Unique Stoneware and Porcelain Sculptures

From building sand castles in my childhood to my present work, the pleasure of hand modeling the clay remains the final formal expression of my sculptures.

In both figurative and abstract sculptures, a  sensual exuberance is emanating with force from an invisible core to find expression into well-balanced, large stoneware and porcelain sculptures, glazed, or bisque.

Monuments in Romania

The love for motherland is never anachronistic. The political changes in Romania reinvigorated old dreams and brought about new desires to devote part of my creative energy to make a unique experiment: instead of bronze, I used ceramic stoneware, reinforced with concrete, to build large scale figurative monuments.

Playing with Slip

In the sixties, working in faience and porcelain factories, I began to understand and love industrial ceramic materials and technologies.

Casting clay slip in plaster molds is a technology known from antiquity, but if one uses curiosity and fantasy, the casting will offer unlimited possibilities and fascinating results.

In contrast with the rigor of industrial technology, I tried a variety of unique experiments: casting of a sphere on top of another one, casting different shapes in sand instead of plaster, building directly with sheets of porcelain, or smoothing brutal expressions by using the so-called erosion technique.

Modular Sculptures

Adapting original unique work to the multiple concept of industrial design is almost impossible without the help of mathematics.

Instead of applying geometric formulas in order to decompose different volumes, such as pyramid, cub, cylinder, or sphere, I directly cut into a volume by using my mathematical intuition: I divided the cube into three equal parts and the sphere into 12-24, 30-60, or into 90-120 equal elements.

Then, by shaping  each basic module with precision and sensitivity, I was able to play with volumes and construct multiple sculptures. Using one or several elements, I accomplished a diversity of unexpectedly expressive works.

The beginnings, from Terracotta to Stoneware

My first sculptures in terracotta were two fisherman portraits, made in 1956, in the Danube Delta.

Later, inspired by archeological discoveries along the border of the Black Sea, and using folk-potters' techniques,  I started to build fantastic composition of amphorae with anthropomorphic allusions.

Gradually, and because of the fragility of terracotta, I got access to large, high-fire kilns in local factories, and the result was a river of effervescent fantasies, new abstract shapes in stoneware and porcelain.

Paper Work

Sometime in the 80's, I discovered the beauty of cotton pulp and, experimenting with the hand-made-paper technique, I made several wall reliefs.

In the beginning, I used elements from my modular sculptures, later the shapes sprang from the abstract expression of the material itself.