VISCRI | Constantin Flondor - Împărăția Grădinii | Garden Empire: hosted at King Charles III’s House in Viscri

“Garden Empire” names a territory with its own laws: rhythms of growth, sequences of light, rules that orient form. Here, nature functions as a system that lets itself be read, with the image built through relations—measure, repetition, variation. Symbolic markers guide the reading. Geometry provides the structure. Color carries the energy. The architecture of vegetal constructions and the balance of mathematical ratios order the composition.

“Nature is a partner, contemplated with wonder and also a reliable guid” the artist notes. The sentence sums up a trajectory of more than six decades, a constant of his artistic practice represented by the systematic observation of nature.

The exhibition brings together painting, drawing, watercolor, pastel, mixed media, and a projection of experimental films, covering distinct stages of Flondor’s practice—from the 1970s to today—with an emphasis on recently painted series. The ensemble articulates two registers of the same dialogue with nature: one direct, through iconic representations; the other methodical, based on observation, order, and constructive rules, where the theme of movement becomes the axis of inquiry.

“Each day of the week has its own spirit,” Flondor says. The statement opens a spiritual plane of looking. In his works, the artist sometimes records the day of the week, the date, or notes such as “Maundy Thursday,” to anchor the context. The day’s microclimate—shifts of air, variations in illumination, changes in chromatic temperature—shapes the image. Atmosphere arises from air moving through leaves and from the way sunlight touches vegetation. From these inflections emerge series on dark grounds, with accents of light that cut the foliage and regulate the rhythm of the composition.

Vegetal motifs recur as a guiding thread — “Mâna Maicii Domnului” (which Flondor also notes as “Brânca Maicii Domnului”), “Lemnul lui Hristos,” and morning glories. The artist follows the plants’ gestures of growth — stretching, twisting, coiling — and transposes them into the construction of the image. Their reading converges around the same structure: the vertically oriented spiral, legible as a geometry of ascension — a growth turned toward light, as an intimation of Providence.

Constantin Flondor studied painting at the “Nicolae Grigorescu” Institute in Bucharest and became a teacher at the Timișoara Fine Arts High School in 1962, the city where he lives and works today. He is a founding member of the artistic groups 1+1+1 (Group 111) and Sigma, established in Romania between the 1960s and 1970s, and, since 1985, a co-founder of the Prolog Group.

He was a professor at the Faculty of Arts in Timișoara and a guest lecturer at the Sommerakademie Beratzhausen in Germany. His works have been exhibited in museums and galleries worldwide, including: the Craiova Art Museum, Craiova; mumok – Museum moderner Kunst, Vienna; the Ludwig Foundation, Aachen; Volker Diehl Gallery, Berlin; Gervasuti Foundation, Venice; Richard Demarco Gallery, Edinburgh; the Kalinderu Constructivist Biennial, Bucharest; and the Decorative Arts Triennial, Milan.

This exhibition is made by SIT – Sessions in Transylvania. SIT is an annual program bringing contemporary artists to the villages of Alma Vii and Viscri, exploring the connections between art, nature, and the cultural heritage of Transylvania.

Partners: Jecza Gallery, The King's House, Mihai Eminescu Trust