POSTCARD BRICKS (LOTUS) | LORENA BUCUR

Lorena Bucur (Cremona, 1996) is a young Italian artist of Romanian origins. Her practice begins with photography – using old Soviet analog cameras, received from her family – but then develops through video and multimedia installations.
Her research is linked to social and political themes, explored through the study of urban space and the outskirts of the city.
Starting from the photographic documentation of the surrounding landscape, Bucur creates artworks that do not materialize in the more classic photographic support, but are instead transferred to materials such as concrete or aluminum, which then become the structural basis of the work.

Postcard bricks (Lotus) is an artwork created in 2022, and the title itself anticipates its formal appearance: a cement brick the size of a postcard, showing on its surface the image of a lotus flower in a pond.
The printing process chosen by Bucur is not commonly used, and the support is also decidedly peculiar. However, every choice made is dictated by a precise stylistic language. The artist is driven by the need to materialize memories and recollections so that they can endure over time. Consequently, the choice of support falls on a resistant, stable, and durable material, such as cement.

Postcard bricks (Lotus) is an installation that displays two levels of landscape: the first given by the superficial image depicting the lotus flower, light and delicate; the other represented by the structural material with which the artwork was made, the cold and solid cement.
Thus, an interesting and effective contrast is created between the visual image proposed and its material identity.

With the intent of exploring the formal relationship between photography and sculpture, Bucur combines different techniques to draw us into her world, using an articulated language capable of immersing us in the outskirts she portrays. The artist forces the viewer to focus not only on the surface image but on the identity of the work as a whole.

Lorena Bucur
Postcard bricks (Lotus), 2022
Analogue print on concrete, 10 x 15 x 3 cm
Installation view at Galleria Fuocherello, Volvera.
© Lorena Bucur, courtesy the artist.

Lorena Bucur, Postcard bricks (Lotus), 2022. Analogue print on concrete, 10 x 15 x 3 cm.
Installation view at Galleria Fuocherello, Volvera. © Lorena Bucur, courtesy the artist.

20/04/24