Paul Neagu Starhead Figure, c. 1990

Romanian-born artist Paul Neagu lived and worked in London until his death in 2004. Neagu’s philosophical approach to his art led him to push the boundaries of abstraction. Having used his own body as a medium in his performance of ‘ritual’ events, Neagu’s work often referred to embodied experience. Neagu worked with various repeated forms, such as ‘hyphens’ and ‘Starheads’. Starhead Figure is one of a series of motifs, (encompassing sculptures, paintings, drawings and objects) recalling the shape of an open star with 8 corners. Based on a circle, it is made up by angles, either obtuse or acute, resting on two ‘legs’, crossed to form a triangle. Neagu designed Starhead Figure to be seen from all angles, where the two legs could appear when seen from different aspects to be crossed, as a ‘closed path’ or opened up ‘like a gate.’