It was only after his death that Romanian-French sculptor, painter and photographer Constantin Brancusi became well known in France. He became recognized as one of the pioneers of modernism by freeing sculpture from its traditional roots and equipping it with a simple, communicative and joyful language. In Brancusi's words, this language is employed by "arresting the movement", by "giving a pattern or shape of reality to it" and eventually by breathing the genuine "flash of any spirit" into it. Therefore, his sculptures never escape the eye no matter where they are displayed; there is an inevitable interaction between his artwork and the viewer. What makes his work uniquely Brancusian is that the artwork and the viewer face each other and thereby exert equal authoritative force upon each other. Withing time this creates permanent relationship between the work and the viewer. Brancusi inspires this interface by saying: "It is pure joy that I offer you. Look at my sculptures until you see them."
Text © Cigdem Mirol