Pavel Ilie with Ion Grigorescu

The work of Pavel Ilie (1924, Dumbrava/RO–1995, Montreal/CA) suggests a phenomenological apprehension of reality, an attitude that lays emphasis on the poetical and spiritual dimension of his sculptures and site-specific objects. His lyrical constructions, some just working ideas on paper, are reminiscent of his early interests in constructivism and abstraction. They aspire to weave new links between the art object and the experience around it. Within this approach, the concept behind his art departs from imaginary associations with the spiritual order of the rural universe. It concentrates upon the use of obsolete and natural materials (wood, sticks, hay, clay, adobe, and wicker), easily accessible in rural communities, in order to produce a body of work clearly intended to deploy a reconnection between man and nature, suggesting that the work becomes the deposit of a spiritual heritage which must be permanently renewed. This poetical operation gives to his objects a magical and ritualistic function (the bird nest, the braided twigs, the tree), which is designed to be integrated into the surrounding natural space. His work formulates a position of creative vanguardism on the Romanian art scene of the 1970s, encompassing drawings, sculptures and land art projects, some included in the two solo exhibitions opened at the Richard Demarco Gallery in Edinburgh (March 1973) and Galeria Nouă in Bucharest (June 1974).

Ion Grigorescu, born in 1945 in Bucharest, is an artist and collaborator of Pavel Ilie.