VOCATUS ATQUE NON VOCATUS

There's nothing more important to us than our very life. Is this a journey, is there a destiny, or a destination for us to reach? What's the meaning of our trials, of our love and loss, our struggles, failures and breakthroughs? Is there a meaning, is there some kind of answer that we have been missing all this time in our lives? Camus said that the human beings will always desire true knowledge, happiness and perpetual life; but instead, they encounter the silence of the world, suffering and death. And therefore he concludes that the human life is absurd, the construction of the world is absurd, and the only thing we can feel at the end of the day is this feeling of absurdity. I don't think that. Surely, there is no final teaching that can cure us from our scepticism. No sentence can settle this problem once and for all. But the way I see things is that we are surrounded by signs. I don't believe in the silence of the world. Encouters, relationships, heartbreaks, feelings, images, memories, sounds, phrases – they all seem to say something more. Sometimes they talk about the same thing. Sometimes they reveal, sometimes they hide more. And knowingly or not, we interpret these signals all the time, sometimes correctly, sometimes not. But how can they form an unique, coherent picture of our existence, how can they unite our experiences? How can we live consistently? How can we be comfortable with the mystery of the world? That's why I conceived my paintings as mirrors, as questions, trying to involve the viewer in heart of the matter – the meaning of their own lives. Every painting is an enigma for which I don't have a final answer, just like most aspects of our existence. My ideal viewer would see more things in my paintings, different things, deeper things maybe. I hope they would facilitate some kind of personal revelation or subjective knowledge, which would add more meaning to our lives. I have no ultimate reason to believe in the Absurd. Instead I believe that if there is something like the Truth out there or inside us, the sincere and countinuous work of creating Art could multiply the occasions for this Truth to make itself seen... Diana Savu, art critic: "Sergiu Roman’s series “Unspeakable things” shows a powerful creator of painterly states of the soul. The striking paintings of this series represent the artist’s philosophical concept on how the contemporary turmoil of the Soul could be embodied in an accurate symbolic and visual image. Balancing between Antiquity dictums and contemporary ideals, between chaos and order, instinct and reason, Sergiu Roman explores the human soul with boldness and curiosity in order to reveal its mysteries into works of art. Sergiu Roman depicts the Soul with frenzy, with movements, gestures and vivid colours, trying to convey the message that beauty should be the AIM of the Soul. The bright, bold colours, the use of gold, the overcharged surface of the paintings by numerous layers of drippings, geometrical symbols and Latin or Ancient Greek expressions all that form the powerful language of his paintings. Unspeakable things series offers the painter’s personal notion of beauty, morality and aesthetics based on a wide range of feelings, by means of strong craftsmanship. Sergiu Roman shows a total dedication to design intricate compositions in which he creates organic depictions of a troubled, restless Soul trying to find its peace. Inspired by modern philosophy and psychology, Sergiu Roman creates a unique vocabulary of forms revealing his desire for expressive painting and a drive to continually reinvent himself by exploring new concepts and techniques."