I don't know why it is that I arrive in our country's capital quite rarely, the last time being about 15 years ago. Here I am again... but "again" is too strong a word. It's as if I've come for the very first time.
The journey from Gara de Nord to Tineretului amazed me! Not so much the crowds, but the scenery. Buildings of all kinds, from different historical periods, some more neglected than others. The road itself, the asphalt and the pavement, seemed like a failed puzzle from various eras. People of all kinds living (or not) together, in an amalgam they didn't even seem aware of.
Pipera, with its contrasts, made me completely bewildered.
When I spotted the first tram in the distance, I thought it was a museum piece, like the old locomotives in train stations. But when I saw it moving, I got a little scared and thought it might be some last specimen, going on its final journey. But I was about to see that all of them on Barbu Văcărescu Boulevard would be like that.
The very hurried and very quick people made me realize more than ever that I am Transylvanian. All sorts of jokes about Transylvanians and their slowness came to mind, one after another. I find myself in them.
The tone, the accent of the Bucharesters makes my digestion difficult. It's as if I'm waiting for a performance to end and for them to speak normally. But nothing ended, and this was actually the normal... at least for the people on the street, in the tram, and in shops. I have to admit there are others whom, by their speech, you can no longer categorize regionally. They break the mold or are a cumulation of molds they successfully transcend. For these people and some equally transcendental places, Bucharest is worth enduring.
Here's a wondrous tree on the aforementioned tram-lined boulevard, which I only saw and believed to exist in the Mediterranean area, where it seems I've arrived much more often than in the south of my country. And when I saw this tree in all its splendor in front of Stavropoleos Monastery, I said that Bucharest, with all its quirks, is worth enduring!
Since when has bamboo been growing in our country? Another surprise.
Romană Square. I expected it to be more "Roman," architecturally speaking, nonetheless...
One of my objectives was the "Artmark" Art Gallery. At home, I listen to Mr. Patapievici with great interest, about Pascal, anytime and as much as possible. But there's another area that particularly concerns me: the light within or above things. This rarely encountered subject has fascinated me for as long as I can remember. I've heard a lot about the light within people... but less so from things. This area of philosophy that interferes with art and spirituality, even theology, is of utmost interest to me. In a podcast at the Atheneum, he mentioned a painting, saying: "I would like to be in a state where that light is my immediate physical perception. Then I believe I would be in a kind of paradise." I would have wanted to see the painting. He didn't show it. I want to see the painting now. Maybe I'll find it at Artmark. It's the first item on my Bucharest list.
So I arrive at Artmark in search of the treasure. The only clue is that everything was in a pink light. Let's see if this clue leads me to the treasure. But the place with the treasure was so crowded... I stumbled upon an auction in full swing. There was no way I could search. But I still admired, with my visual senses at their maximum, what could be seen among people, more often behind people. And I left, instead, with another treasure: a splendid catalog with works that made me forget the initial treasure! Because in many other canvases, I find the same paradisiacal light. My goodness, what would the world look like without painters? How much richness on this ephemeral earth, their work from which they didn't even live lavishly, yet we can nourish ourselves infinitely, and what nourishment it is! That which can undermine the need for the other, primary one... that which brings light where it doesn't seem to matter... that which can pull you out of the abyss of ephemerality and give you the chance to taste paradise.
Back home, this catalog brightens my mornings, as I flip through it in the cool early hours of the day, to the crowing of roosters from all over the village. And this joy lasts until the scorching midday hours, when not even a leaf stirs. It keeps me cool... and inspires me to pick up my watercolors too, because I pick up a brush every day anyway!
(to be continued)
Simona Andrușcă