Untitled 1963

Sandu Darie made this untitled work sometime in the 20th century, probably using ink on paper, with a ruler and compass I would guess. The shapes lock into each other, floating on the page. The black ink has a graphic quality, quite opaque, giving weight and structure to the image. The red, by contrast, seems to hover and shimmer. Look at the small red rectangle inside the circle at the top, it pops like a warning sign. It holds your attention, doesn’t it? This tension between precision and playful spontaneity, between the geometric forms and the hand drawn elements, gives the image its energy. Darie was part of a Constructivist tradition that sought to create universal forms of expression, and you might see hints of Mondrian, or maybe Léger, in this work. But his work is infused with his own personality and spirit. Art like this reminds us that even within abstraction there is always room for individuality, interpretation, and the unexpected.