Costel Iarca

Interview by Julia Ann Charpentier

The terms classic and romantic apply to older traditions, but if you had to describe your own work, which would it be?

I like the romantic because the Romantic period goes more towards the soul.

Have you studied the psychology of Carl Jung, and do you apply his concepts to your painting?

I don't want to talk nonsense. I like to emphasize God. Each painting is like a prayer or a symphony.

Jung believed in a collective unconscious, a realm of the human mind that remains hidden. In the act of creation do you think that symbols and images emerge from a secret inner place?

Yeah, I use a secret symbolism. I try to combine science with the eye of God. If you look at my paintings, I like to work with odd numbers. I use symbols from chemistry, from literature, from music, sometimes, like notes. You have to take that natural shape in nature and just give the impression in the sense, in the very abstract form.

Artists use the words balance and unity, but the terms are subject to definition. Are these scientific concepts, technical terms, or religious ideals?

Balance — either you are good or bad. Either you are cold or hot. It's a nice term to accommodate our society, to be balanced.

Some abstract expressionists who preceded you state that art is not censored, not rational, and not even conscious. Do you agree?

No. There is a rational thing in abstract art. You have to think what to create, what you do. That dripping, maybe you cannot control, but when you throw a splash, you throw it with a purpose, so you put the mind to work. Why shall I throw it there? You might throw it, and it doesn't go in the right place. Then you have to change it. But you have to think how and what to do. There is a lot of thinking in an abstract.

Does your art convey messages that you never intended?

Sometimes you see things that you never intended to see. Sometimes it's something magic. It appears there. It's like some painters next to the invisible help you, but at the same time, you have to think. You have to look at what happened there by accident. You take it, and you develop a different level.

Modernism is associated with liberalism. Postmodernism is often a conservative reaction to liberal ideas. How do you mix conservatism with a liberal medium like art?

You take the conservative, and you put it in the liberalism way. You don't leave it conservative. It's like you take water, and you put honey, and then you stir it. You try to combine something beautiful.

Some think that religion may be a reaction to modernist expression. How do you integrate these opposing viewpoints when you paint?

I never use my liberty against God. Liberty is the liberty of the soul. You are free to choose. There are lots of things in society to choose, so you choose that freedom. Some people say, "Well, an abstract painting, it's not religious, or it's against God." They don't know the color of the soul, the color of the spirit. We know each other because of how we look, because we look in the mirror. We see our features. But men never try to look inside. So the soul, it's all the color, the energy, the movement, the beauty. In one day to be happy, in one day to be bad. In one day when you go outside, you see a beautiful landscape. The soul vibrates. So that energy, you feel it, but you never see it. It's very hard to see what is inside of you. You'll know what color, what is the energy of your soul in that moment.

Do you want people to interpret you? Or do you want to come across with a religious concept or a political statement?

People think whatever they want, because it's very hard to predict and to feel what I feel. No matter how I'll try to express it, you cannot feel. The spirit is everything, all the language in the world, a tremendous knowledge about science, chemistry, so I'm limited here. Religion… it's another part of freedom, so you cannot force somebody to love religion. There is nothing in the world like love because love doesn't condemn. Love doesn't do bad things. If you love a person, always you look towards just good things all the time.