CSUN to Dedicate Installation by Sculptor Patrick Mateescu

CSUN to Dedicate Installation by Sculptor Patrick Mateescu

Exhibition to Include Chronicle of Works by Constantin Brancusi

(NORTHRIDGE, Calif., Nov. 14, 2005) -- Cal State Northridge officials will formally dedicate a monumental sculptural group, "Heavenly Hands," by acclaimed Romanian-American artist Patrick Mateescu on Friday, Nov. 18, in the courtyard of the university's Art and Design Center.

The piece is a gift to the university from Ion Baroi and manufacturing systems engineering and management professor Ileana Costea. The "Heavenly Hands" sculpture was donated in 2002.

"Because of this sculpture, I was influenced to create an exhibit that showcased Romanian art," Costea said.

The dedication will take place from 5 to 8 p.m. in the Art and Design Center located at the north end of the campus off Halsted Street just east of Etiwanda Avenue.

The dedication festivities include a three-day exhibition of photographs chronicling the works of Mateescu and Romanian sculptor Constantin Brancusi, a central figure in the art world's modern movement and a pioneer of abstraction.

Both artists share a reputation for creating intriguing, monumental pieces of abstract shapes and for taking photographs of their sculptures in the play of light.

Brancusi, who died in 1956, studied at the Bucharest School of Fine Arts. He was inspired by August Rodin as well as African and oriental art. He settled in Paris in 1904 and created his first major work, a sculpture titled "The Kiss" in 1908. He later created public sculpture projects for an unrealized temple in India for the Maharajah of Indore, and urban sculptures near his hometown in Targul Jiu, Romania, which include a 100-foot tall cast-iron piece called the "Endless Column." Much of his artwork is displayed at the Museum of Art in Paris, France.

Mateescu, the artist behind "Heavenly Hands," created the sculpture in 2002 as a CSUN artist in residence. The work was a joint project of the university's College of Arts, Media, and Communication, and its College of Engineering and Computer Science. Currently living in New Jersey, Mateescu's art ranges from small and large porcelain to stoneware monuments.

On display at the exhibit will be photographs which show the artists at work on their respective pieces. "There will be photographs of Brancusi in his hometown in Romania along with technical photographs which will show the technical part of how ‘Heavenly Hands' was built at CSUN," Costea said.

The exhibit will run through Nov. 25, 2005. The public will have opportunity to meet Mateescu and Romanian architect Iulian Camui along with Romania's Minister of the Exterior and Consulate General at the dedication.

For more information on the event, call Tammy Glenn at (818) 677-6078 or via e-mail at tammy.glenn@csun.edu.

Contacts: Brian Flores or

Carmen Ramos Chandler

(818) 677-2130

brian.flores.232@csun.edu

Ileana Costea, PhD

Professor California State University, Northridge

(CSUN)