Vlad Nanca, In the natural landscape the human is an intruder, by Tania Turcan

The Modern and the individual. What is the connection between these two? The response of the inquiry is offered by Vlad Nanca in his exhibition "In the natural landscape the human is an intruder" at Galeria Sabot, Centrul de Interes, in Cluj-Napoca, between 30.03-12.05.2018.

The first thing the visitor interacts with is the separation, the essential element of the exhibition. A large wall in the middle of the exhibition space, on which 13 welded designs are installed, makes you question: Me versus what? In the first half of the exhibition, Vlad Nanca intervenes with the figures that result from enlarging de-humanized micro-silhouettes as architectural sketches to a 1:1 scale.

                                                    

         

 

  

This initial narrative tries to offer an insight in the contemporary understanding of a being, a creature immune to all the economic mash-up, but at the same time, with large inquiries regarding the verticality of the modern structure. The signs of the wall represent themselves another separation, as Vlad Nanca puts it "the separation of modernism from functionalism'', signaling the problematic of our obsession with the new. The signs look almost like a new coded/extraterrestrial language of the modernism, an accumulation of disparate forms and meanings that triggers the need to find out, what is on the other side? Continuing his journey, the visitor interacts with the plant holders on the other side of the wall, some of the artist's beloved elements used in other exhibiting contexts, as well.

The aesthetics become more striking, the narrative more significant. The modern is present even in outer space, a thought especially suggested by the "The sculpture of to-day" and "Colonisation of space". The human urge to change everything depending on its needs and understandings can bring more unwanted and unconscious consequences, accelerating the Anthropocene.

  

Sculpture of to-day    (left)                                                  Colonisation of Space (right)

 The manner in which Vlad Nanca tries to send this message is quite subtle but is more suggestive in the "Gaze into the Abyss". 

Worth of our consideration are also the empty spaces.  As one might think, there is a rather playful connection between the lack of the interior of the de-humanized silhouettes and the obscure void of the outer space. On the other hand, the three columns composing a grid are of a main interest, apropos the verticality of the modern structure.  We can see how the problematic is more palpable in the second half of the exhibition, urging us to meditate more upon the "invasion" of the natural space.

The exhibition offers a rather insightful and updated picture of the reality. It is also a good opportunity to see how an author such as Vlad Nanca handles the notion of the modern sculpture and the exhibiting space in creating connections. In the midst of the created atmosphere and the generated context, the visitor has to give the last proposition.

Gaze into the Abyss

        

In the Natural Landscape the Human is an Intruder (Vlad Nancă) by Adriana Bicazan

Landscape, space, silence, human, rationality...these are a few keywords that you could use to describe artist Vlad Nancă’s exhibition at the SABOT art gallery in Cluj-Napoca, Romania. The exhibition – which was on display between March 30^th and May 12^th - took the public by surprise with its diversity as it included installations of photography, mosaics, as well as sculptures.

Vlad Nancă studied photography and video at the University of Arts in Bucharest, which deeply influenced him. His documenting of the urban environment symbolises this influence, with him using the many forms of art that I have previously mentioned.

The exhibition explores some of the less conspicuous aspects of Modernism in the 20^th century. In one half of the gallery, the artist is presenting an imaginary world, populated with installations in the shape of long figures made out of welded iron, painted black. The aesthetics of this exhibition is clearly showing a preference towards minimalism, with the figures and signs having a very contemporary feeling. When you first enter into the room, full of his art, you can feel the aspects of pop culture, primitive art, and mythology which Nancă is succeeding at portraying all at the same time. The symbols hung on the wall facing the entrance have a very mystical feeling, yet at the same time are reminiscent of the current generation due to geometrical signs becoming a very popular trend in the past years - they are used as patterns for clothes, tattoos and in other design projects.

In the second part of the gallery, the feeling of modernist aesthetic is even stronger, despite it not being clear at a first glance. The aspects of the present-day are, at first, shrouded as you become distracted by the intriguing, colourful mosaics with geometrical or spatial motifs. This modernist sensation is being deeply accentuated by a wall full of plants, strategically placed as if they were a part of a design show. Rationalistic and artificial sounds conquer the silence of the exhibition. In this space, you truly feel like a disturber of the peace - an intruder in the natural world.

One of the best of Nancă’s installations is the constantly rotating anthropoid forms. This is due to the fact that these humans, which are barely humanoid, give you the strong feeling that they are lost in this landscape. They seem to be directly communicating with the geometrical signs from the wall, giving you the strong feeling that they are familiar, yet they are still mystical. Another section that sparked my attention was the golden and silver Murano mosaic plastered on medium-density fibreboard named “Colonisation of the space”. This is because it is a hypnotic piece, representing a ship-like form ready to set sail into very mystical, almost divine space.

Vlad Nancă is an artist who created the proper setting and mood with his artworks, hence convincing the public to really feel like an intruder in the gallery space. Each piece of artwork was able to communicate his ideas and was very well executed in the manner of a truly contemporary artist, being able to gather together so many different art forms in one exhibition. The young artist is definitely on the right track, being able to be so versatile and flexible in his artworks.