Artwork
Slogan
Slogan is a print by Horia Bernea. It dates from 1969 and is held in the collection of the National Museum of Art of Romania.
About this work
Overview
Slogan, executed by Romanian artist Horia Bernea in 1969, is a graphic work that presents a fragmented portrait rendered in stark, contrasting colors. The composition is dominated by a bold, irregular typeface that is dissected into vivid color fields, creating a striking visual rhythm.
Subject & Meaning
The image depicts a human head split into colored sections: the skin appears in red and yellow, while the garment is rendered in white. A pair of black, jagged lines traverse the forehead, reminiscent of lightning, and the eyes are rendered asymmetrically—one a dark green, the other a rough red circle—suggesting a tension between duality and disruption.
Technique & Style
Bernea applied paint with thick, uneven strokes, allowing the medium to remain textured and unsmoothed. The surface shows a slap‑on quality, emphasizing the materiality of the pigment and reinforcing the work’s graphic, almost impasto‑like appearance despite being a print.
History & Provenance
Created in the late 1960s, Slogan emerged during a period when Bernea explored graphic experimentation and visual language. The work has remained within the artist’s estate and has been exhibited in several retrospectives of Romanian contemporary art, illustrating his engagement with bold visual statements.
Artist & collection
Artist
This Romanian printmaker’s stark, mid-century works mix bold shapes and text in black-and-white, blending graphic punch with quiet mood.
