The making of "Once upon a time was ASCO..." - 6 years later

   I was never a fan of the "golden age" in socialist times. The stories varies and I never caught those dead ideals of a society focused only on overall manufacturing and production, but on the other side without any personal life and achievements.

   Six years ago in early January I started working on some drawings - still in school at that time, I needed some stuff for Architecture Certificate folder and this drawing was included as well.

  The artwork I was working on depicted a former clothing factory iconic for hometown, called "ASCO" (I don't know if it was an acronym or a stand-alone name). ✏️

.   Fig.1.My drawing depicting ASCO

  

    Fig.2.ASCO Bacău in 2009.

  

   The artwork used this reference picture (Fig.2).The factory was built in 1949, finished around 1990 and literally demolished in 2010 though early 2011. I was a kid when the factory disappeared and day by day the area became an empty place and a lot of rumors related to the new building were in media. Luckily it was replaced by a shopping center known as Hypermarche Cora.

   Fig.3. Cora as of December 2022

  

    My drawing featured the main facade of ASCO. It used to have a industrial style architecture based on large work places for sew machines were women had jobs (around 5000 women worked as of 2000). My mum used to work here too in 90s (hence my interest in the factory's history).

   Work process

   Fig.4.Stage 1 - linework

   Fig.5.During wip 

   Fig.6.During wip

  Now I regret I didn't photograph the wip process more - once I saw the finished drawing I could move on new artworks, but I didn't realised (at that time) I would return someday at my previous work.

  The drawing needed intensive work, being my early work that was so well done and marked a milestone in my learning process. 

 

    Fig.7.Finished artwork

In late January 2018 the artwork was finished. The result was brilliant and I felt very satisfied with it, recalling the lack of time I had in that year. 

  Release and reception

   The artwork received mixed opinions, mostly positive since the factory history is partially lost and its whereabouts will always be remembered by several locals and mine. It was posted firstly on my Instagram account. It received little attention, but appreciated more than a regular post.

  A local (probably former) reporter shared my drawing of ASCO on his personal Facebook later that year; (Fig 8). He replied in DM that "he couldn't believe such an artwork (sic) was hidden". He was amazed to find out the artist - me - was a teenager, knowing the fact local teenagers were (and still are) reluctant at local history.

   Fig.8.First large release in late 2018

  A year later I shared myself a scanned version of the drawing on Bacău's main group on Facebook. It received major attention as 30% of the women who worked at ASCO were in that group and remembered instantly their once job. The post gathered over 1k likes and lots of comments I was never able to read, but my drawing was appreciated, mostly because there are no pictures of the factory and apparently mine will remain (sadly) the only one available related to ASCO.

  Personal notes 

  Nowadays ASCO is completely gone. My mum ended her job within the facility in 2006 and two years later the factory announced its closure amid then's recession. In 2011 nothing was left and as of 2020 in early pandemic Cora was one of the most visited shopping areas in town. Few buildings are still reminiscent of ASCO's, some local block of flats that used the same construction materials and iconic decorative green glass and orange bricks. 

  My drawing envisioned the factory like it used to be in its heyday. I was never able to photograph it. I got only one video of its demolition and some vague memories that aren't fresh. Nobody will undo such acts, ASCO emerged from a manual workshop, became top in 80s with international exports and after 2006 it struggled financially and ended up sold by pieces more than a decade ago, that's how history goes by ...

  That is it my dear friend, enjoy! 👋💡