a lengthy process of, baking and making.
Nature takes her time, nothing springing up out of nothing, each bud
grows, becomes, evolves. After a long process in
which the artist conceived congruent forms and ideas resulted ten works,
readable both together and separately, on the principle ofunity in
diversity.
Solve et coagula is a spiritual approach, it is opening a vault
to spiritual guideline that has to be related to destiny, destination,
spiritual uprising and research to identify the
sense of becoming.
It engages the contemporary man in to his humble existance, fighting
into a battle that is already lost, with time’s that flowing inexorably,
obliged to fulfill his short destiny, a one-way road, that leads to
death and
oblivion, passing through the burning of all …
Man, consumed by his own desire for life, he assumes his destiny passing
in this world. Like fire, it completely consumes fuel which it is his
source, in the absence of a
transcendent reference, this passion becomes your own pyre, burning of all, beyond doubt or evasion.
And although it is accompanied by anxiety, the consumption to the end of their destiny, approaching mans to Confession, as Slave, talk about the balance of power between dominant and dominated, in witch sensuality is non- reticent and essentialized.
Death watch is about memento mori, so cruelly and abruptly, that no one outside of a museum, it would take home, to hanged on the wall.
Self-flagellation (the Second Skin) is in Matei Enric’s vision, but not only his, a form of becoming. Self-flagellation
speaks about three stages of the same body, purified by suffering, with
the veil of the thighs – a quotation of a well known quote.
Solve et coagula it’s a universal formula, a programmatic,
immutable law. It engages the contemporary man in to his humble
existance, fighting into a battle that is already lost, with time’s that
flowing inexorably, obliged to fulfill his short destiny, a one-way
road, that leads to death and oblivion, passing through. He cried out
his fear into the spiral trumpet as the snake Uroboros, and is pushed
before the woman who is pregnant (such as the artwork, grow inside in
his own creator). They are surrounded by hungry packs, which devours
space and time.
Around the cruel scenes, to compensate or highlight them, we find details of decoration of an unbearable refinement.
Francois Launay. 2012 septembrie, Agapa
The mystic is not exhilaration, but progress, and journey towards
a certain light” (Albert Beguin, Poetry presence). With Matei the
mystical journey takes aspects of walks in the past. It seems, at
first, remain in a old time although it is
terribly contemporary. Found it fundamentals, work on the matter, space,
style. Matei invests matter giving his works the media forms they
need. This is no longer a passive framework, it is an element of
expression. His monumental paintings invest space around them because
they can not be contemplated without being mounted and hung. They give
the walls that magical mission to give them life.
Matei doesn’t make icons, even moderns, there is no religious
label (no label at all, he claims his utmost freedom) but he
describes his paintings of mystical and ambiguous, each being able to
see his own interpretation. The art is a spiritual experience totally
free, this journey towards progress which Beguin talked to each to
see if it leads towards the light.
By choosing “AGAPA” as the title Matei emphasizes
the mystical and festive of the exhibitions. Coming contemplate the
works between friends is a friendly time, but a painting is always a
feast. Works here go beyond aesthetics. They grow to a
certain reflection and ultimately it is the spirit which is celebrated,
of the artist of course, but ours too seeking to understand his
work. Finally, during this opening, Matei invites us to a
true happening which we are involved to realize that exposure is never
a trivial experience.
He transforms our perception. Matei likes to play with sense and
meaning. His works modify the space,
material,preconceptions. Is this Phoenix representation of
immortality or inevitability? In “Confession”, is to see a gesture
of desire or demonic temptation? The ambiguity, obvious or not, the work
displays the versatile nature of interpretation and a fortioria
judgment. Each work has an element of mystery to find or to invent.
It is well AGAPA, where we are invited to this festive time, before the celebration of the spirit and the reason.
http://mateienric.blogspot.ro/2012/09/agapa-de-lart-dans-mon-jardin.html
Madalina Mirea, Time Out, June, 2008
Large panels, of old wood, reconstructed from pieces, like in a giant
puzzle, take over and distilled the Byzantine rhetoric in a recovery
speech. Jonah in the whale’s belly saved by
angels, a masterly bird, a knight without fear and without blemish
astride his whirling horse, a prince languid playing a horn, a flattened
angel and a fish in a chalice, as many
reasons for tales that the artist narrate to modern man. Nothing in
Byzantine repertoire is not overlooked. From sober and majestic colors,
reduced to red, green, blue, gold and black, to the drapery materiality,
and disparate fragments of indoor or outdoor decor that you will
recognize from the icons, to the oriental floral motifs and gold leaf
applied diligently.
Not missing the wings open wide, neither inverse perspective, neither
figures in foreshortened. And no iconoclast thrill not pierce, and tired
eyes against the grain he
may grant a bi-dimensional respite. Flattened representations, in the
manner of Egyptian drawing, reveals, once again, the origins of
Byzantine painting. The steep and ingenious stairs, leading to the
basement gives you the
same restless feeling that you penetrate through the narrow corridor, deep in the Egyptian pyramids. It is a mobile bridge
thrown between two worlds. Cross it!
NEW-ORTODOX MIRACLES
Cosmin Nasui, Curator, Romania Libera, 2008, June
The most unusual and troubling artistic forms of representation of the
sacred may be the result of the mixture of Gothic and Byzantine styles,
descended into a world of miracles. The exhibition entitled “Gothic”
does nothing else
that to demonstrate the power in which that”Gothic spirit” and Byzantine
historian substrate are present in Romanian contemporary art in other
forms than we are accustomed 90s neoortodoxism.
In Matei Enric’s paintings, pious atmosphere detached from the canons of the Orthodox iconography is swallowed by the
obscurity of Dark Ages style. Even more, some messages are from an
unsettling world of a heathen sacredness. Hi’s works there are populated
by knights, armourers and
possessed spirits that haunt bi-dimensional worlds in search of peace.
The means of expression specific to the grandeur of the Byzantine canons
are turnedagainst iconographic content, that comes, most often, in a
world anchored in the
present. The byzantine canon “evokes the prototype” and keep such way a high hieratism art. Exaggerating the bizarre
atmosphere, Matei uses as support of his painting wood panels joined
imperfect, with irregular joints and antiquing. The composition of the
whole, from fragments that seem to
need attention restorers, send the art of Matei back into the mysterious
times of voivodes. Painting in tempera on large wood panels, Matei
Enric combine techniques of the icon
with specific expressive interventions a fresco. Gothic style practiced
may be associated with fantasy art, with the bizarre, the blasphemous,
the mysterious and the frightening, resulting in a form of modern
grotesque, wrapped and painted in a medieval calligraphy. “The holy
crime” is the
emblem work of the attitude of changing significance that Matei Enric gives his works.
The sophisticated Byzantine “Religious” can be “desecrated” by the worst
forms, rough, gothic. Applied decorative gold leaf on portion of the
background, invests the bi-dimensio
-nality, with the dimension of brightness of the spirit. But Matei’s
images are rather about the enchanted dark forces of bygone times.
Rewriting a possible history of “primitive” modern Romanian painting,
Matei Enric’s art makes the transition from Byzantine iconography, to a
painting of non-messianic
compositional interpretation, sometimes “heretical”.
A Symphony of Symbolism
A Symphony of Symbolism is an extraordinary selection of works that
speak to us through their unique styles and unusual materials and
techniques. In this grouping are artists that do not rely on
conventional imagery, but expound their worldviews in their own
individual terms. Beholding the beauty of these works and interpreting
their meanings is an exciting personal journey of discovery.
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
Matei Enric’s paintings combine the techniques of easel and wall
painting, creating images which both integrate and create an aesthetic
environment of symbolism and intrigue. Enric draws on varied influences,
including Byzantine painting and modern masters such as Malevich, Klee
or Mondrian. The assemblage-like works create a scene by integrating
their background: “Space circumscribes the work; the wall (the vital
space around the picture) is inserted in the piece of work, becoming in
this way an element of the composition.” The compositions reveal fluid
natural rhythms as well as materializing a fusion between visual
geometry and linguistic communication.
Enric was born and studied art restoration in Romania and currently
resides in Bucharest. He has exhibited his works across Romania in both
group and solo shows, has restored many works of classical and ancient
painting, and taken part in scenography for shows in Romania and France.
His paintings can be found in private collections in Romania, Serbia,
Hungary, Italy, and the United States.
Agora Gallery, Press Relese, Octomber 2008
http://www.agora-gallery.com/ExhibitionAnnouncement/A_10_1_2008.aspx
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