Bruno Maria Bradt: Monumental - Drawing inside and out

Location: Brukenthal Palace, Cartography Cabinet, Grand Square, No. 4, Sibiu

                 Museum of Contemporary Art, Tribunei Street, No. 6

Duration: 7.07 – 29.08.2021

Opening: Wednesday, July 7, 1:00 pm, Brukenthal Palace’s garden

Curators: Dr. Dana Roxana Hrib, Alexandra Gălăbuț

Partner: Sibiu International Theater Festival

Bruno Bradt's art and the structure of his exhibitions condense the entire history of drawing, revealing (through the compositional options, chromatic and thematic works) an artist anchored in the trends of the present. But, beyond these aspects, he remains faithful to the tradition of the old masters: the drawing is academic, at the highest standards; the models are real, connected in a sentimental and psychological aspect, while the figurative is illustrated with photographic realism.

The narrative that supports all the steps of Bruno Bradt's meeting with the public, describes his own life experience, naturally rendered, a well-balanced artist sure of his valences, from study sketches to monumental works, whose complexity results from immediate reality, without resorting to artifice, forced conceptualizations or abstraction.

The subjects of his works are chosen according to the interest in the natural world. Thus, the artist mainly chooses the realistic portrait, in which natural or contradictory feelings, imperfections, harmony or isolation become assets; the models are real people, family members, friends and socially marginalized people, the artist himself as a witness to various scenes or moments in time. Aspects often fought, ignored or denied in mass culture, are the impetus for his freedom and artistic creation: Bruno Bradt's people are beautiful because they are sick, old, maladapted, dependent, poor, separated, confused and forgotten in or beyond this life.

From simple monochrome works, in graphic pencil, to triptychs and ensembles of monumental dimensions, made in acrylic, pastel and gouache colors on recycled cardboard, we notice the aspects related to clothing and the attributes / objects of the represented persons (in the manner of Renaissance portraits), chromatic highlighting of specific details, post-contemporary resumption of iconographic themes.

When drawing an object or a human figure, an experienced artist gives equal importance to the areas of composition inside and outside the silhouette. The exterior is called negative space, and Bruno Bradt gives it deep philosophical values ​​through blurred sketching or emptying of graphic content, leaving room for a dialogue that the man of the third millennium is obliged to reconsider. Until then, the artist fills this void with texts, poems, prayers, thoughts and ideas that come to compensate for the emptiness in the soul and thinking of his fellows.

In a contemporary society with a half-covered facial expression, the segmentation of some portraits, created by Bruno Bradt, gives topicality to the volume, reminding us of the joy of non-hidden expressiveness. The ideas expressed through the power of his characters are highlighted by a strong intellectual outline, based on courage, dialogue and empathy; the realism of his graphic approach reminds us how we humans need to be aware of life as a community value in order to continue, young and old, rich and poor, lost and found, like the characters in the portraits of the old masters.