Ana Ion Leonte and the unpredictable ceramics

Inspired by her summer visits to her grandmother, Ana Ion Leonte immortalized in fired ceramics the thistles she saw coming down the hill. So are the ones in the work ‘Aer Knott’, on display in the RAD sculpture park in the CARO gardens, in motion.

“Usually, a ceramic element is in almost all the work I make. The process starts with a whole, which for the artist is definitely more important than for the viewer,” says Ana Ion Leonte.

The thistles are shown in suspension while rolling. “I’ve been doing ceramics for a long time and there are many methods. You never know how the work will come out of the kiln, because I make the glazes from scratch, depending on the materials I have – zinc, cobalt. I play a lot with chemistry, so I never know what I get. You can do thousands of experiments, and depending on where you put the material in the kiln, the gas hits differently, so… It never comes out the same thing.”

Leonte, represented by /SAC gallery, is one of more than 60 artists with work in the RAD Sculpture Park, which will run through May 25.

The theme of the park is the need for diversity and dialog. It is a topical theme, we live in “a contemporaneity of differences”, as curator Alex Radu explains. “Diversity enriches us as a society and we need dialog and art in the public space”.

The park interacts with the third edition of RAD Art Fair, which takes place from May 22 to 25, a contemporary art fair bringing together the most important galleries in Romania. At CARO, the fair brings together more than 120 Romanian and international artists, represented by 28 art galleries from Romania, Austria, Belgium, Germany and Poland. The RAD Art Fair is structured in two sections: “Galleries”, which includes established contemporary art galleries, and “Platform”, a section dedicated to emerging galleries and young curatorial initiatives, supported by a special mentoring program offered by RAD.

Photo credit: curatorial