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The "Swordsman" series is dedicated to the French symbolist writer Jean-Marie-Mathias-Philippe-Auguste de Villiers de l'Isle-Adam and his volume "Cruel and unexpected stories".

Jean-Marie-Mathias-Philippe-Auguste de Villiers de l'Isle-Adam, known as the Count and then from 1846 the Marquis de Villiers de l'Isle-Adam, was a French symbolist writer of Breton origin (b. 1838- d. 1889). He was a writer, novelist, short story writer, playwright, poet). His most famous works today are "Cruel and unusual stories" (1883), "Future Eve" - sci-fi novel and drama "Axël" which announces the symbolist theater.

The works in this series are dedicated to the writer Villiers de l'Isle-Adam and his volume "Cruel and unusual stories". but they are not inspired by the stories contained in the volume. Giving free rein to the imagination, looking for each work to speak for itself without giving up the pleasure of surprising, concerned with the underbelly of humanity, I created the "Swordsman" series, keeping the atmosphere of a 19th century in an imagined France, sometimes using a slight parody or if you want sarcasm. In this sense, I dedicated the series to the great symbolist writer and his volume. Perhaps the common note of concealed ridicule made me decide the direction when I dedicated the series of works.

The representations produced by imagination that do not correspond to reality but that in some places have a direct correspondence with the reality of those times, can be found in part in every work that evokes an event. A variegated world in which the viewer, in turn, exercises his imagination by completing or finding meaning in each work. The suggestive titles make this series easy to read, and even sometimes they are the starting point, the perspective from which the imagination starts gaining direction and meaning.

From the multitude of meanings that the term syncretism has in postmodernity, I chose, or better said, I was more interested in the one that refers to the cultural context of those times. Thus I articulated the beautiful-truly-good triad, looking for the quality of "emanation" which would develop in series and all of this wanting to be experienced by the viewing public in their quality of states of impressiveness - sensitivity, emotionality, awareness, etc. I would define this state here as value syncretism. The beautiful-truly-good triad helped me to present in the "Swordsman" series rather a group of effects (emanations) of a culture from a 19th century France, wishing that the transformations endured by the works in contact with the consciousness of the viewing public to appeal to its imagination. I structured the forms used in accordance with the principle of abstraction, seeking to include meanings and values.

From the series of determinative elements - values, categories, states of receptivity determined by the nature of the impressive impact, we modeled a scenic artistic discourse, meant to amplify the visual-aesthetic impact. That's how I calculated the fact that these elements will cover the optimal amount necessary and sufficient for an artistic speech in the sense of maximum efficiency.

If in the case of the geometric shapes used in the works I followed a certain homogeneity, in the case of the message I tried using my imagination and knowledge to punctuate a kind of "reading" created from images. I placed the epicenter or focal point in the direction of awareness, understanding of the values of those times. The meanings released within the limits of the presented artistic discourse are addressed to those who want to "pamper" themselves. sensory parameters with effects given by their own states of receptivity. Another "key" in "reading" the visual represented in the "Swordsman" series, is a metaphorical one that implies the need for a connection with the current world or, if you want, the future.
Lavinia Bujor-Deaconu