X-Ray

Year: 2020
Materials: Charcoal, oil on canvas
Autenthification: This artwork is signed/dated on the back
Series: Noctumbre

In his “Noctumbre” series, Petru Lucaci redefines the boundaries of traditional painting by using specially crafted wood charcoal as both a medium and a message. Departing from conventional materials, Lucaci transforms charcoal into a fundamental element of his artistic language. This charcoal, designed to serve as both a support and an expressive tool, brings forth a unique field of expression. Its qualities, derived from burning, along with the effects of incising and polishing, generate a distinctive plastic effect.
By embracing the material’s inherent properties, he explores its textural richness and the subtleties of its surface variations. The burnt texture of the charcoal, combined with meticulously incised and polished details, creates a dynamic interplay of light and shadow.

Lucaci’s innovative use of charcoal challenges the conventional elements of painting. By reducing his palette to black, he reinvents traditional concepts such as drawing, chiaroscuro, color, and spatial construction. This monochromatic focus allows him to maintain the dramatic contrast of light and dark while stripping away chromatic distractions. The result is a series that aligns more closely with the stark, high-contrast aesthetics of black-and-white photography and noir cinema than with classical tenebrist painting traditions.