Substrat - art review by Sînziana Maria,Stănese ITA, 2nd year

Urban nightlife is a vital space to shed inhibitions. This being said, 12 upcoming artists from the graphics department of the University of Arts and Design Cluj are ready to show you how life is lived in our city after dark. The exhibition Substrat is opened at the H33 Social Innovation Hub on 33 Horea Street in Cluj Napoca Romania between May 20th — May 27th 2019. The space is well know for hosting not only art related shows but also unconventional parties and social gatherings for the young creative minds around town. It is the first group exhibition for these second year students that have worked for almost two years now to polish their printing and engraving techniques.

The show is located in a humid basement, but has a special aspect that immediately impacts the viewer: the dim but very well-placed light sources. In this way, the beauty and the grotesque of the exhibition are revealed in a very theatrical manner. The dark environment and the warmth of the light add a mysterious yet poetic feel to the exhibition and although it all seems staged, the works of art look really natural together. And this is why the show is good, because of the perfect manner in which the art, the lighting and the exhibition site complement each other, creating this otherworldly, almost magical atmosphere. But it is dark magic we are talking about here, because the artworks are in no way spreading optimistic fairy tale vibes. The exhibition talks about solitude, degradation, today's subcultures and their superficial and nefarious ways. The pieces tend to ironically depict all the previously mentioned aspects and show the viewer how the millennials’ typical lifestyle unfolds itself layer by layer right before our eyes.

Therefore, the whole layer by layer motif creates the narrative of this whole show. All the works require a deeper analysis in order to fully understand them. They are all metaphors that tend to look playful or even clumsy but actually unveil an unfiltered truth of our society. 

One of the best artworks is called Detron by Lucian Barbu. It is one of the highlights of the main room being placed in the middle, directly under the spotlight. Essentially, it depicts a destroyed throne made out of roughly 300 bottles of beer, where each individual bottle has an original silkscreen printed label. The labels are supposed to describe in a funny yet satirical way the complicated and challenging life of the nowadays student. This artwork, placed in the basement, looks like a gem in a mine. Its vivid shine and considerable size make it look like the throne of some fallen nightlife emperor. It is eye catching and the labels are hilarious, a great asset to the show.

Another special yet more discreet work comes from artist Adela Aldea called Izolare. It shows a series of 10 A3 cold needle etchings of her classmates. The pieces are subtle and delicate, being placed on the inner sides of the arcade’s piers. The placing, somehow hidden,  translates into a beautiful metaphor, in which the artists are the ones living in the shadows, the true “pillars” of this exhibition. Aldea also brings up a more sensitive topic concerning the isolation and emptiness of the artist's persona in comparison to his flamboyant art. This enriches the viewers 'experience by diversifying the range of their emotions, another plus of this show, in my opinion. 

Having said that, the whole exhibition is a very fresh, unfiltered experience of our contemporary culture, narrated by young artists in a dynamic and humorous manner. If sarcasm and irony tickle your sense of humor, if you are not afraid of a deeper and sincerer understanding of yourself and the world around, then come to H33 and let yourself be enchanted.               

Transmission Cluj: He who spoke to the plants - art review by Ana Sisoi, 2nd year ITA

  An era during which human activity has been the dominant influence on climate and the environment, the Anthropocene or, as some would call it - Capitalocene (arguing that what changed the modern history was, in fact, the capitalism) is, undoubtedly, a time of major, irreversible climate change.

In an attempt to draw attention on this controversial subject, on the International Light Day, that is 16th of May, the artist-researcher and President for life of Ouest-Lumiere Company, Yann Toma developed, within his Transmission Roumanie project, belonging to the 2019 France-Romania Season, a transmission chain of light Morse signals using modules placed in different points across Cluj-Napoca: Centrul de Interes, Horea Street, Unirii Square and Alexandru Borza Botanical Garden. Taking place at a national level, the project started off in Bucharest, on April 19th, in the context of Spotlight Festival and will continue in Iași and Timișoara.

Professor of art and art science at the Paris Panthéon-Sorbonne University and member of the Institute of Advanced Studies in Science and Technology, Yann Toma is a French contemporary artist who developed the concept of artistic energy, as a means or an “impulse which would enable us to link to each other without us being forced of asserting our culture, our religion, our ancestry”. Through his artworks, he approaches the topic of collective energy and solidarity, getting involved at the same time in political and social events.

Within the episode of Transmissions that took place in Cluj, Yann Toma’s installation made use of the plants from the Botanical Garden and the former Tehnofrig plant, that is the current building of the Centrul de Interes, generating a narrative that raises the topic of planetary ecological consciousness. Thereby, Yann became the translator of these plants and transcribed their thoughts on the walls of the expositional space, hence the subtitle “He who spoke to the plants”. On the night of May 16, these thoughts were conveyed through light in the central places  of Cluj-Napoca mentioned above. 

The reference to plant intelligence or consciousness which, as well as climate change, is a largely debated subject, is easily recognizable in the concept of Yann’s installation. There are numerous studies that suggest that plants are sensitive and problem-solving organisms. However, there are people who accuse those who believe that plants are capable of humanlike, intelligent behavior of anthropocentrism. Nonetheless, some specialists argue that plants are capable - without the brain activity and self-consciousness that we assume is necessary for intelligence - of storing memories and learning from them, memories that our artist, by his means (consisting, among others, of some special sort of technology) - maybe a little difficult to understand for the rest of us, even for the general curator of the exhibition, Cristian Nae, as he admitted within the discussion with Yann that took place before the exhibition opening - manages to gain access to.

Although it was an only one-day exhibition, by approaching a controversial topic with appeal to the masses, yet transposed in an installation with a narrative that talks not only about climate crisis and the need for a planetary ecological consciousness, but also about memory, energy flows, about the relationship of the individual with the world, Yann Toma’s project manages, beyond the aesthetic dimension of the eye-catching installation and schemes with jungle vibes to sensitize the viewer regarding the future of humanity and raise a series of questions of rather a philosophical nature. 

We might, therefore, say that Yann’s project and artwork, in general, is a visionary one, trying to find a meeting point not only between contemporary art, science and philosophy but also between people from different generations, social classes and with different origins.

Substrat / Substratum. Review by Oana Dico History and Theory of Art, second year.

Can you see the true contemporary world?

Well, from May 20 to May 27, 2019, you are invited to the H33 gallery, to participate in a group exhibition presenting the contemporary world seen through the eyes of these young artists.

Twelve students of the graphics department in partnership with two students from the History and Theory of Art of the University of Art and Design Cluj-Napoca organized an event aimed to criticize contemporary society. 

Mixing with different work environments, artists have uniquely transposed their own opinion of the contemporary world, the layers of the society they live in, the vices that have become a habit and the youth's nightlife. The work environments and areas were varied. Going from video, installation, scraping, to linocut printed on blinds, manikin legs and other environments.

 The works flipped perfectly with the space in which they were exposed. In the first room, one meets the works of the artists Codrin Sodea, Adela Aldea, Anca Vatavu, Alexandra Vasilescu, Sorina Crişan, Lucian Barbu and two students coming from Armenia - Manu Harutyunian and France - Anke Renaud. Ovidiu Dominici's works are placed in the next room, while Adina Constantin, Sebastian Ştefan and Dani Iuga exposed in the last room.

Codrin Șotea: the technique used by him is scraping. He wants to highlight people's negligence over ordinary things and at the same time the layers left by generations over the years.

Adela Aldea: she went to an introverted side where she chose to interpret her own colleagues in the exhibition, representing them on a chair, isolated, approaching their own personality, everything filtered through the artist’s personality.

Anca Vatavu: aimed at how tattoos evolved. Nowadays any young person can afford a tattoo. This becomes a” normal thing”. As support for her works, she used some life-sized mannequins, which she etched with a cold needle - a tattoo needle - imitating the true cold-needle tattoo technique.

Alexandra Vasilescu: recontextualizes the texts written in the bathrooms of the Cluj-Napoca clubs. These are now to be found on postcards. Thus, the destination of messages in clubs changes altogether. As a medium, she used offsets.

Sorina Crişan: refers to the man-made subcultures and how they affect certain social classes. She used the linocut technique printed on PVC blinds. If closed, the face of Florin Salam (the singer of “manele”/ those low-quality Oriental-like songs) is depicted; if open, the face would be lost.

Lucian Barbu: brings a critique of the nocturnal community of Cluj through a throne of beer bottles with satirical labels made in the silkscreen technique. 

Manu Harutyunian: shows us the nightlife seen through Renaissance filters. Hands from Renaissance in today's nightlife, with electro music and club lights. Technique: lithography.

Anke Renaud: since the 20’s but mostly from the ’70s, the disco ball has been an important element of night clubs. Technique: silkscreen.

Ovidiu Comanici: there are three mediums at play, simulating a teaching environment through a video tutorial, an instruction book and printed plywood with the steps to follow. Ovidiu gives directions for tap dance.

Adina Constantin: she presents another view of the world, more precisely through the eyes of a cat. Assembling a go-pro camera on the cat, the artist transposed into an animation what the cat sees with its eyes. As a result, she got a series of offsetting with the cat in the form of Polaroid pictures.

Sebastian Ştefan: he wants to show through a linocut the agitation of the city and the way it transitions when you pass by the same place daily.

Dani Iuga: representing two Romanian personalities in vogue in the early 2000s, the artist made two clay busts in a degradation process. The irreversible transformation produced by contemporaneity is represented on the faces of these characters

The exhibition features just a small part of the world we live in as seen by these young and talented artists.  Agitation, introversion, irony, criticism, vices are just a few themes they deal with.

 The curators, Oana Dico and Sînziana Stănese, have successfully modelled these works in the exhibition space, getting positive feedback regarding the exhibition.

ALEXANDRU RÃDVAN - PARTNER FOR THE ABYSS, by Patricia Suciu, 1st year, ITA

Yesterday, “Centrul de Interes” opened its gates once again, and one of the exhibition was called “Partner for the Abyss” by Alexandru Rãdvan. And let’s just say that, for sure it’s the most eye catching of them all.

Vibrant colors, holiday, jungle, goddess, sexuality, depersonalisation, acceptance. These are only a few key words.

It has a story, and even if you consider it’s good or not it doesn’t matter 'cause you’re reading it anyway. Or, you know, watching it. He has his own fantasy world, mythologic really, and it’s filled with, over all, a sense of calm. Serenity.

For sure a “must” to see.

Alexandru Rãdvan is a Bucharest based artist who works mostly with Anaid gallery, which is also located in the capital.

You can see the exhibition at Centrul de Interes till the 15th of June.

Mihai Platică - Centrul de interes, by Bianaca Vitcu, 1st year ITA

I  have been to Centrul de Interes, the well-known art place in Cluj Napoca, and visited the exhibition called ”Pillars of creation”, of the contemporary photographer Mihai Plătică, famous for his technical rigour, without lacking a deep, emotional emphasis.

Inspired by archaeological discoveries, Nasa research or even familiar places where he travelled with his relatives, the artist is involving us into a constant game between the cosmic space and the terrestrial one, in either obvious manner, or in a more metaphorical way.

The absence of human figures from his photos, together with a sort of music rhythm created by the display of the exhibits, allows us to have an aesthetic experience, going from relaxed beauty to an almost rough, sublime emotion.

You can enjoy it yourselves until the 15th of May.

Aurel Popp permanent exhibition, by Andra Gerin, 1st year ITA

THE ART MUSEUM OF SATU MARE, ROMANIA

Paintings, graphic works and sculptures, over 70, made by Aurel Popp, one of the most talented and representative fine artists in Transylvania, are exhibited at the Art Museum in Satu Mare during a permanent exhibition. There are five halls.  In the first room, the artist's studio is recreated, the portrait room, the landscape hall, and the last two halls are dedicated to the artist.

    In the last room, the artist is revealing the tragedy of war and the tragedy  of the man crushed by history; it also presents two paintings with Christ represented as a crying martyr who crashes under the weight of his own cross. His war is not a glorious battle, in his war the final victory belongs to the crowd and eagles; the imobilized old man is headed to death. His people are not young couples in love, or children playing. His true hero is the man crushed by work, the hungry mother and the child born to die.

    Between chromatic flashes seeming too aesthetic but always captivating, Aurel Popp became one of the most representative painters when it comes to aggressiveness. He glorifies human misery like no one else;  that’s for sure.

Polish School of Poster art. WOMEN IN POLISH POSTERS, by Madalina Istrate, 1st year ITA

In the context of the celebration of the Year of Women's Rights in Poland in 2018, the art museum in Cluj Napoca  hosted an exhibition dedicated to the Polish poster between February 27 - March 17, 2019 in collaboration with the Polish Institute in Bucharest.

It was worth seeing for the multitude of posters dedicated to the female presence in the vision of the famous Polish poster school, bringing refreshing atmosphere to the art museum, and celebrating the characteristics that, sixty years ago, made the Polish poster famous all over the world.

The exhibition brought together over forty posters made by some of famous graphic artists of Poland and offered the visitors the opportunity to see and understand a diverse range of themes and styles in tradition of the Polish posters at the end of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st century. Worth mentioning is the context of the celebration of the Year of Women's Rights, proclaimed by the Polish Parliament on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the full enjoyment by the Polish women of full voting rights.

Partner for the Abyss, By Madalina Matei, Ist year, ITA

            On Tuesday, the 7^th of May, five new exhibitions opened their doors at Centrul de Interes, the already well known community of artists, based in Cluj-Napoca. In addition to the event, there was a live performance show, good music, good food and a big crowd of nice people.

            Bazis Contemporary in collaboration with Anaid Art Gallery from Berlin, hosted an exhibition called “Partner for the Abyss”, curated by Diana Dochia. The featured artist is Alexandru Rădvan, one of the most controversial artists of his generation. His work channels the relationship between contemporary society, religions and mythology and he tries to penetrate the darkest human desires. There, in the inner darkness, the artist shapes his heroes and goddesses in oversized self-portraits, in which the self becomes an alter ego of the mythical characters. "Partner for the Abyss" is about the distance between what the "I" wants to be and what can become. Whether this "I" is represented in the form of an ancient goddess, a fertility goddess, or a hunter.

            Alexandru Rădvan's paintings and drawings attract the viewer through both the impressive dimensions and the topics of his work. I recommend you go see all of them for yourself, from 4 pm to 7 pm, until the 15^th of May, from Tuesday to Saturday.

Dinosaurs Live in the Seven Overlaid Skies, by Ingrid Dan, ITA, 1st year

     

  Last Friday, on May 3rd, White Cuib gallery held the opening of Tincuța Marin’s exhibition called “Dinosaurs Live in the Seven Overlaid Skies”. Born in Galați, the artist studies painting at the University of Art and Design. She has had three solo exhibitions so far: ”In the dinosaurus World stars are green” at Atelier Patru, “Theatre of the mind ” at La Cave Gallery at the French Institute, and “Distorted Realities” at Casa Matei. She has also shown her work in a number of group exhibitions, some of the more important ones being “The Night Watch”, “Sottobosco”, both having taken place at the Art Museum, and "A word for each of us" at Richter FineArt Gallery in Rome. Open until May 15th, the first day of the exhibition attracted a rather large number of people interested to see what the young artist had to offer in her new works. The project includes elements of stage design, street art, and the everyday.

            Through a expressionist filter, the artist aims to suggest a dreamlike atmosphere and to convey emotion, without indulging in any narrative cliches. What can easily be seen is the preoccupation with things such as dreams, magic, form, and the absurd, through the atypical faces of the deformed characters in the works, the colors, the composition. The artist succeeds in creating the impression of the world of dreams, the images just as absurd, the space just as unclear, the events presented just as incoherent as what one might remember of a dream just after waking up, before it is partially or entirely forgotten.

DAN CRECAN ' 64, artnews by Alina Grozav, 1st year ITA

LIGHT, COLOR, SYMBOLS AND SOUND: Dan Crecan's art exhibition which opened on April 25, at the Alba Iulia’s Art Gallery, started from the idea of a traditional Romanian house. The most usual and modest objects that can be found in any of these places were highlighted by the artist to show that things which initially seem banal, unimportant can hide an unexpected beauty, but only if you have the time to look at them. 

The public who will visit this exhibition will enjoy the experience of the past, of that house of our grandparents or even  our parents who sometimes we miss, even if we don’t know. The traditional objects, the furniture or even the way simple things like some apples, present in some paintings, can send us back in time for a short amount of time and I think the exhibition deserves every single minute of our visit.

Flawless Sin, review by Andreea Bruma, 1st year ITA

                    
“Beauty in the lines of a woman’s body can become, when filtered through art, so sublime to give the spectator an almost mystical shiver, a feeling of unearthly adoration.”

Monica Dan’s exhibition is looking to engage directly with the public, by asking a simple yet intriguing question: What did the initial sin taste like before it was born?

In her works of art, the artist presented the purity as it was waiting to be ruined. Intact and barely resisting the inevitable sin. By definition, purity represents innocence and freedom from immorality, especially of a  sexual nature.
Purity is the soul's original and eternal form and nature of being clean and free of vices or negativity. Among the soul's seven original qualities, it ranks first being known as "the mother of peace and happiness."

Filtered by the artist’s own perception of purity, the concept is portrayed by her through a number of features that she considers to be relevant: the use of the color white, feathers, and drawings of women.
The exhibition is a graceful dance between light and shadows, the immaculate purity standing at the edge of innocence lost.
 

Delirium, a review by Valeria Gavrila, 2nd year, Conservation-Restauration

 Alexnder Zigo and Danka Laliková are the directors and editors of the remarkable  short film that was made within the project. This, as well as other short films can be found on the organizers' page http://thaliateatro.sk/ :  the film

 The film is titled Delirium, an allusion to the society we live in, because the delirium is a serious disturbance in mental abilities that results in confused thinking and reduced awareness of the environment.

Both Alexander and Danka are high school students of JOZEF GREGOR TAJOVSKÝ, Banská Bystrica and SSUŠ in Zvolen.

Alexander is a young man with a promising future in both cinematographic and graphic arts, choreographed with all forms of art, including music, with numerous diplomas and successes in all fields.

Danka is studying promotional arts, being extremely talented on the graphics side, having a personal style that reminds us of Pablo Picasso's masterpieces. If you are curious, you can take a look at her  artist Instagram. https://www.picluck.net/user/danique_lalik/1361316335

The short film lasts 3.16 minutes and shows the story of two office colleagues outside working hours, both deprived of human rights, such as the right to free speech, to liberty, etc.  and also speaks about  how the world can be corrupted. The faces with which you will live the moment and the actors of this film are: in the role of the activist- Yaiza Misut, in the role of the media guy- Santiago Tapia and  last but not  least, in the role of the politician- Alexander Zigo.

The manner in which these young artists manage to direct Delirium is impressive, considering the sensitive themes especially in the context of the latest terrorist attacks, such as the one in Amsterdam on  August 31, 2018 or in Paris on  May 12, 2018, and all the other conflicts around the world.

The short film captivates you from the beginning not only with the well-chosen soundtrack, but also with the overlapping effects of several frames in sepia shades.

Intriguing, right ?!

Well, Delirium also comes with some shocking scenes where the protagonists succumb to pressure and express their suffering through screaming, their mimic being incredibly expressive, just like in the painting of Edvard Munch.

All in one, the short film was a real delight for me as a viewer and it is definitely worth a couple of minutes to watch not only  “Delirium” , but also the future movies of these artists, these young people with such a great potential.