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Mihai Tarus: Time Element in Painting

Michael German
Professor, PhD of Art
Academician at the Humanitarian Studies Academy
Member of IAAC (International Association of Art Critics)
Senior Researcher at the Russian State Museum

There is a time when each true master comes to a break point and remembers the eternal line of Dante's terzinas about an artist's life. A true master is the one who realized how much he had done, how much he still can do, and - especially - how vast is the Unknown that lies ahead and around him. It is the time when the artist asks the world a multitude of questions; the time when the world expects answers from him, answers that only he can provide through his art.

The following could be applied to the works of any true master: gravity, harmony, culture, individuality, well balanced compositional structure, true feeling of time and the place of the artist in it. Undoubtedly, all of the above are characteristic of Mihai TARUS's works. A decoration of compliments, though, is a doubtful benefit upon an artist. The true reward to an artist is understanding his uniqueness, which links him to and, at the same time, keeps him away from the present.

"Il faut Ptre de son temps", the words of the great French master are still true enough even now, at the end of the almost gone XXth century; the artist is always responsible for the time and the place destined to him by Fate.

Our century, however, does not expect a burning exalted, interest, denunciation or rhetoric from the artist, but his skill to reflect the form and the movement of Time, through appropriate plastic and color structures, and the sensation of the close link between virtual and eternal. All these should be expressed through his personal and quite familiar language; through Art, where intuition, thought and artistry are synthesized into images the present visual existence cannot be rendered without.

As a truly gifted artist Mihai TARUS lives in both, his own time and the time that surrounds him. The young artist came into contact with the special world of Vladimir Sterligov's School, which influenced him greatly. The idea of the ultimate artistic truth and the absolute, along with the belief that art should strive for its understanding and realization, imprinted themselves in his mind. Thus, Mihai TARUS became consolidated in his quest of the world-hidden essence.

Mihai TARUS lived his life the way the others did. He studied at the College of Fine Arts, exhibited his works with other heterodox artists. Sometimes his personal exhibitions scored big successes. His works became more mature, but, deep inside his soul, another life flowed, lightly touched by surface events.

He searched a way to break through to the place, where something new could be revealed, something only he possesses, something peerless. "And how pathetic do you think you are compared to the Sky itself?" (Plato. Dialogues. Alchyon IV). The question asked by the ancient philosopher about the incommensurability of conceptions can hardly be realized by our minds. It is hard to answer, but can be heard and accepted. Art is the own sister of intuition; it grasps the truth avoiding all intermediate intellectual constructions. It does not solve the problem but reveals its essence. The way out of the material world is not easy at all. It takes supreme efforts to reach the higher sphere, shadowed by the too material amalgamation of the visible reality; it takes supreme efforts to actually see those hidden reasons of a color, of a line, of a form.

Mihai TARUS multiplies the number of dimensions. He seeks something that Rilke called "UberzKhliges Dasein". In his paintings the image first grows together with the canvas, forming a perfect flatness, then, persistently, even in an aggressive manner, slashes through, creating the space. But the space exists in our imagination only, leaving the canvas perfectly intact. The image does not create the illusion of artificial volumes, but still reminds of multidimentions even in the imaginary worlds. That is why he experiments with the texture, but no matter how far out of the way it goes - not a single sign of discord appears there; it is a kind of magic of delicacy and of his own style.

Even that striking clash between the black squares and the yellow fluctuating spot ("Composition", 1976), or a provoking conflict between red, white, and sand-colored elements inside those pulsating vivid object parts in "The Sign of Color", 1997, do not arouse the protest usual for those post-modernism merrymakings. Even the sharpest works of Mihai TARUS are ensured with that golden stock of the artistic quality, balance and generosity of artistic texture.

His vigorous temperament is diluted with the terrific sense of proportion easily compared to that of Aristotles-spatiu nothing can be added, nor excluded from his works.

First time visitors of his exhibitions might find him way too diverse or even restless. But the point is that he gazes intensely upon the world we know through different optical devices attempting to break through to the world's eternal and utmost essence. In doing so he mastered almost all currently used techniques, including that of sculpture, although he is an artist first of all.

He is skilled in the most difficult valeur palette, by precise usage light richness of the colored planes. But-again-the most important is that he possesses his own incredible synthesis. And it consists, to my mind, of a kind of consonance, a combination of that poetical logic and the soul of an artist. Only Mihai TARUS himself knows what efforts he had to make in order to achieve this consonance.

Articles : Mihai Tarus: Time Element in Painting
A Lucid Avant-Gardist Mihai Tarus: Time Element in Painting		Mihai Tarus: Time Element in Painting Michael German Professor, PhD of Art Academician at the Humanitarian Studies Academy Member of IAAC (International Association of Art Critics) Senior Researcher at the Russian State Museum There is a time when each true master comes to a break point and remembers the eternal line of Dante's terzinas about an artist's life. A true master is the one who realized how much he had done, how much he still can do, and - especially - how vast is the Unknown that lies ahead and around him. It is the time when the artist asks the world a multitude of questions; the time when the world expects answers from him, answers that only he can provide through his art. The following could be applied to the works of any true master: gravity, harmony, culture, individuality, well balanced compositional structure, true feeling of time and the place of the artist in it. Undoubtedly, all of the above are characteristic of Mihai TARUS's works. A decoration of compliments, though, is a doubtful benefit upon an artist. The true reward to an artist is understanding his uniqueness, which links him to and, at the same time, keeps him away from the present. "Il faut Ptre de son temps", the words of the great French master are still true enough even now, at the end of the almost gone XXth century; the artist is always responsible for the time and the place destined to him by Fate. Our century, however, does not expect a burning exalted, interest, denunciation or rhetoric from the artist, but his skill to reflect the form and the movement of Time, through appropriate plastic and color structures, and the sensation of the close link between virtual and eternal. All these should be expressed through his personal and quite familiar language; through Art, where intuition, thought and artistry are synthesized into images the present visual existence cannot be rendered without. As a truly gifted artist Mihai TARUS lives in both, his own time and the time that surrounds him. The young artist came into contact with the special world of Vladimir Sterligov's School, which influenced him greatly. The idea of the ultimate artistic truth and the absolute, along with the belief that art should strive for its understanding and realization, imprinted themselves in his mind. Thus, Mihai TARUS became consolidated in his quest of the world-hidden essence. Mihai TARUS lived his life the way the others did. He studied at the College of Fine Arts, exhibited his works with other heterodox artists. Sometimes his personal exhibitions scored big successes. His works became more mature, but, deep inside his soul, another life flowed, lightly touched by surface events. He searched a way to break through to the place, where something new could be revealed, something only he possesses, something peerless. "And how pathetic do you think you are compared to the Sky itself?" (Plato. Dialogues. Alchyon IV). The question asked by the ancient philosopher about the incommensurability of conceptions can hardly be realized by our minds. It is hard to answer, but can be heard and accepted. Art is the own sister of intuition; it grasps the truth avoiding all intermediate intellectual constructions. It does not solve the problem but reveals its essence. The way out of the material world is not easy at all. It takes supreme efforts to reach the higher sphere, shadowed by the too material amalgamation of the visible reality; it takes supreme efforts to actually see those hidden reasons of a color, of a line, of a form. Mihai TARUS multiplies the number of dimensions. He seeks something that Rilke called "UberzKhliges Dasein". In his paintings the image first grows together with the canvas, forming a perfect flatness, then, persistently, even in an aggressive manner, slashes through, creating the space. But the space exists in our imagination only, leaving the canvas perfectly intact. The image does not create the illusion of artificial volumes, but still reminds of multidimentions even in the imaginary worlds. That is why he experiments with the texture, but no matter how far out of the way it goes - not a single sign of discord appears there; it is a kind of magic of delicacy and of his own style. Even that striking clash between the black squares and the yellow fluctuating spot ("Composition", 1976), or a provoking conflict between red, white, and sand-colored elements inside those pulsating vivid object parts in "The Sign of Color", 1997, do not arouse the protest usual for those post-modernism merrymakings. Even the sharpest works of Mihai TARUS are ensured with that golden stock of the artistic quality, balance and generosity of artistic texture. His vigorous temperament is diluted with the terrific sense of proportion easily compared to that of Aristotles-spatiu nothing can be added, nor excluded from his works. First time visitors of his exhibitions might find him way too diverse or even restless. But the point is that he gazes intensely upon the world we know through different optical devices attempting to break through to the world's eternal and utmost essence. In doing so he mastered almost all currently used techniques, including that of sculpture, although he is an artist first of all. He is skilled in the most difficult valeur palette, by precise usage light richness of the colored planes. But-again-the most important is that he possesses his own incredible synthesis. And it consists, to my mind, of a kind of consonance, a combination of that poetical logic and the soul of an artist. Only Mihai TARUS himself knows what efforts he had to make in order to achieve this consonance.

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