Răzvan Dumitru
Balance

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Is democracy visible? How can we visualise this political form? How can democracy be depicted? To explore these questions, Răzvan Dumitru wandered through Berlin’s urban space. Dumitru sketched his motifs with the attentive gaze of a flâneur who gains his reflections from small observations. The artist drew his observations as he passed through Berlin. He observed scenes in public space, such as an elderly woman trying to ride a bicycle without using her hands, noticed recurring body postures and repeatedly the usually harmonious interplay of people, traffic and architecture. In public space, he found an interlocking of movements, a structure in which many things happen and are possible simultaneously.

Based on his sketches, Dumitru made large-format charcoal drawings on paper. The motifs, which oscillate between abstraction and figuration, express the dynamics of democratic processes. One drawing shows very spatial structures, a juxtaposition of entirely different forms. Round, organic elements merge with the technical-looking lines to form a dynamic whole. The plasticity and the black and white contrasts of the drawing reinforce the impression of the viewer being part of a specific moment. All the elements are in motion and join together to form a picture. In another drawing, mostly round elements are brought onto the paper as a scenic unity. The focus here also lies on the interplay of different elements and different levels, a basic prerequisite of democratic contexts.

The vulnerability of democracy also lies in the way in which the balance of all participants must continuously be found anew. Medially, Dumitru reflects on the fragility of democracy as a political system by choosing charcoal as a means of drawing. Drawing with charcoal on paper means that the lines have to be precisely executed, since there are hardly any possibilities for correction – a wrong hand movement can also smudge the drawing and make it unrecognisable. But charcoal is also a long-established artistic medium. Since the Renaissance, charcoal drawing has been widely used for detail and composition studies. Its production requires the qualities of wood and fire. Both are condensed in the materiality of charcoal. Portraits are often drawn with charcoal or charcoal is used for preliminary drawing and sketching on canvas. The artist contrasts this predominantly sketchy use with a well-tared composition. The possibilities of shading and accentuation are used by Dumitru in particular for the purpose of creating a spatial effect on paper. Dumitru’s visualisation of democracy is a balance found, but also easily lost. In the overall view, the many small abstract movements show a well-formed order that is, however, also always at risk of being lost.

Text: Dr. Silke Förschler

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Răzvan Dumitru

Born in 1989, the Romanian artist Răzvan Dumitru lives and works in Bucharest, Romania. He graduated from the “Ion Mincu” University of Architecture in 2013. Dumitru works in a wide range of mediums and he is constantly challenging the boundaries between art and architecture. His work has been showcased in various solo and shared exhibitions in Romania.

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/razvandumitr.u/