The book-album “Enchantments for the wine. Micro-anthology with oenograms”, signed by journalist Vasile Botnaru, was launched at the Museum of Arts of Moldova on December 12. The book contains 12 poems of Romanian authors Lucian Blaga, Ion Pillat and Tudor Arghezi, which are complemented with the journalist’s paintings in wine. The book also contains an introductive study signed by literary critic Răzvan Voncu where the three authors are graded as poets of the wine. The same day there was inaugurated an exhibition of paintings made by the same author, IPN reports.
Vasile Botnaru said he started to paint with wine without realizing what challenge this is, but he regards this activity rather as a joke. He didn’t actually intend to make serious paintings. “I think my contribution should be taken as a joke, not yet the texts,” he stated, noting he would like to be appreciated for graphics and spontaneity and in the future would like to also paint with oil.
Writer Maria Pilkin said the concept idea of the micro-anthology appeared when she and the director of the Chisinau publishing house ARC Iurie Bârsa agreed it will be nice to have interdisciplinary projects that will make literature and images meet. “We thought about Vasile Botnaru who is not only a painter, but is also a famous figure in urban areas, in the country and outside it,” she stated, adding she cannot call the oenograms (term invented by the author) a “naive art”. “It is more than an art practiced by the journalist during breaks. It is an involvement that enchants me”.
Teo Chiriac, vice president of the Writers Union of Moldova, expressed his admiration for the author and for the literary component of the micro-anthology. “The work is not a wine story about winemaking and winegrowing or a literary story presented through the angle of the wine. It is rather an incision in the stratum of impact of the physical civilization with the spiritual one, of the sacred with the profanity, in the life of our community,” he stated, noting he discovered the author’s talent during student life first.
Gheorghe Arpentin, director of the National Office of Vine and Wine, said the author managed to give a cultural dimension to the wine. He noted he undertakes to nominate the book-album for an award of the International Organization of Vine and Wine e next year.
Tudor Zbârnea, director of the Museum of Arts of Moldova, urged Vasile Botnaru to try and paint in other ways too as he does it excellently with wine. “I wish him at an older age to distance himself from wine, as Tudor Arghezi did, and come closer to ink and other colors as he understood very well what color is and how this presents life,” stated Tudor Zbârnea.
The painting exhibition at the Museum of Arts of Moldova can be visited until January 6, 2019. The book-album “Enchantments for the wine. Micro-anthology with oenograms” is available from libraries for about 150 lei.
