I was recently given a piece of artwork that has enthralled me for weeks. Intrigued, I set out to find out more about the artist, Marius Bercea, as the imagery was complex.
Born in Cluj Romania, Marius Bercea experienced the demise of the communist period as the USSR disintegrated and the 1989 Romanian Revolution took place. This history is evident in all of his work and the pictorial space that Bercea creates alludes to a post communist, early capitalist Romania.
Stylistically influenced by 16th and 17th-century Dutch painting, Bercea’s works depict figures at leisure or engaged in collective activity against the dramatic architectural backdrops he creates. These elusive figures give a surreal touch to Bercea’s work as they merge into the surrounding fertile green landscapes. Incandescent Moon depicts such figures, but I shall not spoil this amazing work of art for you and so instead urge you to search the painting for the figures.
The work of Marius Bercea is that of visual stimulation. A mixture of memory, recollection and reality merge in his oil on canvas piece entitled Incandescent Moon. Even though I had to ponder the meaning for sometime, Incandescent Moon gave me a sense of comforting familiarity, as if I had seen this picture before.
I hadn’t, it was merely Bercea’s incredible ability to depict his own memories that had me thinking about mine.
Maggie Semple