'I apply layers of paint over weeks or months, preserving colour washes, brushwork, paint pouring, splattering and spraying between layers of transparent medium to form a record of transformation and accumulation.'
Artist Statement
My practice investigates concepts of the cosmic sublime. I apply layers of paint over weeks or months, preserving colour washes, brushwork, paint pouring, splattering and spraying between layers of transparent medium to form a record of transformation and accumulation. This approach mirrors the timeless changes of the universe and makes the unseen visible. My videos and clay works similarly evoke sublime experiences that point to cosmic events and sensations.
Inspired by the astronomy term 'apparent radiant' (which describes the terrestrial visual perception of a meteor shower seeming to emerge from a singular point in the sky), and the electromagnetic radiation emitted by celestial bodies and objects, RADIANT explores modalities of understanding cosmic images, as well as processes of interpreting data collected from outer space. From the analysis of electromagnetic visible spectrum (light) in observational astronomy, to the use of RGB filters in astrophotography imaging, and creating precise visible representations with modern technologies like spectroscopy, RADIANT presents alternative modes of experiencing information collected from cosmos.
Artist Bio
Maria Constantinescu is an Australian artist based in Sydney, NSW. Her work investigates different modalities in which information about the universe and related theories of the sublime are translated into contemporary works of art, as a continuum of an artistic tradition nascent in the 18th-century Romanticism. Through a range of media including painting, digital video, and clay, Constantinescu’s studio practice focuses on modes of making the unseen visible, presenting the unpresentable, and transformation metaphorically linked with alchemy. Constantinescu’s artworks explore connections between imagination and reality and attempt to elicit the feelings and state of mind associated with the experience of the cosmic sublime.
Constantinescu’s practice is deeply engrained in the aesthetics of Romanticism and Abstract Expressionism. Her work follows in the steps of such visionary artists as J.M.W. Turner, Kazimir Malevich, Helen Frankenthaler, Jackson Pollock, and Yves Klein, and operates alongside contemporaries including Ryoji Ikeda, Lindy Lee, Katie Paterson and Semiconductor. Constantinescu graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Art (Painting) (2018) and a Master of Fine Art (Painting) (2020) from Sydney’s prestigious National Art School. Her work is held in private collections in Australia and overseas.
Artist Statement
My practice investigates concepts of the cosmic sublime. I apply layers of paint over weeks or months, preserving colour washes, brushwork, paint pouring, splattering and spraying between layers of transparent medium to form a record of transformation and accumulation. This approach mirrors the timeless changes of the universe and makes the unseen visible. My videos and clay works similarly evoke sublime experiences that point to cosmic events and sensations.
Inspired by the astronomy term 'apparent radiant' (which describes the terrestrial visual perception of a meteor shower seeming to emerge from a singular point in the sky), and the electromagnetic radiation emitted by celestial bodies and objects, RADIANT explores modalities of understanding cosmic images, as well as processes of interpreting data collected from outer space. From the analysis of electromagnetic visible spectrum (light) in observational astronomy, to the use of RGB filters in astrophotography imaging, and creating precise visible representations with modern technologies like spectroscopy, RADIANT presents alternative modes of experiencing information collected from cosmos.
Artist Bio
Maria Constantinescu is an Australian artist based in Sydney, NSW. Her work investigates different modalities in which information about the universe and related theories of the sublime are translated into contemporary works of art, as a continuum of an artistic tradition nascent in the 18th-century Romanticism. Through a range of media including painting, digital video, and clay, Constantinescu’s studio practice focuses on modes of making the unseen visible, presenting the unpresentable, and transformation metaphorically linked with alchemy. Constantinescu’s artworks explore connections between imagination and reality and attempt to elicit the feelings and state of mind associated with the experience of the cosmic sublime.
Constantinescu’s practice is deeply engrained in the aesthetics of Romanticism and Abstract Expressionism. Her work follows in the steps of such visionary artists as J.M.W. Turner, Kazimir Malevich, Helen Frankenthaler, Jackson Pollock, and Yves Klein, and operates alongside contemporaries including Ryoji Ikeda, Lindy Lee, Katie Paterson and Semiconductor. Constantinescu graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Art (Painting) (2018) and a Master of Fine Art (Painting) (2020) from Sydney’s prestigious National Art School. Her work is held in private collections in Australia and overseas.
