Comănescu and a clear reflection on the state of society
Nicolae Comănescu’s “The starry sky above us” is a crying eye, an image that originates from the words “Justice, sad eyes ask to see you” from the 1990s.
It’s a theme Comănescu first tackled in 2017.
This flag represents the artist’s desire to show that everything that happens is seen and “judged” historically, narrated correctly, in an unmanipulated light. It is painted double-sided and, according to Comănescu, is a living performance.
About the painting of the crying eye, he says: “It’s an image that has followed me, at least since the Revolution, and whose energy I feel will never run out (…) I was surprised to come back to it, so spontaneously, provoked by Alex Radu’s (curator, gallerist n.r.) invitation to participate with a symbolic flag in the exhibition curated by him with Charles Moore: ”Notes from Underground”, at /SAC @ Malmaison, 17.04 – 25.05.2025.
Beyond the mysterious connotations the eye has, for me it is a lucid reflection on the state of society. It rises above the city as if the city has a conscience of its own, a kind of anti-corruption karma.
The eye still cries, but this time outdoors, at RAD Sculpture Park 2025, third edition, the sculpture exhibition also curated by Alex Radu. I like to see it mounted outdoors, it’s like a live performance.”
Works by Nicolae Comănescu (left), Sergiu Chihaia (center), Florin Zhu (right), at RAD Sculpture Park 2025; curatorial
RAD Sculpture Park is open in the CARO gardens until May 25, bringing together about a hundred works mounted throughout the complex on the shores of Lake Tei. It can be visited, free, daily between 09:00 and 22:00.
The park interacts with the third edition of the RAD Art Fair, from May 22 to 25, a contemporary art fair that brings together the most important galleries in Romania. At CARO, the fair shows more than 120 Romanian and international artists, represented by 28 art galleries from Romania, Austria, Belgium, Germany and Poland.
