The Garden 1964

Constantin Flondor made this pencil drawing, called 'The Garden', sometime during his career as a Romanian artist. The organic forms suggest an interest in the natural world but these shapes are never quite resolved into recognizable objects. Consider what it meant to draw inspiration from nature in a country that, for much of Flondor's life, existed behind the Iron Curtain. During the communist era, artistic expression was heavily policed by the state and artists whose work was considered to be overly abstract or individualistic risked being censored or banned. We might then think about Flondor's artistic practice as one that attempted to circumvent the dictates of the state through a careful engagement with organic abstraction. To better understand Flondor's approach, we might research the sorts of artistic networks he was involved in. We might also consider the institutional settings, such as schools and museums, that would have shaped his artistic formation.