Page 47 - Studio International - December 1972

HORIA fairy-tale quality. The midnight blue really happy when I am surrounded by this
DAMIAN `parallelpiped' needs lighting so that it shimmers. furniture. I have to go there even if I am not
working because it 'recharges' me with life,
RV: In addition to their sheer beauty your
constructions have a functional air, due to the gives me freshness, happiness and a relish for
rigour and simplicity of the forms. Their living. So you see, for me my furniture is
An interview by Radu Varia function remains a mystery, and yet they reveal functional because it helps me to live. Could it
their exact intended purpose and assert help others to live? I don't know.
themselves as real architectural monuments. RV: What do you think of multiples ? And of
Radu Varia: One big problem facing the arts HD: This functional aspect must derive from conceptual art?
concerns integration and synthesis. Your work the naturalness of the form. Or, rather, it isn't HD: The way my constructions are made is
is one of synthesis, representing, it seems to me, that the form is natural but that it gives the very important to me. In essence the method
not merely an association between art forms as impression that it has occurred naturally dictates itself when the substance is deeply felt.
far apart as, say, painting and music, but without any effort. Sometimes I think that perhaps my work is too
constituting an organic synthesis of architecture, I have an instantaneous conception of the much like a craft — I make everything myself
sculpture and painting. form and I see this 'idea' in its complete state, (the only parts I incorporate ready-made are the
Horia Damian: My work does combine down to the smallest detail. I rarely make marbles, because they would take so much
several arts: architectural elements, sculpture, changes along the way, or, if so, only small ones. time to make). But I think I like this sort of
in other words, but nobody can attempt to In short, all I have to do is to carry out clumsiness of execution, and the appearance of
realize a synthesis and consider it will succeed. something which I have 'seen' and I feel it is a uniqueness which each construction has,
Integration, insofar as it is possible, is in the sort of guarantee — there is no longer any room because even if I return to the same theme, the
heart of the artist. It is true that it is very hard to for thought (with its aspect of conflict). relationships are never exactly the same.
remain in isolation and to express oneself in a To the casual observer there is no purpose in You asked me what I think of multiples. I
way different from other people, but I think one my constructions, but they are of the utmost think it is a form better suited to some works
can appear to be alone and yet not be so, deep importance to me because they help me to live. than to others, and in my opinion this is to do
down inside. One can become part of some In my studio, the very first time I went in, I with the 'making' and 'content'. If, in a work,
more or less fashionable movement and yet feel paced up and down between the bare walls and the content is the important thing, or put
isolated. That is why I say that it is within I felt the need to fill it up, to furnish it so that I another way, if the accent is put on the
oneself that this goes on because in his essential could live there. So the space filled up with a invisible part of the work, it seems to me that an
being the artist cannot help but be original. It is special kind of furniture and I was happy just appearance of uniqueness follows naturally. If,
his individuality, that crystallization around his being there. I found it very satisfying doing it on the other hand, the accent is placed on the
centre which, paradoxically, prevents him from and I was happy living there. In fact, I am only visible, then multiples are a marvellous idea.
being original, from being himself
So long as I remain apart from the world, a
spectator in a state of perpetual anguish, no
creative act of any kind is possible for me; and
it is at this point that integration comes in.
Integration beyond this proposition seems to
me to remain on a historical plane, bound up
with repetitive phenomena.
As regards my constructions, the step which
consists of leaving the surface and using the
space in front is part of a slow and
natural path. As early as 1958 I was using relief
which subsequently became a sort of
construction with marked tendencies to break
out farther (flat pyramids to begin with, then
projections). These constructions remained for a
time bound to a flat surface which was itself up
against the wall — offering, if you like, three
surfaces to the spectator. Then they became
more and more separate from the background
(the throne against a background, but detached
from it), until recently they have become
completely free of the wall.
RV: Another aspect of this is the surface itself
of these constructions; the structure made up of
countless numbers of spheres was mat, and I
would say, with its interrupted rhythms, plastic.
HD: Often the surface irregularities were
accidents of moulding. In the latest
constructions the polish of the surfaces and the
absence of visual accident create something of a
Artist's studio
Left Le Trône, 1969
Polyurethane, 250 x 264 x 70 cm
Centre Le Sphinx Bleu, 1970
Polyester and wood, 320 X 380 x 1,100 cm
Photos: Denise Bourbonnais
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