Cristian Raduta
Cristian Răduță
Flying Lesson, 2018
mixed plastics, aluminum, resin
36 x 30 x 20 in
91.5 x 76.25 x 50.75 cm
Cristian Răduță
Sputnik, 2018
cast aluminum, car paint, stainless steel
58 x 84 x 18 in
147 x 213 x 46 cm
Cristian Răduță
Untitled, 2019
cardboard, acrylic paint, magnifying glass
56 x 32 x 10 in
142 x 81 x 25 cm
Cristian Răduță
Untitled, 2019
wood, resin, and found materials
45 x 50 x 45 in
114 x 127 x 114 cm
Cristian Răduță
Untitled, 2019
aluminum, acrylic paint, resin, mixed plastics
52 x 24 x 18 in
132 x 61 x 46 cm
Cristian Răduță
Untitled, 2019
mixed media
56 x 92 x 28 in
142 x 234 x 71 cm
Cristian Răduță
Untitled, 2019
mixed media
40 x 72 x 7 in
102 x 183 x 18 cm
Cristian Răduță’s animals march in droves. A Noah’s Ark of improvised genetic anomalies populate Nicodim Gallery like an emergency spawning ground, but no two are paired or exactly alike. Apelikenesses can be seen from one angle and a shuffle of animalian ciphers from the other. Răduță is their shepherd, bringing to each form a unique trembling glory. This harmonious pattern of origin stories—both raw and cooked—ludically swirl in the artist’s grand tale of a double helix. His creatures are echos of archetypes, songs from a golden record played deep in outer space.
We learn quickly that the primordial soup is not a pulsing mitosis gasping for air, but instead a Home Depot rich in opportunities, crude and visionary, like cast shadows on a cave wall, actualities of some alternate reality—a more real reality. In Răduță’s world, the metaphor becomes literal: a chair’s leg is a hominid’s leg; the gorilla’s sharp purple “pipe” is erected from a circumcised sink pipe. An intimate knowledge of these resources is not necessary, however. They are preverbal and intuitive. Naming them would somehow discourage their being, shaming them from the garden towards an unwanted conformity.
Răduță is a true bricoleur. His efforts have a cosmic intention to map the journey of DNA within a feedback loop of primitive sculptural forms. Răduță believes in the source animal, a being from which this rippling morphology birthed. S/he lives in the gallery in a state of divine dedifferentiation. A glittering patina of fresh flesh in that moment before God took the rib, compromising its transitory state. S/he is the one of oneness—the omnipotent maker.
These specimens are becoming. To see their perfect imperfection is a gift for the eyes in search of seeing for the first time. They represent an awkwardly powerful stutter in the animal kingdom. Răduță has remembered the moment before language and made do using onomatopoeia instead of the dictionary. These creatures fall off the tip of the tongue and scatter.
Raduta's efforts in 'The Diamond Hunters' have the cosmic intention to map the journey of DNA within a feedback loop of primitive sculptural forms. Răduță believes in the source animal, a being from which this rippling morphology birthed.
"Despite their playful affectation, Răduță’s bestial bricolages are more humanly bizarre than garden-variety toys, often bearing blatantly anthropomorphic or monstrous features. A sinking feeling develops as you realize that your surrounding rascals are not innocuous creatures, but chimerical freaks." – Annabel Osberg
Apelikenesses can be seen from one angle and a shuffle of animalian ciphers from the other. Răduță is their shepherd, bringing to each form a unique trembling glory. This harmonious pattern of origin stories—both raw and cooked—ludically swirl in the artist’s grand tale of a double helix.
The Romanian artist creates fantastical animal figures from various parts — a table leg, mannequin pieces, a piece of pipe and myriad other found objects. A menagerie of the bizarre and the surreal.