Laila Farcas-Ionescu

Laila Farcas-Ionescu's sculpture
Traveling through life with a strong connection to her Transylvanian heritage is a definitive mark for artist Laila Farcas-Ionescu. She accepts this as a matter-of-fact, aware her journey is to walk the
double-edged sword of physical and metaphysical experience.

In her artistic production she was always interested in weaving yet untold stories by unfettering the characters who populate her personal universe.
The world of her sculpted figures evolved though the years, permanently drawing breath from notable events of her labyrinthine life.
The sculptures are a cumulative result of indelible events: childhood and early life spent in truly surreal Transylvania; schooling under the communist regime, surreal all the same; reluctant immigration; exotic travels; various coexisting careers; strong interest for and study of spirituality; witnessing the life/death cycles; deep admiration for a long list of artists from all periods. In the end, all these occurrences led up to the categorical resolve of allowing the beings of her inner forum to come alive.

Some of the sculptures are executed in porcelain, with silver, occasionally gold inlays (evidence of her work as a jeweler), engobes, glazes, mixed media and encaustic. Other sculptures are done in bronze with various colored patinas.

The porcelain sculptures are characterized by the contrast between intensely colored areas and faces/hands left mostly white in order to showcase the stark beauty of the material.

The sculptures bring to the viewer's mind scenes from Georges de la Tour's paintings, through both narrative and physiognomy.
Although by deliberate decision these characters cannot be placed in a definite period or geographic location, they irrefutably belong to the realm of magical realism, where numinous beings in enigmatic interaction are but the norm.

This body of work is unique because through material, size, color and subject it brings the other-worldliness of magical realism in close proximity to the viewer, making ever so small the gap between reality and dream world. The artist's quest is to create beings so close to being alive, in spite of personal interpretation of proportion and form, that the viewer might be readily startled by their power to alter perception and feign vague movements.


Through her characters and their stories Laila Farcas-Ionescu invites the viewer to mirror himself in these little creatures and have a glimpse of a parallel, palpable world and its undisclosed yet familiar rituals and undertakings.

ARTIST STATEMENT
As an artist, I was always interested in telling stories by unleashing
the characters of my personal universe.
The world of my sculpted fi gures evolved through the years, drawing
breath from every event in my labyrinthine life until fi nding
permanent form.
The sculptures I make are a cumulative result of indelible events: childhood
and early life spent in truly surreal Transylvania, my birth place;
schooling under the communist regime, surreal all the same; unwilling
immersion into a new, unfamiliar culture; exotic travels; various
simultaneous careers; study of the metaphysical; a lifetime dedicated
to drawing the human fi gure; deep admiration for a long list of artists,
contemporary and of other times. In the end, all these occurrences lead
up to a categorical resolve: let the little people in my head come alive.
Some of my sculptures are in porcelain, with silver, occasionally gold
inlays (evidence of my work as a jeweler), engobes, glazes, mixed
media and encaustic. The porcelain sculptures are characterized by the
contrast between intensely colored areas and faces/hands left mostly
white in order to showcase the stark beauty of the material. Other
sculptures are done in bronze and display several colored patinas,
meant to further enhance the atmosphere of the piece.
The sculptures bring to the viewer’s mind scenes from Georges de la
Tour’s paintings, through both narrative and physiognomy.
By deliberate decision, these characters cannot be placed in a defi nite
period or geographic location, but they irrefutably belong to the realm
of magical realism, where numinous beings in enigmatic interaction
are but the norm.
This body of work is unique because through size, material, color and
subject, it brings the other-worldliness of the sculpted object in close
proximity to the viewer, making ever so small the gap between reality
and dream world. My quest is to bring about works so close to being
alive, that in spite of personal interpretation of proportion and form,
the viewer might be readily startled by their power to alter perception
and feign vague movements.
Through my characters and the stories they tell I invite the viewer to
mirror himself in my fi gures and have a glimpse of a parallel,palpable
world and its undisclosed yet familiar rituals and undertakings.

(thanks for the pictures Laila :) )