.webp)
I discovered Ștefan Câlția a few years ago, through the wonderful documentary „The Blue Left Among Us”. A short film, of captivating beauty, which left traces of infinity in our family's heart. Since then, the blue house has become a symbol that even the little ones, on their own initiative (!), have sought out in the places we've visited. For example, recently, while in Mehedinți, I heard one of them asking their grandmother: „Were the houses here also painted blue a long time ago?” (this because they had seen the plaster fallen off, and underneath an azure hue was showing through.)
In early August, just a few days before its closing, I visited the (large-scale) „Extravaganza” exhibition in Sibiu. I had read about it since spring and eagerly awaited seeing the artist's works. The children had ice cream beforehand, so I was able to linger for several good minutes in front of my favorite paintings.
But then... „Mooommyyy, cooome on! There are others too!”, they kept rushing me when I couldn't tear myself away from the vases and glasses with flowers.
There was something inexplicable there... I think what captivated me was the astonishment at the feeling of familiarity, of home, which they conveyed to me. Perhaps because I, in turn, grew up near the Olt riverbank, next to houses similar to the one in Șona (the artist's native village), surrounded by the grasses Ștefan Câlția also talks about and paints.
I didn't resonate with the more eccentric works, and there were also rooms I walked through a bit quicker, but I took the presence of the monstrous apparitions as a good opportunity to make the children realize how hideous and disagreeable evil is... „You didn't think it looked like angels, did you?”. It's a great thing for them to be able to discern between good and evil, beautiful and ugly!
What astonishment I experienced when, about two days after visiting the exhibition, one of the boys drew his favorite painting as best as he could – the one with the blue house, of course! Innocence shines through this drawing with a flying fish, which extends the joy we felt at the exhibition every time we look at it. Children and artists always have some provisions at hand, from which they feed us too, those on the other side of the frame...
Georgiana Camalessa
Photos by Georgiana Camalessa