Exhibition Category: Past Exhibitions

“Usually, the artist’s name is found in a corner of their work – as a signature, it appears on labels in galleries and museums or it may be insinuated by a tag, on the wall, in the case of a mural. Taking as a reference international examples of established visual artists, with names that have already become brands, Georgian Bărbieru makes his own name the subject of the MAKE A NAME exhibition. The title uses the English expression, whose faithful correspondent in Romanian is «a-și face un nume». In this way, his name appears written in different coloured letters on different backgrounds, this repetition inspired by lettering and pop-art giving a particular cadence to the exhibition selection, while also invoking (neuro)marketing techniques, more or less subliminal, of the kind that encourage addiction to a particular brand or compulsive consumerism. Thus, although Georgian Bărbieru’s series of letter works claims – chromatically and conceptually – to be part of artistic practices found in Alighiero Boetti, Damien Hirst or Gerhard Richter, indirectly, it also refers to his earlier concerns with eco art or the human impact on the environment.” (Ana Daniela Sultana)

Georgian Bărbieru is an assistant professor at the National University of Arts in Bucharest, Faculty of Decorative Arts and Design (Department of Mural Art) and a member of the Fine Artist Union of Romania (Painting Branch Bucharest). His artistic practice is complex and is developed on two levels: on the one hand, as a teacher, he teaches mural art, on the other hand, as an artist, he experiments with painting, sculpture and installation.

Ana Daniela Sultana is a publicist and curator. Her articles are published in ARTA magazine, Orizonturi Culturale Italo-Romane and on agentiadecarte.ro. She collaborates with institutions such as the International Cultural Centre Krakow, ICR Vienna, Austrian Cultural Forum Bucharest, MNLR Bucharest, Bucharest City Museum, Timișoara Art Museum, Kunsthalle Feldbach, Aluniș Art Center, CREART Gallery and other contemporary art galleries.

“Aniela Ovadiuc’s series of white Limoges porcelain spheres probes both the spiritual and conceptual-artistic dimensions of light. They reveal a kind of exploration of consciousness as an artistic concern and remind us of the role of ceramics as a preferred medium for expressing people’s feelings, ideas and considerations over the centuries, constituting a fine indicator of the state of society from ancient civilizations to the present day. Aniela Ovadiuc harmoniously and with remarkable visual effect combines traditional and contemporary elements in her ceramic installations, taking artistic discourse and decorative art to a sophisticated level of plastic exercise while demonstrating an astonishing ability to convey complex epic structures. All the more so, the ceramic whiteness that gives the sensation of weightlessness, that invokes tabula rasa and offers us the promise of a new beginning, freed from all previous karma, tells stories deciphered through light, through vision, through the artist’s creative universe. Of course, the texture of these spheres can also lead us to think of water in its solid state (ice, snow), creating a warm-cold tension, but then turquoise comes into the balance of thermal perception, referring to oceans and seas, summer. “Through the light” is thus a subtly immersive exhibition-installation by an artist whose plastic vision relies on a synaesthetic aesthetic.” (Ana Daniela Sultana)

Aniela Ovadiuc (b. 1980, Constanta) is a visual artist, graduated from UNArte Bucharest, with a BA in ceramics and an MA in visual arts, member of UAP since 2004 and of Galateea Group since 2010. Her artistic practice is at the confluence of ceramics, object design and installation, and her exhibition activity includes, in addition to solo and group exhibitions, participation in biennials, symposia or salons dedicated to decorative arts, especially ceramics, such as the International Biennial of Ceramics (Cluj, 2019, 2022), SNAC (Bucharest, 2021), Art Deco Biennial of Decorative Arts (Bucharest, 2012), Salon of Decorative Arts (Bucharest, 2012), Romanian Contemporary Ceramics (Paris, 2010), International Ceramics Symposium “Ceramic Art Colony” (Vinica, 2010), Romanian Ceramics Today (Mogoșoaia, 2009) and Art Ceramica (Sofia, 2007).

Ana Daniela Sultana is a curator, art consultant and columnist. She has a degree in philology and communication sciences, a master’s degree in curatorial studies from the University of Applied Arts in Vienna, and she is currently working on her PhD thesis “Poetics of the curatorial text” at the University of Bucharest. She publishes articles in ARTA magazine, Orizonturi Culturale Italo-Române and on agentiadecarte.ro. She collaborates with institutions such as the International Cultural Centre in Krakow, ICR Vienna, the Austrian Cultural Forum Bucharest, creart, the Art Museum of Timișoara, Kunsthalle Feldbach, Aluniș Art Center and numerous contemporary art galleries.

Artist: Alexandru Cînean
& video installations developed from performances produced by creart / Teatrelli & Galateca

White Box @ Galeria CREART
17.10 – 27.11.2022

Black Box @ GALATECA
17.10 – 06.11.2022

Official opening: GALATECA / 17.10.2022 / 6.30 PM

The pandemic has marked the way we relate to everyday life, changed behaviours and generated new gestures in public and private spaces. The isolation and the restrictive measures (imposed for almost two years) have been pushed into oblivion, out of a natural desire to return to normality, but they have remained embedded in a collective memory, tacitly but recognizably manifesting themselves in the way we move in a new reality – the same and yet different, modified by the experience we have lived together, globally.

Galateca Gallery celebrates 10 years of existence this year. Paradoxically or not, the collaboration between creart/Teatrelli and Galateca has materialized precisely during the pandemic period, culminating in a performative project, a guerrilla production that was born when the theatres were closed: the performance “INT.EXT” in the Galateca windows, a show about the status of the independent artist and the role of art. A year and a half later, the performance found its answer in another performative experiment, in the showcase of the Fantom Gallery in Berlin, this time thematising the status and challenges of the producer in the performing and visual arts – “power@vulnerability.art”. They are creative exercises and experiences that have lost, through the passage of time and the return to the new reality, some of the tension, emotion, despair and joy collectively experienced at the time of their unfolding, but have left deep traces, while deepening the conviction and confidence in the power of art to reinvent itself, to adapt and find new forms of manifestation, regardless of the context. Taking the two performances as a starting point, the visual artist Alexandru Cînean translates and encapsulates in graphic language the changes in behaviour and the new gestures that have become part of the normality distorted by the experience of the pandemic.

This is not the first project in which the artist combines visual arts with theatre and performance area, starting with the exhibition “Faust: Vanity and Despair’, after the reference performance signed by Silviu Purcărete, and the presence, on several occasions, at the Sibiu International Theatre Festival (FITS), most recently with the exhibition ‘Eye SB-you!”- an intervention project in public space, with eyes painted on the windows of houses in Sibiu (works made with UV and phosphorescent pigments and techniques), through which the city becomes a spectator of its own histories. Last but not least, Alexandru Cînean has started a doctoral research in which he aims to analyse how visual arts and theatre have influenced each other throughout the history and evolution of art.

Exhibition within neo art connect

#humans

Anca Boeriu and her humans… thinkers and flyers, whole silhouettes or just details, in groups or solitary, sometimes even without references to gender or identity. Because it’s about the essence of the human being: a touch, a hug, an attitude…

In the context of isolation, mistrust and panic generated by the pandemic, these are the gestures that we have probably missed the most, because they relate to the intrinsic human needs: that of being together and of interacting emotionally through body language. These are the values that Anca Boeriu’s artistic universe encapsulates in shapes, lines or dots, keeping the essence of the human being in a zone of empathy, apart from the tragic or morbid. These are the needs and values of which we are perhaps more aware today than ever before. Synthesized, they can be translated simply into… human nature. #human

Anca Boeriu was born in 1957 in Pucioasa and graduated from the National University of Visual Arts in Bucharest (UNARTE) in 1982. She is a Phd lecturer at UNARTE, in the Graphic Design department, where she has been teaching for 21 years. She is a member of the Romanian Union of Visual Artists – UAP (since 1999) and President of the Bucharest Print Section (since 2016), founding member of the International Association “Friends of the National Art Museum of Romania”, member of the International Association MitOst Germany, Romania’s delegate at the Chamallier Print Triennial (France), and since 2014 he is the initiator and coordinator of the Bucharest International Print Biennale (BIPB).

Her artistic and curatorial activity is extensive, including major exhibitions in Romania and abroad. She designs projects for her students and for the community. During her artistic career she has received a number of important awards and distinctions, among the most recent: the UAP Award for Curating (in 2017), the Graphic Design Award (in 2014), etc.

So many times we pass by objects that seem to lack any importance and aesthetic value, and yet, under the “light” of imagination, they can be transformed into stars. Just as every star, however different, can become part of a fascinating galaxy.

This is how WOOBA – a sustainable Romanian brand based on the principles of the circular economy – was born in 2020, in the middle of a pandemic year. Their design products (mainly lighting fixtures) are created from recycled wood rods and joints made by 3D printing technology and transformed into urban, geometric objects, designed to satisfy the latest trends in taste and style.

The installation “Piece by Piece… Into the Light” aims to portray, in the form of a visual metaphor, the whole process of metamorphosing a piece of recycled wood into a micro-galaxy.

Part of DESIGN GO

An exhibition about inner dialogues, questions, answers and bare thoughts.

The exhibition mirrors the bonds between mother and daughter, interrogating the transgenerational legacies that accompany them.

The exhibition was built around meetings between mother-daughter pairs and photographer Bogdan Dincă, together with actors Denisa Nicolae and Liviu Romanescu. The starting point of the discussions were the thoughts that the daughter or mother expressed in a letter addressed to the other.

From 7th of March, throughout the month, the works in the Mother/Daughter exhibition will be presented according to the following schedule:

• 07-10.03 (M-T): Ana-Doina | Ella-Gabriela
• 11-13.03 (F-S): Ioana-Manuela | Denisa-Gilda
• 14-17.03 (M-T): Mara-Monica | Roxana-Lenuța
• 18-20.03 (F-S): Alexandra-Carmen | Corina-Vasilina
• 21-24.03 (M-T): Sorina-Viorica | Alina-Marinela
• 25-27.03 (F-S): Anca-Adriana | Simona-Adela
• 28-31.03 (M-T): Carina-Anda | Georgiana-Luminița

The 14 portraits are accompanied by audio excerpts from the meetings. Laura Ionescu completes the portrait of her mother with a series of memories that belong to the “My mother is just words” universe.

Photographer: Bogdan Dincă

Coordinators: Denisa Nicolae and Liviu Romanescu

Music: Mihai Dobre

Exhibited by Vanner Collective

Special thanks to: Adi Bulboacă, Liviu Chițu, 4 Teen Art Association

Bogdan Dincă is a photojournalist, interested in social issues and exploring how we function as individuals and society. He is co-founder of the Documentaria group, and his photographs have been published by DoR, Scena9, Libertatea, Inclusiv, Școala9, Hotnews.

“My mother is just words” –  Laura Ionescu In this heart, the mother’s voice is heard without being heard. Laura Ionescu reconstructs her mother from fragments of conversations and questions that will never be answered, just to show that time can neither defeat love nor take away its strength. This experience – about loss, but more about remembering – is inspired by the memoir „I can’t find you anywhere”, published by Publica.

Vanner Collective is a creative collective founded in 2015 with a mission to grow innovative ideas and projects, speaking to people through challenging, fresh and current artistic experiences. They choose disruptive themes, isolating the human story and pushing it to the rawest and most honest point possible. They want to challenge their audience to become part of the community of those in a continuous process of discovery and growth.

Fabien Greenberg – Me&Myself

THE WORK IS BASED ON THE LIFE STORY OF MR R. (person living with HIV from Romania)

“Talking to him made me understand the inner challenges he faces in his daily life. Living with HIV in Romania is not easy because of the taboo associated with this diagnosis. However, what excited me the most is that he is trying to overcome these challenges and follow a ‘normal life’, going out for walks, going to work, going to coffee shops… still having dreams and hopes. But he still doesn’t dare reveal to his colleagues and family that he is HIV positive. Many people are afraid and don’t really know what it means to live with HIV. The series of photos taken with Mr R. is a photographic documentation of his life.” – Fabien Greenberg

Fabien Greenberg is a filmmaker and photographer. Together with producer Bård Kjøge Rønning he is part of the film company Antipode. He studied film and photography in Scotland and has an MA in art and media in London. He has directed and photographed several documentaries and short films. The artist says: “My work focuses on human experiences. I am particularly interested in how the social/political environment shapes our identity.”

Shachar Fishbain – Thoughts on a human cell

THE WORK IS BASED ON THE STORY OF THE PROJECT “WHEN CONTEMPT HELPS SOCIAL” AND ON THE ASPECTS OF THE LIVES OF PEOPLE LIVING WITH HIV IN ROMANIA AND NORWAY WHO PARTICIPATED IN THIS PROJECT

“Working on this project, I have been involved in many activities such as interviews, conversations and studies on the topic. I listened and read about life with HIV/AIDS in Romania. When I got to the actual work in the studio, I felt the need to paint a human cell, although the painting is intense and full of details, I still couldn’t get all the details of the human cell. The story of each human is a world unto itself, the painting depicts one of many people living with HIV who had to deal with all aspects, body, family, love, friendship and performance within society. It is the impression and the way I felt to express and create.” – Shachar Fishbain

Originally born, raised and educated in the visual arts in Israel, then painting and working in New York City, the artist now lives in Norway.

The artist confesses: “I developed my style and techniques during the process and experimentation. Much of my experience in New York is based in the studios where I worked with other artists and event designers. This period of my life, plus traveling around the world, has greatly influenced my creativity and creations. My style can be defined as a unique combination of figurative expression with elements of graffiti and manga art. The key elements for my art are “psychological” portraits that require research and experimentation. I use a lot of humour, taboo and sexuality to project reality. I draw inspiration, for example, from Weimar art between the two great wars and find almost any kind of contemporary art very fascinating.”

This signal exhibition is part of the project “When ContempArt helps social!” organized by Semper Musica Association. On this occasion, 15 Romanian and Norwegian artists will exhibit at the Creart Gallery 15 art works related to the difficulties and challenges of living with HIV in Norway and Romania.

Project funded through SEE 2014 – 2021 Grants within the RO-CULTURA Program.

Eva Lotta – Timeline

THE WORK IS BASED ON THE LIFE STORY OF THREE ROMANIANS LIVING WITH HIV IN ROMANIA: R, D AND I

“I was inspired by all the Romanians I spoke to. They talked about stigma and prejudice. They told me about their fear of telling others that they were living with HIV and how they were treated by hospital staff. They talked about isolation. This is an issue that is reflected in their families, in their search for love and relationships. It also has consequences for their chances of getting a job and a home. I feel that people with HIV live alongside society and that the problems they face impact on many areas such as love, friendship, family and performance. My artwork is an ‘umbrella’ for all of them and shows how society mistreats these people, these bodies and these hearts.” – Eva Lota

Eva Lotta has significant experience in film, media and teaching, having studied media and film for teachers at Bislet College in Oslo. In 1989-1999 she became documentary production manager at Fenris film, and in 2008 she started acting in local films. In 2012 she became an instructor of drama and improvisation at St. Croix School of the Arts. In 2015 she started working with refugees. Her projects have been staged in different spaces and locations, including Norwegian prisons.

Simen Langeland – View

THE WORK IS BASED ON THE LIFE STORY OF SEBASTIAN (person living with HIV in Romania)

“People living with HIV can face stigma and fear from their fellow citizens, this is true in a Nowegian context and is even more acute for those living with HIV in Romania. Sebastian had many challenges in this regard. HIV is considered taboo in Romanian society, for example doctors would refuse to treat Sebastian when they found out about his HIV status. Sebastian’s personal project, the online support group he runs, shows that it is difficult for people with HIV in Romania to find friendship and companionship.” – Simen Langeland

This signal exhibition is part of the project “When ContempArt helps social!” organized by Semper Musica Association. On this occasion, 15 Romanian and Norwegian artists will exhibit at the Creart Gallery 15 art works related to the difficulties and challenges of living with HIV in Norway and Romania.

Project funded through SEE 2014 – 2021 Grants within the RO-CULTURA Program.

THE WORK IS BASED ON THE LIFE STORY OF MR. P (person living with HIV in Norway)

“The largest percentage, of all the sources we spoke to, gave up actually touching the HIV-infected person, even though they do not transmit the virus through touch. Also, as a consequence of this, they themselves have given up this gesture, which is a real separation from the clear social side that dominates practically all our lives and the assimilation of other ways of being part of contemporaneity, physically, even in small and very small communities, as they themselves reported. The paper makes it abundantly clear that the friendship of a person living with HIV stops in most cases at a simple touch.” – Bogdan Roșca

A sculptor by vocation, with works in stone and wood, but his favourite remains metal. He has numerous creations exhibited both in various cities in the country and abroad. His life and activities go in stages, the succession being generated by his professional path.

“All my works are dynamic and I have a particular style of expression. Some are works that contain myths, others are figurative and all are inspired by my social life, my passions and my experiences. For me it is very important that my works convey a push factor and that people understand who I am. If you understand one of my sculptures, you understand who I am, because it is a part of me.” – Bogdan Roșca

This signal exhibition is part of the project “When ContempArt helps social!” organized by Semper Musica Association. On this occasion, 15 Romanian and Norwegian artists will exhibit at the Creart Gallery 15 art works related to the difficulties and challenges of living with HIV in Norway and Romania.

Project funded through SEE 2014 – 2021 Grants within the RO-CULTURA Program.

Diana Munteanu – Love through positive sight

THE WORK IS BASED ON THE LIFE STORY OF MR. E (person living with HIV in Norway)

“The aim of the work is that each viewer, sitting in front of it, to imagine themselves in the place of the central character and follow their story illustrated through shapes and symbols – from the aspirations and efforts of the person living with HIV, to embracing the sense of fulfilment of finding a soul mate and starting a happy family. The basic idea of the painting is centered on love and acceptance; after all, the way we look at others is actually a mirror of our own self and that should encourage us to love more.” – Diana Munteanu

Diana Munteanu studied painting for 3 years at the School of Arts ‘Tudor Jarda’ to develop her artistic skills and continued to practice painting as a hobby until she started to receive requests from friends. While at first she only painted for herself, along the way, she noticed that her work spoke to others and the feedback she received from outside encouraged her to create, explore more and make her presence felt online. The artist is interested in themes such as recycling/environmental protection, promoting sustainability through art and using unconventional materials for artistic purposes.

Bogdan Cazacincu – Hope

THE WORK IS BASED ON THE LIFE STORY OF MR. E (person living with HIV in Norway)

“The family portrayed in the first work with strong and dynamic contrasts actually represents the support Mr. E. had from his family. The support from the family is reproduced by those stylized hands. The agitated background and that gradient element represented as one of the central subjects, is actually the inner state of Mr E. The second painting, artistically, shows the disappointment Mr E. had towards his loved one, especially the one who gave him the infection. The next two paintings are about friendship and performance.” – Bogdan Cazacincu

MURAL ARTIST OF THE GEOMETRIC SPACE OF CONSCIOUSNESS Creativity and the street art experience challenges the artist to experiment with different materials to create artworks suitable for living spaces or offices. Passionate about street art, in 2019, Bogdan Cazacincu is taking his MFA in MURAL PAINTING at the National University of Arts in Bucharest. CAZACINCU’s street art works can be seen on buildings in Bucharest, Timisoara, Sibiu, Bacau, Targu-Jiu, Constanta – cities in picturesque Romania. The artistic area the artist approaches is a geometric space of consciousness reflecting the immutable reality of the world we all know. From portraits to abstract compositions reflecting the familiar features of Pointillism and Abstract Expressionism.

This signal exhibition is part of the project “When ContempArt helps social!” organized by Semper Musica Association. On this occasion, 15 Romanian and Norwegian artists will exhibit at the Creart Gallery 15 art works related to the difficulties and challenges of living with HIV in Norway and Romania.

Project funded through SEE 2014 – 2021 Grants within the RO-CULTURA Program.