Red as a constraint: the only colour in this mixed media work is red, in all its variants from scarlet through crimson to near-black burgundy. The question the painting asks is how much structure a single hue can carry without the support of complementary contrast.
Collage elements — torn fragments of red-printed paper — were laid down first, then painted over and partially revealed. The work rewards sustained looking because the different reds are only distinguishable to an eye that has spent time with the painting.
About the artist
Alexandru Popa's paintings take their structure from the analytical tradition of cubism — multiple viewpoints compressed onto a single surface, forms that reveal their underlying geometry rather than concealing it. The work is not historical pastiche but a live investigation of what that pictorial logic can still produce.
He trained in Bucharest and continued his studies in Berlin, where he currently divides his time. The paintings are large in ambition and careful in execution — Alexandru believes that formal rigour and genuine feeling are not in tension but are, in fact, the same thing approached from different directions. He does not accept commissions.
