A valuable and enigmatic statement belonging to Andre Derain seems to patronize the artistic attitude revealed  by Ioan Sbarciu's creation for the last decade. "We're but seekers for mysteries… A recreated form by means of senses is to be found involuntarily, yet it determines the artwork's interior rhythm. All modern creators have added but few things to what Pitagoras and Aristotle thought to be the Absolute… So many certainties, such grandeur has vanished, … any meaning related to letter and Number has been leveled on sand!" It seems that our single reason left us to live is to look for another "Beginning" and to add to the ancient knowledge some new shades and perspective to complete what had once been thought as Perfection! A splendid balance of sensitivity and intelligence forces our creator to master his creation. Ever inventing both the form and the new means of painting as well as lots of theatrical devices to conceive the Image, I. Sbarciu directs a discreet play of the reality, loaded with that interior expressionism, make use of "the eye" creating that aura of charm hinting at thematic fragments and at a pathetic discourse on the obscure and mysterious abyss of the world. The image itself reveals the theme and places it on a symbolic level. Living in the "neighborhood" of a profound mannieristically achieved art, I. Sbarciu places his discourse on the edge "the shaman" and "the scribe" would meet. A Mediterranean painter judged by the themes he has approached ("Metaphor for Heroes", "Labyrinth", "Immaculate and Shadow", "the Return of the Brother", "The Way", "The Bridge", "The Ladder", "Isis' Veil", "The Witness") but a Saturnian and Atonian painter on judging the way he deals the chosen theme ("The Eagle", "Offering and Creation", "The Pelican", "An Eyeless Mirror", "The Black Sun", "The Meeting in the Temple") The creator succeeds in suggesting the air movement within the "hottest line that separates Earth and Heaven". The mighty will becomes the sacred power that needs to be caught by image. The happy blend of "night and day", "breakaway and dusk" is the embodiment of those realities that seize the generous one but also induce blessing strength to the one who gets the offering. The act of gathering these realities in an important event is but "the setting" for a show of Image that carries such dichotomies: to be -to appear, to enchant - to dispel the spell.

Oliv Mircea, November 30, 1998, on St. Apostle Andrew