Ursachi cast Trace, with its cherub head, from a French limestone urn that dates to the 1800’s.

“The history of art is a multiplicity of stories, many forgotten or repressed in favor of the dominant narrative of the time,” he says. “Cherubs – powerful creatures that first appeared in Middle Eastern mythology and religions – evolved over millennia into malleable, Western signifiers of Eros, abandon and joy, in kitsch and ‘high art.’”

Fat Boys

Ursachi grew up in Communist-era Romania when citizens were not allowed to leave their country. Bunkers dotted Romania’s borders. Some were remnants of WWII, but many were built during the Cold War to instill fear of outsiders – a government-sponsored bunker mentality.

Ursachi has created numerous “bunker” sculptures – woven from willow branches, covered in turkey feathers, surfaced in ceramic tile. Says Ursachi, “My bunkers aim to evoke not only chauvinism and conflict, but also nests, refuge, and beauty.”

Ursachi’s Fat Boys belong to his bunker series. The large-scale Fat Boy currently exhibited in DUMBO under the Manhattan Bridge was originally commissioned by the John & Mable Ringling Museum of Art in Sarasota, Florida, on whose grounds it was on view for over a year. Fat Boy contains three recessed, mirrored “windows”—referencing a bunker’s embrasures—but Ursachi based its form on a classical Western cherub, or putto. The title refers not only to Fat Boy’s plump, cherubic face, but also to the names of the WWII atomic bombs, Little Boy and Fat Man.