The soft power of the artmarket - a new East European fresh look at the art systems

FIRST EDITION DEBATE ON THE CURRENT SYSTEM OF CONTEMPORARY ART

THE

SOFTPOWER
OF

THE ARTMARKET
AND THE CONTEMPORARY
GLOBAL ART
AS THE NEW FOLKLORE
COLOURING THE GREY
State of Body
“Colouring the Grey” curatorial project has opened a series of three exhibi ions,
t
by bringing forward the Romanian emergent artists in international cultural
spaces, in 2011-2012. The concept illustrates an overview on the East-European
identity in tran ition. The first was pre ented within “Special Projects” section
s
s
of the Moscow Bi nnale of Contemporary Art 2011, under the name ”The Second
e
Wave of Romanian Emerging Contemporary Artists” (September 2011). Second
exhibition was presented in Artists’ House Tel Aviv, the oldest cultural location in
Israel (1934), developping the concept of “State of Mind” (November-December
2011). The third and last part of the series is called ”State of Body” and is exposed
within the Independents Liverpool Biennial 2012.
ISBN: 978-973-1984-86-5

Produced by:

www.cosminnasui.com

Published by

Splaiul Independenţei nr. 319,
Complex SEMA PARC, O.P. 84, Cod 060044
Bucureşti, Sector 6
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Texts by Cosmin Năsui, Oana Năsui
Editing & proofreading: Oana Năsui, Anca Lepădatu, Oana Dumitru, Layout: Cosmin Năsui

Sponsors

Partners

Thanks to: Claudia Andrei, Ana Maria Badea, Lewis Biggs, Anca Crăciun, Terry Duffy, Chaim Efrima, Cristi Farcaș, Dana Ichim (Asociaţia Maia), Joli
Miklos, Florin Miron, Dana Neţoi, Cătălin Pantea, Ion Alexandru Radu, Simona Rădulescu, Dan Pleșa, Sara Scheuer, Alan Smith, Angela Toader,
Eugen Voicu, Anthony Willats
Special thanks to artists involved in this project
Copyright © 2012 Cosmin Năsui. All rights reserved. Contents of this publication may not be reproduced in any form without written permission of
Nasui Private Collection & Gallery.
ISBN: 978-973-1984-86-5
Printed at CNI CORESI SA
2 | Năsui Private Collection & Gallery

2012-2013

NĂSUI PRIVATE COLLECTION & GALLERY

CONTENTS

5

51

24

THE SOFT POWER OF THE
ARTMARKET

FOCUS CRISTIAN TODIE

COLOURING THE GREY
STATE OF BODY

Debate on the current system of contemporary art

Introducing Theoretical Art

Rediscovering corporal figuration in realistic key

THE SOFT POWER OF THE ARTMARKET
INTRODUCTION

5 Definitions
6 Hypotheses
6 Post Duchamp & Warhol contemporary art as the new popular & folk art
6 Folk art, a consequence of the paradigm change. The artwork’s folk feature
6 Contemporary art as entertainment industry
6 The public receiving, contributing to and continuing the art's folk attribute
7 Art beyond systems and institutions
7 Introducing Theoretical Art
7 The cultural capital and the economic capital of the artwork
7 Artwork addiction to the capital circulation

I.
9 Post Duchamp & Warhol paradigm: the new folk art

II.
11 Perishability as the common attribute of styles and theories

III.
12 The value of art after the twentieth century

IV.
13 The crisis of present day values

V.
15 Institutionalized art and its role as a soft power

SPECIAL EDITION FOR PREVIEW BERLIN & INDEPENDENTS LIVERPOOL BIENNIAL 2012
2012-2013

Năsui Private Collection & Gallery | 3


CONTENTS

VI.
16 The market and the industrialization of artistic values
from the second half of the twentieth century

16 The geography of contemporary art: major and minor markets,
shrinking markets and emerging markets

16 The economy of cultural and artistic values

VII.
18 Art institutions as agents
18 Collectors Museum
18 The Agency-Gallery
18 Art dealer
18 Art fairs
19 Auction houses
19 Investment funds and their returns
19 The public
19 The artist

VIII.
20 The competition of art market giants

IX.
21 Corrupt art

X.
22 Emerging markets in Eastern Europe
22 Activists
23 Dezinstitutionalized institutions
23 Economy of sharing, collaborative consumption, Fair Trade

CURATORIAL CONCEPT
24 Colouring the Grey - State of Body

SELECTED ARTWORKS
26 Radu Belcin, Dragoș Burlacu, Francisc Chiuariu,
Felix Deac, Bogdan Rața, Flavia Pitiș, Aurel Tar

FOCUS CRISTIAN TODIE
51 Introducing Theoretical Art

ARTIST SHORT BIO
54 Radu Belcin, Dragoș Burlacu, Francisc Chiuariu,
Felix Deac, Flavia Pitiș, Bogdan Rața, Aurel Tar

PARTNERS
58 St George’s Hall, Best Communication Media, Certinvest, Chapman Taylor

UPCOMING PROJECT
64 Future Now, Working Title


2012-2013

DEBATE
simulation of artwork
structure in the field of
production

ECONOMIC CAPITAL
of the artwork

CULTURAL CAPITAL
of the artwork

CULTURAL CAPITAL
of the artwork

ECONOMIC CAPITAL
of the artwork

Western Europe & USA

Eastern Europe & emerging states

* This material is used as a
starting point for discussions
on the current system of
contemporary art. The
recording of debates in
various cultural areas will
add to this material to create
a subsequent book.
Thank you for all comments,
live or at
cosmin@cosminnasui.com.

Photo: NĂSUI PRIVATE COLLECTION & GALLERY

A

rt in the 21st century
is looking for a new
artistic paradigm that
should restore the
aesthetic and commercial valuation system.
The theory that this study
aims at introducing is that, at
the end of the 20th century and
beginning of the 21st century,
contemporary culture and art
have begun generating a new
type of ”urban folklore”, forced,
through the speed of novelty,
to enter an anonymous artistic
consumption and production.

Definitions of concepts
FOLKLORE: all stories, legends
and creative production owned

I. Introduction
by a particular space, group or
specific activity. In this material, it
refers to the urban areas in general,
as art generators, all around the
globe.
POPULAR: that can be easily
understood by anyone, simple,
natural
CREATIVE INDUSTRIES are
considered components of modern
post-industrial economies and
synthesize a series of characteristics1:
- they represent a set of intensive knowledge activities, part of
the knowledge-based economy;
- include design, production
and distribution activities of goods
and services with high artistic
and scientific creativity, respectively having intangible cultural or

information / encoded (as intellectual property) assets;
- have the ability to generate
revenue from marketing creative
products and services, as well as
from the exploitation of intellectual property rights;
- have the potential to generate economic sustainable growth,
promoting social inclusion, cultural
diversity and human development.
THE CULTURAL AND
CREATIVE2 INDUSTRIES
are: Advertising, Architecture,
Art and art market, Crafts,
Design, Fashion, Movie, Video
and photography, Software
and computer games, Music,
Visual arts and Performing arts,
Publishing, Television, Radio.
2012-2013


Hypotheses:
assumptions for this
paper and for further
discussions
2.1. Post Duchamp &
Warhol contemporary
art as the new popular
& folk art
We define the post Duchamp
& Warhol contemporary art as
contemporary folk art, an art using
anthropological decoding tools
specific to nowadays urban areas.
We also consider it a popular art,
easy to understand, using very well
known idioms and iconographies,
globally spread.

2. 2. Folk art, a
consequence of the
paradigm change. The
artwork’s folk feature
The types of artistic emulation,
known as Schools or Trends, are
actually creative products generated
by prototype models. This kind of
art objects is derived from the interpretation of reality made by artists,
from the prototype perspective.
This is supplemented by the wide
dissemination of artistic message to
the public very wide open to interpretations. All these form the folk

2012-2013

characteristic of an artwork.

2.3. Contemporary art as
entertainment industry

The power and expansion of
global entertainment industry is
due to features such as ”simple”,
”easy” based upon which creative
products are disseminated and
understood unbelievably fast and by
a large extent of people from different cultural areas.
We hereby define contemporary art as entertainment, with
features such as: mass production and distribution, general audience, high aesthetic tolerance, afterhours broadcast (after the working
program), following the same audience segment in competition with
show arts (music concerts, dance,
theater, etc.), movie industry and
TV productions.
The entertainment function
of contemporary art is the result
of the need for relaxation, of the
social cultural alternative to the
time assigned to work. The need for
entertainment is directly proportional to the access to free time of
a society. Culture and arts are the
trade support of entertainment

activities and products. Artistic
genres and cultural products and
any other derived products are
unprecedentedly in ongoing development.

2.4. The public receiving,
contributing to and
continuing the art's folk
attribute
Public frustration of educated
people when meeting entertainment forms of contemporary art
is recorded through the inability
of selection and attraction to easiness. The speed of entertainment
artistic productions shows the high
level of perishability of the value and
reduced cultural capital.

2.5. Art beyond systems
and institutions
In reversal to contemporary
art as folk art, genuine art is the
one that generates research and
de-automates consciousness, first
of the artist, then of the viewer.
Genuine art is open to anyone and
no form of power or capital should
have ownership monopoly on art.

DEBATE

Photo: THE ANDY WARHOL FOUNDATION FOR THE VISUAL ARTS, INC; PHILADELPHIA MUSEUM OF ART

Andy Warhol, Self-Portrait in Drag, 1981.
Dye diffusion transfer print (Polaroid),
3 11/16" x 2 7/8"

Art autonomy is demonstrated
by the fact that it can be produced
independently, outside institutions,
whether public or private. The
critical self-negation essential for
the development of art often takes
place outside institutional practices. To society, the contesting role
of contemporary art is important
and uncensored, even if associated
to any revolution, reform or radicalism factor. Art between power
(politics) and market (economic)
acquires (media) addiction.
Art should not exist only in and
for museums and on the art market,
but also with the aim to develop
and always articulate new ways
of critical sensitivity. Genuine art
should become a tool to see and
learn the world with all its contradictions. From this point of view,
museums and art institutions
should function mainly as depositories and laboratories for the world’s
aesthetic exploration. Private or
public institutions should prevent
art from privatization, economic
assignment and subordination
to the populist logic of culture
industry.
In The Rules of Art (p. 104)
Pierre Bourdieu records the types of
art objects: social art, bourgeois art,
art for art and pure art. Upgrading
these categories in nowadays
contemporaneity we could classify
the art of Jeff Koons, for example,

Rose Sélavy (Marcel Duchamp), 1921.
Photograph by Man Ray. Art Direction by Marcel
Duchamp. Silver print. 5-7/8" x 3"-7/8"

in the category of bourgeois art and
aesthetics.

with no important commercial
value, with dissemination and movement restricted almost always to the
producers themselves. Therefore,
Eastern Europe understands and
defines differently the cultural
capital and the economic capital of
the artwork.
On the other hand, recent intense
exploitation within the areas of the
economic powers (the Anglo-Saxon
American model) of artworks accumulations of economic capital has led
to various types of economies which
subordinated and marginalized their
cultural capital.

2.6. Theoretical art
A form of genuine art is theoretical art. Theoretical art means art
which is based on a theory, develops it and arguments it visually
and artistically. The difference
between theoretical and conceptual art is that the latter replaces
the object with the concept, operating a change of language and means
of expression. Theoretical art is art
inspired through research by forms
of science such as mathematics,
geometry, physics, etc. Theoretical
art investigates scientific researches
on the structure of which it builds
new realities. Works of theoretical
art are patented as inventions and
protected by industry. Their owners
can use them with prototype value,
but also with the opportunity to be
reproduced at large scale for utility
purposes.
See the postulate of Cristian
Todie page 51.

2.7. The cultural capital
and the economic capital
of the artwork
The absence of Eastern European
art market in the last almost six
decades has produced artworks

2.8. Artwork addiction to
the capital circulation

Artifact self-sufficiency and
social engagement of art have been
corrupted by the forces getting in
touch with it: politics, economics,
media. The accepted, official, conformist art is the result of public, political
corruption (as distortion), while the
decorativism and entertainment art
are the result of private corruption
made by commercial and utility structures. Contemporary art is dependent
on the movement of capital.
A contemporary art oriented to
the progress of the cultural capital
would lead to the loss of market,
just as market development involves
maximizing the profit and increasing economic capital.
2012-2013


Photo: CRISTIAN TODIE

Cristian Todie,
”Caddy® Baroc”, 2001,
used into the performance
action ”ACHAT”


2012-2013

I. Post Duchamp &
Warhol paradigm:
the new folk art

T

he end of the twentieth
century art has undergone one of the most
radical paradigm shifts
from Leonardo Da Vinci. Marcel
Duchamp and Andy Warhol, the
pioneers of this new artistic paradigm have each launched definitions and mechanisms that have
irrevocably transformed the
understanding of the function and
forms of art. The former left art
without the object of the professional art craft, the latter deprived it
of its unique value. Many innovations have occurred successively,
using these new paradigm formats,
leaving, on one hand, many artists
without their livelihood and, on
the other hand, a great part of the
public in discontent, because of the
misunderstanding of art works and
in extensio of artistic phenomena.
Relinquishing its function
as object, art was progressively
charged with concept until this
has become indispensable to it.
The charging with concept of
the artistic production is inversely proportional to the presence
of the art object; it might even be
absent from the encounter with the
artistic discourse or the materiality of creation.
Because art no longer requires

craft skills, the savoir faire is
widely accessible to creators.
Artistic means and stylistic
methods were made available to
the public, giving rise to hybrids,
true folk artists, producers or
co-producers (not only through
interpretation) of artistic creation and different types of derivatives of artistic character. Through
mimicry, these artists take advantage of this systematic confusion
of cultural capital production and
pursue financial resources in order
to become new Jeff Koons-es.
Art criticism has gradually
remained without the object of
analysis; it became a rigid and
academicized textualism of highlyconceptual or philosophical and
aesthetic discourses. The analysis
of concepts transformed art criticism into a discipline of hunting
footnoted quotes to build a metadiscourse on artistic concepts,
lacking in object form, oftentimes
dull and incomprehensible to the
general public, like a network of
parallel mirrors.
The “prophets“ Duchamp and
Warhol have been interpreted,
quoted and reinvented worldwide
for more than 60 years without
anyone being able to provide a
real invention or an exit from the

paradigm created by them. In more
than six decades, it was formed
a critical mass of new folk of
contemporary art, adapted to the
anonymity of the speed of artistic
production and of every person’s
15 minutes of fame, prophesied by
Andy Warhol.
This folk art is currently represented by hundreds of thousands of
professional artists and amateurs
around the world, in the same
random way in which people in the
Cucuteni period, the Metal Age or
the Gothic Middle Ages produced
works with a common folk denominator. Then, the same materials (ceramics, iron, etc.), motifs
and decorative patterns, tools were
discovered and used simultaneously on an extended geographical
area, similar to what we call today
a global phenomenon.
Nowadays, globalization occurs
locally by the adoption and adaptation of macro-models into micromodels. This local micro-globalization of contemporary art phenomena makes the styles of the
artists resemble one another very
much, without discovering great
differences between the cultural
areas of origin. In search of originality, artists have come to be
similar.
2012-2013


Photo: AUREL TAR

Aurel Tar, ”GIBRALTAR
ultraperiferic art corner”,
”Pastorale Orangerie”, Râpa Roșie
– Sebeș, România, 2010
performance, action


2012-2013

DEBATE

II. Perishability
as the common attribute
of styles and theories

Photo: T NOEB SE

T

aking into consideration the fact that a paradigm shift generates a folklore specific
to itself, types of folklore, developed after various stylistic periods of the history of art can be
followed. Art objects herein called
“folk objects” are the product of
mechanisms started from a model
based on extensive production,
regardless of the historical period.
One can identify examples like the
Venetian School having Titian as
prototype, the Florentine School
with Botticelli, the Little Dutch
Masters with Pieter Brueghel the
Elder, the School of Rubens, the
one of Rembrandt, Pre-Raphaelites
with Raphael, the Barbizon School
beginning with Constable and
continuing with Millet, the cubist
folklore around Picasso, etc.
Putting scientific research at
the center of art, Leonardo Da
Vinci generates on a historical
scale the most important art paradigm shift until the twentieth
century.

Strong Trends or Schools
manage to impose themselves as
Styles.
Styles are conglomerates
composed of a prototype, its

Jeff Koons' sculpture Puppy, a 12 metres high
puppy made of fresh flowers built sculpture for the
Documenta in Kassel 1992. Nowadays its place
is permanently at the front of the Guggenheim
museum in Bilbao

variations (Trends/Schools),
public perception of the time,
values and theories that contain
stylistic features. They practically
form what we call in this material
folklore/folk art.
Each style goes through three
stages: avant-garde, consecration, mannerism. The distances
between the stages are different
from case to case. These styles,
actually types of folklore, once
absorbed by their contemporariness, expand, then shrink and
are replaced. According to some
researchers3, in order to be established to an audience, a style
needs thirty years of peace, three
years of war and three months of
crisis. The theories, the conceptual
scaffolding of the Styles, are also
subject to perishability.
Paradigm-changing prototypes
actually reveal new functions of
art and specific forms to valorize it.
Also, a crisis of values and theoretical systems is the sign of the
paradigm going into the mannerism stage.
2012-2013


III. The value of art after
the twentieth century

H

ere is how Pierre
Bourdieu explains the
value of art4:

“The producer of the value of
the work of art is not the artist,
but the field of production, as the
universe of faith, which produces
the value of the work of art as a
fetish, determining faith in the
artist’s creative power. Since
the work of art has no value as
symbolic world unless it is known
and recognized, that is, socially
established as a work of art to
viewers endowed with the disposition and aesthetic competence
knowledge necessary to know and
recognize it, the science of works
has as object not only the material
production of the work, but also
the production of the value of the
work or of the faith in the value of
the work, which is the same thing.
Therefore, it must take into
account not only the direct producers of the work in its materiality (artist, writer, etc.), but also
all the agents and the institutions
involved in the production of the
value of the work by producing
faith in the value of art in general
and the distinctive value of a
particular work of art (i.e. critics,


2012-2013

art historians, publishers, gallery
managers, dealers, museum curators, patrons, collectors, members
of the courts of consecration academies, salons, juries, etc.)
and all political and administrative bodies having competence in art (various ministries
- depending on the period – The
National Museums Department,

Field of production
The producer of the value of the
work of art is not the artist, but the
field of production.
DIRECT PRODUCER OF THE WORK
ARTIST

AGENTS PRODUCERS OF THE VALUE OF THE WORK
CRITICS, ART HISTORIANS
PUBLISHERS
GALLERY MANAGERS, DEALERS
MUSEUM CURATORS, PATRONS, COLLECTORS
MEMBERS OF THE COURTS OF CONSECRATION ACADEMIES, SALONS, JURIES
POLITICAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE BODIES
HAVING COMPETENCE IN ART
PROCUREMENT, GRANTS, AWARDS, SCHOLARSHIPS
SCHOOLS OF FINE ARTS
PRODUCTION OF CONSUMERS ABLE TO RECOGNIZE
THE WORK OF ART

Department of Fine Arts, etc.),
which can interfere with the art
market, either through verdicts
of establishment, with or without
economic benefits (procurement,
grants, awards, scholarships,
etc.), or by regulatory measures
(tax incentives offered to various
patrons and collectors, etc.). We
must not forget the members of
the institutions involved in the
production of producers (Schools
of Fine Arts, etc.) and the production of consumers able to recognize the work of art as such, as
value, starting from the teachers
and the parents responsible for
the first inoculation of artistic
dispositions.” (Pierre Bourdieu,
The Rules of Art, p. 295-296)
So, defining the context of
producing the value of the work
of art is relevant in analyzing the
value of the work of art and of
the artistic creation. The current
art market moved the center of
production of this artistic value
decisively from the artist to the
field of production. This industrialized field of production is not
only the producer of artistic value
but also the producer of artists
and of the public receiving these
values.

DEBATE

IV. The crisis
of present day values

Photo: AUREL TAR

T

Aurel Tar ,
”DOITSCH PROIEKT - 2 EURO”,
2008, acrylic on canvas,
150 x 150 cm

he power of a Style to
impose itself appears in
the context of its functionality, its ability to
produce values. After the values
enter the phase of decline, they
become models for and witnesses
to stylistic sets related to historical
scales.
The post Duchamp and post
Warhol paradigm went beyond the
avant-garde and the establishment
phase and reaches the mannerism
phase through a crisis of the values
of the paradigm.
The success of the post
Duchamp and post Warhol art
scene is due to being built on the

mechanisms of an art market
economically capitalized, in an
aggressive manner, at global level
(see above the creative industries above and below the variety
of active institutions-players). In
a post-capitalist world, one of the
aesthetic values of contemporary

art is the result of the exploitation
of economic capital inflows.
2012-2013


Photo: LUCIAN MUNTEAN

Bogdan Rața, ”HandGun”,
in Piaţa Presei Libere,
within ”Proiect 1990”,
Bucharest, Romania


2012-2013

DEBATE

V. Institutionalized art
and its role as
a soft power

T

he institutionalization
of art finds many forms
and roles for all types of
players on the art scene.
The funding system influences the
creation and the work of art in a
variety of methodologies without
precedent so far.

through their wide dissemination.
The power of dissemination and
the status of official art, recognized
and thus validated is a type of soft
power.
Typically, the forms in which
this type of contemporary art is
manifested are conservative.

The public sector institutionalizes art through commissioning, purchasing, promotion, etc.
and uses its propaganda potential to recognize power (national,
political, historical, ethnographic, religious, military, etc.). This
sector also gives art an educational character, for the imposition
and maintenance of specific values,

The private sector institutionalizes art in order to use its financial investment attributes and to
build pyramid schemes in order to
increase value and profit. Culture
and art are under a corporate
umbrella, engaging tax cuts for the
corporations. Private corporate
sponsorship connects art to corporate values and culture. Copyright,

reproduction and copying regulations are forms of control and
restriction of the freedom of movement of creation and shows the
high degree of interdependence of
the form of finance. Creative labor
rights are regulated and independently traded as a commodity on
the copyright market.
Thus, public and private institutions worldwide are engaged in
the propaganda of systems where
creation is seen as an instrument
or a commodity. Knowledge is
limited by control; it can no longer
provoke the system due to financial interdependence, and gets to
be diluted in the play of production.
2012-2013


VI. The market and
the industrialization
of artistic values from
the second half of the
twentieth century

T

he industrialization of
culture is a factor that
became dominant after
the second half of the
twentieth century in Europe and
USA. The term “cultural industry”
was used by sociologists Theodor
W. Adorno and Max Horkheimer
in 1947 („The Dialectic of
Enlightenment“) to represent all
the techniques of production and
reproduction of cultural works
with social impact.
Cultural industries have
become the main model of development in the global world
culture. The effects of this industrialization make art and culture
accessible to large numbers of
people who become consumers
and thus producers of several types
of markets. They can be minor or
major markets, in terms of geographical origin (from the West to
the East) and of distribution and
consumption of artistic production (various forms of art, from the
object itself to gadgets).
Contemporary art is a creative


2012-2013

and entertainment industry,
in which aesthetic values are
supported and permanently
equaled to commercial values.
The field of production (to which
Bourdieu refers) in post-capitalism
is based on the circulation of values
and finding their commercial
correspondent. The art and culture
market is the place of presentation and meeting of demand and
of supply of artistic and cultural
products.

The geography of
contemporary art:
major and minor
markets, shrinking
markets and emerging
markets
Contemporary art is circulated, produced and traded mainly
in cultural spaces that overlap
with the geographic distribution of economic power. The maps
and charts published regularly

by Artprice (www.artprice.com)
accurately state which are and
especially which are not the areas
favorable to the production and
consumption of contemporary art.
Globally speaking, artistic
values have their commercial
counterpart in the economic values
of the spaces of geographical
origin or other consumer areas.
An artistic value can be commercially converted by the market of
origin, if there is local demand, or
by the global consumer market,
where there is power of investment
and commercial reporting to that
value.
Depending on the economic
power, one can distinguish the
major markets, with an appetite
for economic investment, usually
in cultural and artistic expansion,
through the products offered to
consumption (including on minor
markets). The major market serves
a physically expanded area, exceeding its national and geographical boundaries, both through
production and especially through

DEBATE
The emergence of minor
markets gives them the title of
emerging markets. They become
interesting for major markets,
through the especially speculative alternatives of short-term
profits that they can provide.
Typically, new emerging markets
overlap with emerging economies.
By contrast, shrinking markets
are markets where the economic
capital is relocated to other areas
with higher growth potential (see
emerging markets).

The economy of
cultural and artistic
values
In this new economy of cultural
and artistic values, the standards
of classical culture are in a process
of profound redefinition depending
on the demand, the production
and the distribution of cultural
products. The commercial impact
of culture and art is without precedent. Art and culture are institutionalized at a public and private
level. Art institutions are agents,
vehicles through which art is
produced, distributed, marketed.
Several types of economies
of artistic values can be distinguished. There is an economy
of transactions with art objects,
an economy of arts services, an
economy of derivatives, a copyright
economy etc.


Daniel Buren, Monumenta 2012 @ Grand Palais,
Paris. The Monumenta 2012 exhibition invited
Daniel Buren to create a work for the monumental
space of the 45-metre high glass atrium in the
13,500-square-metre nave of the Grand Palais
in Paris. The annual exhibition featured Anselm
Kiefer in 2007, Richard Serra in 2008, Christian
Boltanski in 2010 and Anish Kapoor in 2011.

consumption. Minor markets
stand out as markets where
consumption is greater than
domestic production can support,
and this profile actually creates
them. Thus, they these become
outlets for major markets.
Exporting and importing

culture develop in this twentieth
century a global economy of values
and expand beyond the primary
level of cultural diplomacy, which
ensures knowledge and reciprocal
politically correct recognition of
the cultures from different geographical areas.

By consuming culture, art
and media, people get in touch
and are exposed to the same
messages, they consume the same
object, have the same values, the
same representations, similar
knowledge, regardless of gender,
ethnicity, religion, level of culture.
Contemporary art coagulates the
society in communities, maintains
their stability and social structures
and creates an unconscious solidarity, defined by sociologists and
political scientists as a global neotribalism5.
2012-2013


VII. Art institutions
as agents

Collectors Museum

Private contemporary art
museums have become a catalyst
for investment and a guarantee
for risk insurance. This guarantee
is given by continually adding
value to works in museums, by
the “heavy rotation“ movement in
which they are entered.
The speed with which postcapitalist values are established
is an effect of the global financial
crisis that needs to find alternative
areas for financial security such as
art and other luxury industries.
Museums of contemporary art,
generically called by Hito Steyerl
“Global Guggenheim”, serve the
same role as the stadiums for
sporting events. For an artist
to be professional, he must play
on these “stadiums“ of the art
world, whether they are called
Guggenheim, MOMA, Pompidou
or Tate. A goal scored from a gate
made of two backpacks on a green
space is like an exhibition in a
gallery in Bucharest or Tehran.
The professional peek of
an artist’s career is to be exhibited, circulated and purchased
by a museum of contemporary
art. The museum guarantees the
value (risk reduction), creates the
landmarks of artistic value and

2012-2013

indirectly credits the high growth
potential. The “betting agencies“ in the art world - auction
houses, the public who buys
tickets and secondary derivatives such as gadgets, the media
industry, the publishing industry
and the art books industry are
found in synergy when a contemporary artist reaches the peak of
his career.
The Museum Trustees or the
people in the boards of museums
form a network of collectors who
contribute through financial donations or art objects to the collections of the museums. The taste,
the personal collection and the
financial support form a system
of interests connecting selected
galleries with museums (private
collections fuel public museum
collections).

The Agency-Gallery
The gallery is the agency that
commissions artistic values and
guarantees them by associating
them with its own brand, which
it seeks to strengthen and impose
on permanent basis. The gallery
works with a portfolio of artists
organizing exhibitions and transactions. For most of the galleries,

selling works of art also means
promotion. The gallery marks the
fields of production and the fields
of consumption and seeks and
finds an audience that reacts to
the artistic product. The gallery
creates a critical mass of small and
medium collectors allowing the
artist to continue his career and
feeding private collections.

The art dealer
Art dealers are like capital
markets brokers, they are people
who have contacts and knowledge
of the specific market. They
may represent different interests (galleries, collectors, private
museums). Art dealers do not
invest in cultural promotion and
are aware of the economic capital,
not the cultural one. For them,
finding artistic products is done by
systems similar to head-hunters.
The traded artists’ pool is higher
than that of a gallery, and involvement in promoting art is reduced.

Art fairs
By increasing standards, art
fairs were positioned at the level
of the luxury goods industry. Sets
of conditions and filters allow

DEBATE
access only to certain galleries and
networks of galleries in order to
show and sell the production and
the artistic portfolios. The transactions in the art fairs, like those of
auction houses, aim to maximize
profit (increasing economic and
cultural capital by circulation and
recognition).

Auction houses
Auction houses make up the
secondary market segment in
which art is sold as it exits the
gallery circuit (considered as
primary market). The mechanisms of auction houses form, by
public sale, the art market quota
system. Indexed art market quotas
are processed and provide financial tools as the performance of
artists and of art works (see www.
artprice.com). The works can get
to auction houses through private
sale, expropriation, transformation into liquidity etc. The houses
do not sell under the market price
and seek a significant appreciation
per unit traded. Thus, successive
resale results in maximizations of
the economic and cultural capital.
This increase is favored by a closed
environment, achieved through
careful selection of the works and
batch control.

When a campaign for an exhibition is activated, the main target of
reporting is, as in any other branch
of industry, the financial one. To
this there are added other types of
indicators: cultural, educational,
media, etc.
In quantifying a marketized
public, the amount (rather than
the quality) of participation in
artistic consumption becomes
more important. Art consumption is stimulated by large scale
events, such as Biennales, art
projects in the public space,
mammoth museum productions
etc. The total visual spectacle,
within the tested parameters of
the Hollywood model, receives
artistic declensions at the level of
the budgets. Basically, the entertainment coordinate is one that
manages to achieve ambitious
targets for tens of thousands of
spectators, consumers of artistic
events.

The artist
The success of a contemporary
artist is the concentrated work of
the production field around him,

Investment funds and
their returns

Photo: DAMIENHIRST.COM

The collective financial mechanisms of investment management
provide a framework for forming
and strengthening the artistic
value. Each fund has a growth
capacity ensured by the strength
of the liquidity of art works in a
limited period of time (maximizing economic capital through
storage and resale at the best
moment)..

The public
The public of the twenty-first is
regarded as a target to be achieved.

“For the Love of God“, Damien Hirst, 2007,
platinum and diamonds worth 19 million euros,
was traded with 75 million euros

in order to turn him into a registered and controlled brand on the
consumer market. This success
requires a team specialized in all
branches of the main and related
activities: production of works,
control of works, organizing exhibitions and events with internal
and external logistics, monitoring, legislation on contracts and
copyright, national and international quotations, presentation
in spaces with closed circuit and
open circuit, lobbying for awards
and scholarships, advertising,
media lobbying, the use of public
sales tools, fundraising, attracting capital, constant communication with collectors and investors,
making productions for the book
industry (books, albums, catalogues) and gadgets for the secondary entertainment industry.
At the same time, the power of
dissemination and rapid embrace
of the patterns by direct imitation
shows us the folk component of
contemporary art reduced to the
industrial control of the artist’s
brand.
The transaction price of a
work must ensure the costs of
the team and of all these activities. Without this whole package
of services, which must be financially supported, the artist does not
become known and is traded at a
lower price, often close to the price
of the materials used. The material
can also be a factor in assessing the
final selling price.
It is known that during the
Quattrocento art works costs were
quantified in the amount (ounce)
of color used, the most expensive being gold, silver and ultramarine blue. Similarly, contemporary art works in precious metals
remain the favorite investments
in the arts. (“For the Love of God“,
Damien Hirst, 2007, platinum and
diamonds worth 19 million euros,
was traded with 75 million euros).
2012-2013


T

he global crisis of values
with all its derivatives
echoes in the global art
scene and market. The
accelerated capitalization of the art
market and the industrialization
of artistic production are effects
of the economic crises of searches
for other units of measurement
for capital investment, gold or real
estate being no longer sufficient in
this currency reporting crisis.
The recent interest accelerated by investments in art made
possible artistic productions which
were gigantic in terms of budget,
size and logistics.
One may notice that the
contemporary culture follows the
general structure of the distribution of wealth in the capitalist
world, where 3-5% of the participants have control over and
dispose of 70-80% of resources
(material and immaterial labor,
production budgets, state subsidies
etc.)7. Just as in the case of other
spheres of human activity, art and
culture are dominated by fierce
competition principles, forcing the
majority to be subject to a struggle
for subsistence.
Museum networks are among
the largest supporters and beneficiaries of such artistic productions, together with networks of
top international galleries. The
phenomenon of contemporary art
biennale is extended globally (from
Ukraine to South Africa).
In times of crisis, these budgets


2012-2013

present an impressive increase
nourished by the competition of
art market giants. The capitalized
art market is a good alternative
to financial investments in times
of crisis. Also, speculation of this
economic dimension of art brings
new indicators and hierarchies
of values similar to those in the
sports world. Hyper-productivity
ensures huge artistic productions that guarantee emotional
shock, in huge events as Biennales,
Documenta or Manifesta.
The aesthetic and conceptual
value extracted by Duchamp and
Warhol outside the scope of the
art object breaks the couple art
object - artistic value. This separation made it possible to integrate
the creation in one of the most
financially speculated forms in

Over one hundred biennial organizations operate
around the globe. They often share similar
objectives, practices and considerations, from
curatorial and artistic strategies to political and
economic agendas.
Biennial map provided by Biennial Foundation

the history of art. The circulation
of contemporary art works shows
strong financial ties between all
participants in the field of production: art producers, art dealers,
gallery, art fair, collector, art critic,
auction house, museum, publications, etc. Media publications
are also financially related to the
artistic values promoted in the
art market. The art freed from
the object crafted by the artist
can be speculated with amazing
speed globally, making it a financial vehicle of the rich. The exorbitant prices of contemporary
art works such as those of Jeff
Koons, Damien Hirst, and Takasi
Murakami became inaccessible
even for the nouveau riche. The
financial value of art has become
the attribute of Forbes billionaires and is measured in production budgets and teams constantly
engaged in the artist‘s studio. The
circulation of money in art shows
how many of these artistic values
are exploited in order to bring
direct profit to investors and indirect profit of those involved in
supporting the entire circuit. The
talent is estimated in the artistic
quota indexed in specialized publications that calculate with mathematical algorithms expressing
the yield per square centimeter in
public transactions.
Media participation, PR and
marketing are budgeted tools integrated in the artistic production
that ensures the curiosity of the
public and media interest.

Photo: WWW.BIENNIALFOUNDATION.ORG

VIII. The competition
of art market giants

DEBATE

IX. Corrupt art

O

ne of the observed effects
of the industrialization of
contemporary art is that
art markets can corrupt
the artistic act, in different ways.

Photo: ARRESTEDMOTION.COM

The forms and genres of art
are financially distorted by the
art market. Banksy is the model of
such corruptions, by capitalization
the pop success of an anonymous
street art phenomenon. Behind
the name transformed into a
successful brand of the “anti“ attitude there is most likely already a
team of artists, PR and communication monitoring transactions and
media effects. The huge amounts
at which a stencil or graffiti are
traded show the anomalies developed by an art market controlled by capital and less by aesthetic
values [Banksy‘s record in a public
sale is over 1.5 million euros, “Keep
it Spotless (Defaced Hirst)“, 2007].
Most times, the ethics of financial systems does not distinguish
between money according to their
origin. Likewise, the contracts in
the art world maintain the confidentiality of customers, routes and
sources of money in order not to
provoke issues. Black money gets
into the world of contemporary art
and is a source of deposits.
Complex systems generate
profits and create values by spectacular sales, lobby for awards,

Banksy‘s record in a public sale is over 1.5 million
euros, “Keep it Spotless (Defaced Hirst)“, 2007

exhibitions and residencies, donations of collections, rebuying
works of art in auctions etc.
The art market not subject to
taxation seems to be safer in relation to the fiscalized financial
mechanisms of the giants of the art
industry.
The abuses and corruption of cultural managers are
new networked phenomena that
pervade private and public institutions. Other workers in the creative
industries only benefit from the
financial results of their work in a
small degree and enjoy the audience points which are not controlled by them, but by the abovementioned systems.
Opacity in the art world can be
a sign of corruption or of speculative construction oriented towards
financial profit.
Contemporary art is produced,
financed and designed for

accumulation of surplus - called
economic growth. Transforming
art into private ownership and
profit makes it a product of the
elites (i.e. an aristocratic art).
Contemporary art forms are thus
sophisticated types of social discrimination. In the same way as other
products of the luxury industry,
huge or eccentric productions of
contemporary art have broken
the ecological balance with the
environment, with responsible
consumption and with the ethics
of the transaction values.
Hito Steyerl is more radical:
”Contemporary art feeds on the
crumbs of a massive redistribution of wealth widely, from the
poor to the rich, accomplished
through a class struggle under way.
Guggenheim Global is a cultural
refinery for a set of post-democratic oligarchies, as numerous
international biennales are responsible for the upgrading and reeducation of the growing population.
Thus, art facilitates the development of a new multi-polar geopolitical distribution through the
engagement of often ruined economies, fueled by internal unrest, by
class conflict, by radical shock and
policies of awe. Thus, contemporary art not only reflects but actively intervenes in the transition to
a new world post - Cold War. It is a
major player in the unequal promotion of pseudo capitalism (...).”6
2012-2013


X. Alternative systems
to the main markets for
contemporary art

Emerging markets in
Eastern Europe
Emerging art markets of
Eastern Europe still face the historical bottlenecks of the lack of
free markets during the communist period, in which the State was
the sole sponsor and purchaser of
artistic productions. The art trade
was restricted to some antique art
shops and ranked as prohibitive
because it belonged to the ”bourgeois social class“. The communist period left long-lasting marks
by denying the commercial role
of the artistic product, understood with a pejorative role, and
without aesthetic value. The lack
of economic value of the art object
made it available to be loaded with
historical value, with a propaganda or counter-propaganda role.
Thus, the contemporary art of
the Eastern Europe is profoundly
marked historically but has a disastrous financial report.

Activists
There are activist groups
such as ArtLeaks7 that make the

2012-2013

purpose of contemporary art to
expose the myth that there is no
alternative to the global capitalist
system and that critical thinking is
corrupt. They reconsider the world
without the domination of profit
and exploitation, from the micropolitical and micro-economic level
in the analysis of relations and
human creation. The economic,
political, intellectual and creative empowerment should not be
linked to capitalist or communist
political structures.
People freed from faith in religion trust science and various
disciplines which analyze the
world critically. The specialization in the capitalist society places
knowledge in the service of the
dominant social classes, say the
people from ArtLeaks. Individual
research serves private interests; therefore research based on
critical discourse is not institutionally supported. In principle,
critical knowledge should not be
comfortable and should be distributed in institutionalized educational systems. Social classes
are not structured as bourgeoisie and proletariat. As it evolved,

this couple may be reexamined in
the antagonism labor and capital.
Transforming society reconfigured the productive powers
which now require a critical
rethinking of strategies and objectives.
Contemporary art is a creative
space without geographical spatial
identity. However, it is taken into
account when it is produced by the
world powers or super-powers:
the art created in the twenty-first
century in Kyrgyzstan or in other
countries that do not have pavilions at the Venice Biennale, for
example, is not an active part in the
global history of contemporary art.
One may note that only mature
markets and art scenes can financially lift creative persons to impose
themselves to a wide audience and
to a specialized one, of professionals. The options to improve this
model can come from within it,
by anarchic forms such as strikes,
criticism, deinstitutionalization,
piracy, etc. (not encouraged) or
from the outside, from areas not
yet exploited by civilization and
cultural industrialization (Eastern

DEBATE
Europe, Central Asia, emerging
countries etc.).

Deinstitutionalized
institutions

One of the institutions pirated
and deinstitutionalized offering the power of example and a
case study is the Biennale de Paris
(http://biennaledeparis.org/). It
is an unusual biennale: after being
founded by Andre Malraux in
1959 and abandoned by the French
public institutions, its brand was
registered and relaunched in 2000
by a team of artistic activists.
The Biennale de Paris has
kept its name and develops a set
of artistic processes, which do
not have the cyclical rhythm of a
biennale, are not organized as a
unique curatorial project, do not
have a national space or targeted
and fixed audiences. The biennale
records various artistic processes
(political, economic and ideological), of non-institutional type,
in the very place where they are
made - anywhere in the world, and
communicates them in its publications, which are also irregular.
The efforts of the biennale are
to deinstitutionalize art and to
reject the use of the art object,
believed to have become alienated because of the art market.
The biennale attempts to redefine art by using criteria reluctant
to the idea of an artist in its traditional form (by the manufacturer in
the market, surrounded by its field
of production). The Biennale de
Paris refuses to participate in what
is conventional in the art world
today. Blending genres, exploring the boundaries and practicing the redistribution of roles,
the Biennale de Paris allows art
to arise with accuracy especially
where it is not expected.
Alexandre Guriţă, the director
of the Biennale de Paris, defines the
art market as a primitive, barbaric
market, centered on the art trade.
In his opinion, the art market
should be centered on the services

economy and the social economy.
Guriţă proposes a ”provider art“ in
which artists work under employment contracts and collaborate
with society. These types of events
developed by artists in a collaborative way are defined by the
Director of the Biennale de Paris as
”invisual artistic practices“. These
practices develop creative services
and not art objects. And the effects
of art are actually the end product
of the artistic act.
According to Alexandre
Guriţă, artists must participate
in meetings in public and private
institutions and companies that
need restructuring, providing
views and solutions different from
those of experts in the field.
The Biennale de Paris is an
example in the reverse direction, meaning that the artist is the
one who recovers an institution;
the institution does not recover
the artist, as it usually happens.
It is a biennale with no imposed
theme, no curator, and no spectator. Art institutions can be reformulated based on artistic practice
that questions the foundations of
art. Art should not be institutionalized by the Ministry of Culture, a
legatee, a regulating factor in the
arts and the infrastructures of the
cultural arts systems.
The terminology of art is associated to the practices of the
Biennale de Paris to reopen the
investigation of new terms to redefine the new artistic practices. An
example of a redefined artistic activity is the artist Elisa Bollazzi,
concerned with the development
of an artistic exhibition project
consisting of micro-collections of
broken fragments that belonged to
famous art objects. These physical
fragments of other works of art are
thoroughly indexed and stocked
beginning from the time they were
(at the limit of legality) decomposed and taken from museums
or public spaces. By mixing these
fragments, she makes up her
own work of art, after an original
concept.

Economy of sharing,
collaborative
consumption, Fair
Trade
Contemporary art, exploited and absorbed by the financial systems can still search for its
resources in other concepts such
as the economy of sharing, collaborative consumption or fair trade,
whose essential feature is the trust
between individuals.
These new social and economic
phenomena refer to markets
built on contributory participation among individuals: ”peer-topeer markets“ (already known and
commonly used concepts such as
ZipCar, Airbnb, CouchSurfing or
eBay).
-------------------------------------This material is used as a starting point for discussions on
the current system of contemporary art. The recording of
debates in various cultural
areas will add to this material to
create a subsequent book.
Thank you for all comments,
live or at cosmin@cosminnasui.
com.
Cosmin Năsui, Oana Năsui,
August 2012
--------------------------------------

Notes:
Ana B obirca, Alina Draghici, Sorin Dumitrescu,
”Measuring Creative Economy– Case study:
Romania”, Romanian Economic Journal, 2009
2
DCMS (2001), Creative Industries Mapping
Document 2001 (2 ed.), London, UK: Department
of Culture, Media and Sport
3
Florin Colceag, http://austega.com/florin/
4
Pierre B ourdieu, The Rules of Art, Art Publishing
House, 2012
5
Michel Maffesoli, Robert D. Putnam, web sourse
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neotribalism
6
Hito Steyerl, Politics of Art: Contemporary Art
and the Transition to Post-Democracy, 2010
7
Art leaks, web source http://art-leaks.org
1

2012-2013



CURATORIAL CONCEPT

Colouring the Grey
State of Body
The state of body represents a more profound and deeper approach
of the corporal, visceral identity, specific to Eastern Europe.
BY COSMIN NĂSUI

R

omanian contemporary art has been conissues. “State of Mind” identified a nostalgia expericerned with body representation, since the
ence mixed with a certain adaptability complex, a sort
1980’s, often with usage of it as a method
of de-individualization. This last part closes the equaof introspection. This approach was the
tion, revealing an appetite for the material as well as
perfect substitute for the mainstream reality reprefor different forms of body representation. Alienated
sentation, highly ideologically converted. Thus,
representations or (non)human mutations are favored
forms of irony, sometimes of protest and different
by the usage of new materials (backlit, steel, foam
formulas of displaying the concept of individuality
support painting, synthetic resin sculptures, polymer
found the perfect support in it,
compounds, artificial leather) and
during that present time of social
by the keenness for experiments
About “Colouring the
classes’ uniformity strategies.
inspired by science and medicine.
Consequently, the body became a
Grey” curatorial project
refuge for a reality ideologically
Seven artists bring their internot converted and the corporeality
pretations of body, material and
»»Nasui private collection&gallery,
gathered the present generation’s
concept to the Colouring the Grey
Bucharest, Romania presents the project
interest for a specific form of mateexhibit.
“Colouring the Grey” within the Indepenriality.
The supermarket shapes other
dents Liverpool Biennial 2012, between
types of corporal relationships and
September 21 and October 21, 2012 in
St. George’s Hall, Gladstone and Dickens
For the 80’s generation, it is the
specific physical desires, studied
Galleries.
material that gives meaning and
by Francisc Chiuariu in his recent
»»“Colouring the Grey” curatorial project painting series “Forever Ikea”.
significance to the artwork. Most
has opened a series of three exhibi
times, it is it that generates work
Bogdan Raţa introduces water
tions, by bringing forward the Romanian
and, very often, breeds the idea
volumetry among the new mateemergent artists in international cultural
itself. Rough figurative art, opporials already used in his postspaces, in 2011-2012.
site to the official reality, testifies
genetic sculpture. New forms of
»»The concept illustrates an overview
on the East-European identity in tran
the artist’s intervention through
apparently anatomical, organic,
sition.
gesture, touch, cut, paint, line etc.
yet inanimate constructions are
»»The first was pre ented within
s
made by Felix Deac from synthetic
“Special Projects” section of the Moscow
Post 2000 Eastern Europe geneleather, in a hyper-realistic style.
Bi nnale of Contemporary Art 2011,
e
ration returns to this legacy, dating
Tranzit and perishability repreunder the name ”The Second Wave
before the fall of the “Iron Curtain“
sent the states of the body in
of Romanian Emerging Contemporary
and reinstitutes interesting links
Dragoş Burlacu’s new paintings.
Artists” (September 2011).
over time. Rediscovering corporal
Humanism hidden in techno
»»Second exhibition was presented in
Artists’ House Tel Aviv, the oldest cultufiguration in realistic key is a
sfumatto has been the recent
ral location in Israel (1934), developping
common interest of young artists
concern of Aurel Tar. Chiaroscuro
the concept of “State of Mind” (Novemfrom Eastern Europe.
technique is an artistic effect based
ber-December 2011).
upon identity researches, present
»»The third and last part of the series
The first part of the curatoin the paintings of Radu Belcin and
is called ”State of Body” and is exporial project, ”The Second Wave...”,
Flavia Pitiş and rebuilds, through
sed within the Independents Liverpool
Biennial 2012.
opened the series by reviewing
body language, an European idensome Eastern European identity
tity.


2012-2013

WWW.INDEPENDENTSBIENNIAL.ORG

2012-2013


Radu Belcin,
”Untold things”,
2012, oil on canvas,
100 x 80cm

2012-2013

Radu Belcin,
”Self Improvement”,
120 x 100 cm

2012-2013


Dragoș Burlacu,
”Study V”, 2012,
40 x 30 cm,
oil on glossy sheet


2012-2013

Dragoș Burlacu,
”Waiting crowd”, 2012,
30 x 66 cm, oil on
stainless steel sheet

Dragoș Burlacu,
”Study IV”, 2012,
40 x 30 cm,
oil on glossy sheet
2012-2013


Dragoş Burlacu,
”Beyond reflection”,
96 x 66 cm, oil on


2012-2013

Dragoş Burlacu,
”Beyond reflection”,
96 x 66 cm, oil on

2012-2013


Francisc Chiuariu,
”Outdoor summer 6”,
2011, oil & ink on backlit,
80 x 120 cm

Francisc Chiuariu,
”Outdoor spring 2”,
2011, oil & ink on backlit,
80 x 120 cm


2012-2013

Francisc Chiuariu,
”Forever Ikea IV”,
80 x 120 cm

Francisc Chiuariu,
”Forever Ikea V”,
80 x 120 cm

2012-2013


Felix Deac, ”Eidetic 2”, 2010,
silicon, poly rubber, make-up,
mixed media, 32×22×18 cm

Felix Deac,
”Agglomeration”, 2011,
silicon, poly rubber,
make-up, mixed media,
5×40×30 cm


2012-2013

Felix Deac,
”Eidetic 1”, 2011,
18 x 13 x 15 cm

2012-2013


Flavia Pitiș,
”Overpassing the past”,
80 x 100cm


2012-2013

Flavia Pitiș,
”Soul learning to live II”,
120x100cm

2012-2013


Aurel Tar,
”Tempelhof Necklace 2”,
2012
acrylic on canvas,
120 x 120 cm
Aurel Tar,
”Luise red kissBerlinicus series”, 2012
acrylic on canvas,
120 x 120 cm


2012-2013

Aurel Tar, ”Wonderful
collapse”, 2012,
4 pannels, each 80 x 150 cm,
modular painting

2012-2013



2012-2013

Photo OXANA TORNOREANU

Bogdan Raţa, ”Trying to Keep Life”,
2012, polyester, synthetic resin,
fibre, paint, metal, water,
153 x 36,5 x 17 cm

2012-2013



2012-2013

Photo OXANA TORNOREANU

Bogdan Raţa, ”Trying to Keep Life”, 2012,
polyester, synthetic resin,
fibre, paint, metal, water,
153 x 36,5 x 17 cm

2012-2013


Bogdan Raţa
”Round and Round”, 2012,
polyester, synthetic resin,
fibre, paint, metal,
105 x 86 x 41 cm


2012-2013

2012-2013


Felix Deac
”Artificial Life 01”, 2011, silicon,
poly rubber, make-up, mixed
media, 150 × 170 × 70 cm,
page 46 - details
2012-2013


Felix Deac
”Dead Pillow”, 2011,
18 x 38 x 38 cm
page 49 - details


2012-2013

2012-2013



Cristian Todie,
”Volume 2D”,
2012, folded paper


2012-2013

WWW.ART-THEORIQUE.COM

FOCUS

Introducing Theoretical Art
My «theoretical art» concentrates on the aesthetics of theory
and on its artistic potential.
BY CRISTIAN TODIE


A

ccording to Leonardo
da Vinci, art must be
based on a theoretical
knowledge of nature.
That is also the case for me, but it is
essential to remember that theoretical and mathematical values are
perishable.
My «theoretical art» concentrates on the aesthetics of theory
and on its artistic potential.
Building a personal creative
universe is essential to the authenticity of works of art.
In 1977, it became clear to me
that having a vision based on the
three existing dimensions and the
singular dimension of time would
prevent me from developing a truly
new and original work.
To tie the world of general relativity to the quantum universe,
physics theories add new dimensions to the four existing dimensions in order to open new horizons.
In search of new artistic matter,
I adopted the opposite method,
that of reducing the number of
dimensions.
The industrial process ”Folding
Volume 2D” proposed in February
2012 as well as the ”Volume 2D”
patent obtained 10 years ago exist
as theoretical art that, in addition
to their originality and novelty
essential to their patentability, are

based on the idea that a geometric space with memory, with parameters that differ from the metric
nature of objects in the printing world, is the ideal universe
for experimentation. The image
reproduced on a stack of sheets
appears projected trapped in the
mass of paper.
One can imagine in reference
to this spatial volume that each of
the parallel levels memorizes the
whole of the volumetric and chromatic values that pass through
it and that the intervals between
these images from one level to
another contain a space-time value
that reveals the direction of the
movement.
In the hopes of going back
to the origins of these forms
and volumes, the mathematical
memory of this mass provides for
experimental manipulations that,
through spatial fractures, projects
the original object into another
space, that of a parallel reality.
This medium, provided by the
printing industry, once intelligently folded or sliced, allows for
the image and original forms to
reappear in refractions, reflections
and volumetric anamorphoses.
The works resulting from this
process help spectators become
accustomed to a new mathematic
vision.

MY CREATIVE UNIVERSE
CONTAINS:

2 SPATIAL
DIMENSIONS &
1 SPACE-TIME
DIMENSION

MY ARTISTIC ACT IS

A FRACTURE OF
SPACE-TIME,
THE OPENING OF AN
ESCAPE HATCH FROM
OUR CURRENT REALITY

MY WORK’S MEDIUM IS

MATHEMATICAL
MEMORY

Cristian Todie
SCULPTOR, PAINTER, INVENTOR
LIVES AND WORKS IN PARIS, SINCE
1978. HE IS THE PROMOTER OF
THEORETICAL ART.

2012-2013


Cristian Todie,
”Volume 2D”,
2012, simulation

2012-2013

Cristian Todie,
”Volume 2D”,
2012, folded paper
2012-2013


Cristian Todie,
”Volume 2D”,
2012


2012-2013

Cristian Todie,
”Volume 2D”,
1999-2002
2012-2013



ARTISTS SELECTED BIO

Dragoș
Burlacu

Bogdan Rața

Dragoș Burlacu balances in wide rage
of styles and painting techniques,
from new expressionism to bad art
and realism. Burlacu perfected a
manner of visual rendition, by which
he simplifies narration and figurativeness in order to capture the emotion of the characters’ relationships.
Dragoş Burlacu removes the details
of portraits in “Royal Couple”, “Erasing
Light”, “Unknown” or “The Colour is in
the Shadow” so he would not divert the focus from the outlined beauty
of the relationships intimately creating themselves beyond the physical
presence of the characters.

Bogdan Rața is a sculptor from the
young generation of the artists. His
new hybrid realism is finding new
genetic forms of human anatomy in
search of a new posthumanism.
Raţa multiplies human parts (fingers,
ears, and so on) and combines them
into new life forms. The newborn
creatures seem to result from
strange experiments with the human
body in an esthetics lab. Rața’s works
forge a contextual change of the
anatomic detail through its obsessive
multiplication. The materials used, and the resulting industrial look,
question the assault on individual personality in a climate of commercial branding uniformity.

1978 – born in Bacau, RO

2010 – ”Why the black is not

1984- born in Baia Mare, RO

2009 – ”Young Romanian Art #

teaches at the West University of
Timisoara, Romania, Faculty of Arts
and Design, Sculpture Department

EDUCATION
1997-2002 – B.A., Luceafarul
Art Academy, Bucharest

white”, Actionfields Gallery,
Bruxelles, BE

2006-2008 – M.A., National

University of Art, Bucharest, RO

7” Romanian Institute for Culture
and Humanistic Research, Venice,
IT, curator Mircea Nicolae

1999 – Founder of the group

2009 – ”7 actual size”, Visual

E((O

Arts Center, Bucharest, RO

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2008 – ”Colonia”, Apollo Gallery,

EDUCATION
2012 Ph. D. , West University of
Timisoara, RO

2008 MA , National University of

Arts, Bucharest, Romania, Sculpture
Department

Cadot Gallery, Paris, FR
2010 Al treilea 6, Little Yellow
Studio, Bucharest, RO

2010 Buy What You Love, Rema
Hort Mann Foundation, Jack Shainman Gallery, New York, USA

2009 Capturing Gil-Gulim II, Slag
Gallery, New York, USA

2009 About Bodies, Jecza Gallery,
Timisoara, RO

2006 BA, West University of

2009 Atelier in tranzitie, Alb-

2008 – ”Gloria pictura”, Frunzetti

Bacau, RO

Timisoara, RO, Faculty of Arts and
Design, Sculpture Department

Negru, The Night of the Galleries,
Bucharest, RO

2008 – ”Five daily views”, Vero-

2009 Panorama de l’art roumain,

2006 – ”Insomnia II”, Museum of

niki Gallery, Bucharest, RO

SOLO SHOWS
2012 rupTrup, with Mihai Zgondoiu,

Drouot- Montaigne, Paris, FR

2008 Against All Odds, Slag Gal-

2009 – ”Understanding History”,

Bucharest, RO

Gallery, Bacau, RO

2008 – ”Sapte” Frunzetti Gallery,

Contemporary Art George Apostu,
Bacau, RO

2008 – ”Zoomorphic Eleussis”
Gallery, Iasi, RO

Atelier 030202, The Night of the
Galleries, Bucharest, RO

2004 – ”1234…”, Velea Gallery,

2007 – ”New Identities in pain-

2012 Artists of the Month, with

ting and sculpture in Romania
after 1990”, Dana Gallery, Iasi, RO

Francisc Chiuariu, National Museum
of Contemporary Art, Bucharest, RO

lery, Bucharest, RO
2002 – ”Trafic”, Arta Gallery,
Bacau, RO

2006 – ”36 young artists”, ING &

2011 1990 Project: Hand Gun,

Hart Gallery, catalogue presented
at MNAC, Bucharest, RO

Piata Pesei Libere, Bucharest, RO

GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2005 – ”Colonia”, Apollo Gallery,

use 010 Biennale, FR
2010 God Bless Me, Slag Gallery,
New York, USA

Bacau, RO

2003 – ”Insomnia”, Apollo Gal-

Bucharest, RO

2012 – ”Romania in Paris”,

2004 – ”Identities and Visual Co-

American Center for the Arts,
Dorothy’s Gallery, Paris, FR

2011 – ”Colouring the Grey –

State of Mind”, The Artists’ House,
Tel Aviv, IL (book)

2011- ”Colouring the Grey”, Special Projects section, 4th Moscow
Biennale of Contemporary Art,
Artplay Design Centre, Moscow,
RU (book)

2011 – ”I am Romanian” Ben

Gurion University of Negev, BeerSheeva, IL (catalogue)

2010 – ”Detaliile încep păşind”,

Iqonique Class Studio, Bucharest,
RO (catalogue)

2010 – ”Ich kenne drei Farben

auf Erden / Trei culori cunosc pe
lume”, Nassauischer Kunstverein,
Wiesbaden, DE (catalogue)

des: Images of Violence / Violence
of Images”, Biennale of Young
Artists, Bucharest, RO (catalogue)

2003 – ”Docu-fiction video

2010 In/Out ( Penitenciary), Mulho-

2010 Minimal Feelings, Jecza
Gallery, Timisoara, RO

2008 Gene , UNA Gallery, Bucharest, RO

project Bucharest”, curator Alina
Serban, RO

GROUP SHOWS

2003 – ”Beyond photography,

lery, New York, USA

2008 International Experimental

Engraving Biennale, Palatele Brancovenesti, Mogoșoaia, RO

2007 Visual Eurobarometer, Veci-

nity, National Museum of Contemporary Art, ¾ Gallery, Bucharest, RO

AWARDS
2011 Prize for Sculpture of The

Union of Romania Plastic Artists,
offered at The Arad Biennale of Art,
Meeting Point, RO
2007 Ex-aequo Prize, Visual Eurobarometer, Vecinity, offered by the
Intenational Center of Contemporary
Arts, RO

Mind, Artists House, Tel Aviv, IL

2001 Colouring the Grey, State of

painting”, Galeria Noua, Bucharest,
curator Aurora Kiraly, RO

2011 Post Humanism, V-Art

2002 – ”Graduation exhibition”,

2011 Colouring the Grey, Spe-

Romanian Parliament Gallery Constantin Brancusi, Bucharest, RO

AWARDS
2008 – Award for ”A35”, Union
of Visual Artists from Romania

2002 – Prize of the Culture

Ministry of Romania, ”Moldavian
Art Salons”, RO

2012-2013

Gallery, Moscow, RU

cial Project at The Fourt Moscow
Moscow, RU

2011 Figure IN/OUT, LC Foundation, Bucharest, RO

2011 Corpul Supravegheat, Victoria Art Center, Bucharest, Romania

2010 Un Regarde Autre... , Farideh


Carturesti, Bucharest, RO

FIND MORE ABOUT THE NEXT CURATORIAL PROJECT
”FUTURE NOW, WORKING TITLE” ON WWW.COSMINNASUI.COM

Aurel Tar
Aurel Tar is a post-pop visual artist,
interested in the subtle mix of the
cultural aspects of globalisation.
Both the local identity and the multi-culturalism form the substance
underlying Tar’s artistic statement.
In his recent series “Wonderful
Outskirts”, the frame is expanded
and the works confront different
cultural, geographical and historical
identities by means of overlaying
and juxtaposition. The innovative
results are an equal match to those from the series of unexpected encounters of a “sewing-machine
and an umbrella on an operating table”. In Tar’s case, the encounters
are between Titian, Pre-Raphaelites and a Boeing aircraft.

Francisc
Chiuariu
Francisc Chiuariu’s latest series revolutionises the space of the painting,
decomposing it in different layers: on
the front oils, on the back typographic inks. The “Outdoor” project of
Francisc Chiuariu selects a series of
individuals captured in their daily
journey.
The street scene as recorded by
Francisc Chiuariu represents the
common collective space and the
way it is assumed and used by pedestrians. Francisc Chiurariu draws
attention upon the postmodern process of individual disintegration
within the collective space.

1973 – born in Sebes, Alba, RO
1999 – member of Romanian

ITSCH & ROU”, The Practice – Leo
Burnett Group, Bucharest, RO

1966 – born in Sibiu, RO

Cosmin Nãsui, V-Art Gallery,
Moscow, RU

2006 – Group Exhibition, ”Roll Up

EDUCATION

2011- ”Colouring the Grey”, curator

EDUCATION

Art”, Bucharest, RO

1997-1998 – M.A. study of

2005 – Group Exhibition, Le Saint-

1993, B.A., National University

Ex, Itaewon-Dong, Seoul, KR

Visual Artists Union

University of Art and Design, ClujNapoca, RO

2005 – Group exhibition, ”EUROPE

1991-1997 – B.A. The University

of Art and Design, Cluj-Napoca, RO

IN ART” HVB Group, Bucharest,
Romania, Warsaw, Poland, Hamburg, GE

1995 – Scholarship Nantes, FR

2004 – Personal exhibition, NIK

EXHIBITIONS
2012 – ”Romania in Paris”, Ame-

of Art, Painting department, Bucharest, RO
TEACHING: 1993-2000, National
University of Art, Painting department, Bucharest, RO

2003 – Personal exhibition, Ger-

2012 – ”Shadows”, AnnArt Gallery,

Bucharest, RO (catalogue)

2012 – ”Outdoor”, Cultural Center

Iconique Class Studio, Bucharest;
Maison Maitresse Store, Cluj, RO
(catalogue)

Bucharest, RO (book)

Tel Aviv, IL (book)

2003 – Group exhibition, World
Trade Center, Bucharest, RO

Palatele Brancovenesti Mogosoaia,
RO (book)

2002 – Group exhibition, World

2012 – ”January”, National Muse-

2011 – Group Exhibition, ”Percep-

tio”, Atelier 030202, Bucharest, RO

2010 – Group Exhibition, ”Detaliile
încep păşind”, Bucharest/ ClujNapoca, RO

2010 – ”GIBRALTAR ultraperiferic
art corner” itinerant project, Sebes/
Copsa Mica/ Bucharest, RO
2009 – Group Exhibition, ”East/


West. 20 – Exit and Transfer
Information”, Atelier 030202,
Bucharest, RO

2009 – Personal exhibition,
”EUROCENTRIC CIRCUS MAXIMUS”,
Unicredit Tiriac Bank, Bucharest,
RO
2008 – Personal exhibition,

”DOITSCH Proiekt”- RO, Automobile
Bavaria, Bucharest, RO

2008 – Personal exhibition, ”DO-

ITSCH Proiekt ”- JP, ArtSenzafine &
Soakedi Classic Cars, Tokyo, Japan

2007 – Personal exhibition, ”DO-

Bucharest, RO (catalogue)
2011 – ”The other body”, Victoria Art
Center, RO (catalogue)

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

man Evangelical Church, Nairobi,
KE

cial Projects section, 4th Moscow
Artplay Design Centre, Moscow,
RU (book)

2011 – ”Pour femme”, The Ark,

Gallery, Seoul, South Korea

rican Center for the Arts, Dorothy’s
Gallery, Paris, FR

2011- ”Colouring the Grey”, Spe-

Cosmin Nãsui, Special Projects
section, 4th Moscow Biennale of
Contemporary Art, Artplay Design
Centre, Moscow, RU (book)

Trade Center, Bucharest, RO

2002 – Exhibition cooperation
with HVB Bank Bucharest, RO

2001 – Group exhibition, ”Visionen
2001” Bad Kissingen, DE

with U Art gallery/Uzinexport
Bucharest, RO

2000 – Group exhibition, UAP

gallery, Cluj-Napoca, RO
2000 – Group exhibition, TIAV,
Bucharest, RO
2000 – Personal exhibition ”Ambient abstract”, BCR.-Sebes, Alba, RO
with Bank Austria, Creditanstalt
Bucharest, RO
1996 – Group exhibition, The Art
Museum, Piatra Neamt, RO
1996 – Academy 70, UAP gallery,
Cluj-Napoca, RO
1995 – 75 anniversary years of
”Ioan Andreescu” Institute, UAP

um of Contemporary Art, (MNAC),
Bucharest, RO

2010 – ”Networks”, Atelier

030202, Bucharest, RO (catalogue)

2007 – ”Obsession”, Quasar Gallery, Bucharest, RO (catalogue)

2002 – Art Jazz Club, Bucharest,
RO
2001 – Hanul cu Tei Gallery,
Bucharest, RO

2001 – Caminul Artei Gallery,
Bucharest, RO

1998 – Hungarian Cultural Center,
Bucharest, RO

1993 – Galeria Noua, Bucharest,

2011 – ”Perceptio”, Atelier 030202,
2010 – ”Detaliile încep păşind”,

2010 – ”4 generations under the

same roof”, Hotel Capital, Bucharest,
RO (catalogue)

2010 – ”Coșmaruri contemporane”,
curator Olivia Nițiș, Atelier 030202,
Bucharest, RO

2010 – ”10 for the decade X”,
Bucharest City Gallery, RO

CRINUL GROUP
1999 – Bancorex, RO
1998 – Galeria Cuhnia – Cultural
Center Palatele Brancovenesti
Mogosoaia, RO
1997 – Casa Enescu, RO
1996 – Curtea Veche, RO

RO

1992 – Art Museum, Roman, RO

GROUP EXHIBITIONS

Gallery, Paris, FR

2011 – ”Colouring the Grey – State
of Mind”, curator Cosmin Nãsui, The
Artists’ House, Tel Aviv, IL (book)

2011 – ”Post Humanism”, curator

2012-2013



ARTISTS SELECTED BIO

Radu Belcin

Flavia Pitiș

Radu Belcin catches attention by new
associations of characters, or objects,
in a chiaroscuro-painted atmosphere.
Starting the quest from the expression of reality study, Belcin explore
the identities of the individual and
of the present. Radu Belcin crops the
image of faces in “It’s Cold beneath
the Moon”, “A Hand Full of Hands”,
removes the elements of portrait in
“Illusion of a Day”, “The Wish”, hides
the faces in “Evening Never Comes”,
“Blowing”, “Hope Maker”, “Impossible
Dreamland”, and “Full of Ideas”. The faces of the depicted characters
cannot be seen; therefore not only they remain anonymous, but they
also introduce a surreal sense through the surrounding elements.

Flavia Pitiș’s art explores issues of
identity and isolation. Her painting does not have the function to
represent reality, but to make present
what is missing in reality. Most times,
Flavia Pitiș realizes this by isolating
the subject and his confrontation
with the loneliness of the chiaroscuro. Darkness introduces the immaterial, but sensitive forms of expecting
something indefinable and outlines
the aura of a mysterious presence.
The universe of Flavia Pitiș's actions
unfolds in rooms without natural light. Painted by using the chiaroscuro technique, these works present actions that seem to be condemned
by being made in the dark.

1978 – born in Brașov, RO

Grove, Olivepress – Art Factory,
Dromonero, Crete, GR (catalogue)

1978 – born in Făgăraș, RO

2009 – Normandia Center,

EDUCATION

2008 – artMart, Kunstlerhause,

1997-2002 National University

EDUCATION
2002-2003 – postgraduate

studies, professor Ștefan Câlția,
National University of Art ”Nicolae
Grigorescu”, Bucharest, RO

1997-2002 – National Univer-

Brasov, RO

Cheapart Gallery, Vienna, AT

2006 – The Art Museum, Brasov,

sity of Art ”Nicolae Grigorescu”,
Bucharest, RO, painting department, professors: Florin Ciubotaru,
Valeriu Mladin
1993-1997 – Arts High School,
grafic department, Brasov, RO

RO

OTHER STUDIES

RO

2001 – workshop of scenography

and Light Moving Academy for Performing Arts, Amsterdam NL,
2001 – workshop of scenography,
Toaca Cultural Foundation – Toaca
Contemporary Art Studio, Bucharest, RO

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2005 – The Art Museum, Brasov,
RO

of Fine Arts “Nicolae Grigorescu”,
Bucharest, RO

OTHER STUDIES
2004 – research scholarship on

2003 – National Theatre, Apollo
2002 – The Art Saloon, Bucharest,

and light, Moving Academy for
Performing Arts, Amsterdam and
Toaca Cultural Foundation – Toaca Contemporary Art Studio

2002 – The Art House Gallery,
Bucharest, RO

2002 – ”Selfportraits”, SKC Cultural Centre, Belgrade, RS


2000-2001 – classes at the Fa-

culty of Comunication and Public
Relations “David Ogilvy” Bucharest

2002 – National Theatre Bucharest, RO

2002 – ”Antediplomã” new media
exhibition, UNA Gallery Bucharest,
RO

2010 – ”Looking through the

2012 – ”Romania in Paris”,

image theory, Firenze, IT

Gallery, Bucharest, RO

mirror”, The Art Museum, Brasov,
RO (with Flavia Pitiș.)

2001 – ”Selfportret” installation,

2007 – Personal exhibition, Kro-

Societe Generale, Paris, FR

SOLO & GROUP
EXHIBITIONS
2012 – ”Sacrifice Generation”,

American Center for the Arts,
Dorothy’s Gallery, Paris, FR


Tel Aviv, IL (book)

2011 – Europe Gallery, Brasov,
RO

2010 – Kunstlerhaus, Vienna, AT
2010 – “Looking through the

mirror” Art Museum, Brasov, RO
(with Radu Belcin)

2009 – The Mediterranean Olive
Grove, Olivepress Art Factory,
Crete, GR

2009 – Normandia Business
Center, Brasov, RO

2008 – BP Portrait Award, National Gallery, London, UK

2008-2009 – BP Portrait Tour

Wolverhampton Art Gallery, Aberdeen Art Gallery, UK, Aberystwyth
Arts Center, Wales

2001 - ”Accente și Amprente”,

nart Gallery, Brasov, RO

2007 – ”The Royal Procession and
other characters”, Europe Gallery,
Brasov, RO

UNA Gallery, Bucharerst, RO

Apollo Gallery, Bucharest, RO


2006 – ”The world from my

and Light Moving Academy for Performing Arts, Amsterdam NL, and
Cultural Foundation Toaca – The
Contemporary Art Studio Toaca,
Bucharest, RO

GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2000 – ”Expo”, Atelier 35, The Art

world”, The Art Museum, Brasov,
RO

2000 – ”Selfportret” The Romani-

Societe Generale, Paris, FR


Gallery, Paris, FR


Tel Aviv, IL (book)

2011 – Europe Gallery, Brasov, RO
2009 – The Mediterranean Olive

an Literature Museum, Bucharest,
RO

2000 – ”Europe Days”, The Collection Museum, Bucharest, RO

1999 – ”Instalation”, Sala Palatului, Bucharest, RO

1999 – ”Eveniment Van Gogh”

performance, National University
of Art, Bucharest, RO

2012-2013


Museum Constanța, RO

2012 – ”Sacrifice Generation”,

Felix Deac
”Exceeding materiality and material
conditions, I started to play shaping
the forms respecting the logic of the
living, intending to give each of my
work its own life. Details and textures
are taken from the living and real
world in order to create a non anthropomorphical compositional whole.
My intention is to provide aesthetic
qualities to objects and shapes which
would offer the public an unexplained
existence due to the illusion of living
that I create. By the works that I have
in mind to exhibit to the audience I am trying to flame visceral reactions,
and to put into the game a purely sympathetic and powerful relationship
between the viewer and the creation.” - artist statement

1984 - born in Satu Mare, RO

2010 – Collective exhibition with

EDUCATION

2010 – Workshop R.I.V.E.R. –

R.I.V.E.R. project artists at The Ark
– Bucharest, RO

2009 – present - PhD studies
2007 – 2009 Master studies in

Ancona – Rosora, IT

various tehnics

Paris, FR

2003 – 2007 ’’Ion Andreescu’’

2009 – solo show – ’’Made of...’’,

University of Arts and Design
from Cluj Napoca, RO, Sculpture
section, investigation in sculpture
and drawing tehnics

1999 – 2003 ’’Aurel Pop’’ Art
Highschool Satu Mare

SOLO & GROUP
EXHIBITIONS
2012 – January, ”Artificial Life”,
solo show, Gallery of Visualkontakt art association, Ulm, DE

2011 – December, ”Artificial Life”
solo show, Gallery of Visualkontakt art association, Oradea, RO

2011 – October, Youg Art Show

*YAS* group exhibition in House of
Art, Piestany, SK

2010 – ’’Life’’, solo show, Laika
Gallery, Cluj Napoca, RO

2010 – Workshop in Louvre,
Cluj Napoca, RO

2009 – National Biennale

‘‘Bronze Age’’/‘’Vîrsta de Bronz”,
Cluj-Napoca Art Museum, Group
exhibition, RO

2007 – Beginning the Master

level studies at the University of
Arts and Design of Cluj Napoca,
RO

2006 – With Erasmus program,

studying 5 months at University
of Fine Arts in Bilbao, ES

2006 – Cluj Napoca ’’Bronze

Age’’ Group exhibition (almost 100
bronze sculptures), RO

2004, 2005 – ‘’Fontana Group”

Satu Mare Collective yearly exhibition of local artists, RO

2003 – ‘’InterArt” Satu Mare,
Group exhibition, RO

Năsui Private Collection & Gallery @
Preview Berlin 2012 & Berlin Art Week
Năsui private collection&gallery presents
carefully selected Romanian contemporary
artists and holds the debate
”The Soft Power of the Art Market”
(details on www.cosminnasui.com).
Radu Belcin catches attention by new associations of
characters, or objects, in a chiaroscuro-painted atmosphere.
Francisc Chiuariu’s lattest series revolutionises the space
of the painting, decomposing it in different layers: on the front
oils, on the back typographic inks.
Bogdan Rața is a sculptor in search of new human genetic
forms. He uses new materials as polystyrene, industrial paint,
plaster, synthetic resin.
Aurel Tar is a post-pop visual artist, interested in the
subtle mix of the cultural aspects of globalisation.
Radu Belcin & Flavia Pitiș, Faces &
Traces - Vellant Publishing House 2012
This book brings together the
artworks of two young and emerging
artists, offering an inedite perspective
of seeing original and simultaneous
creations: the artists Radu Belcin and
Flavia Pitiș work and live together (in
private, they are husband and wife and
have two children). Technical details: hardcover, 176
pages, A4 format, 174 plates, full color
Francisc Chiuariu, monograph Vellant Publishing House 2012
The creation of Francisc Chiuariu
already covers almost a quarter of a
century overlaying the temporal coordinates of the end of the 80es, the
decade of the 90es and the years after
2000. Technical details: hardcover, 168
pages, A4 format, 245 plates, full color


You can find us at booth 54:

2012-2013



PARTNERS

St George’s Hall
”Colouring the Grey - State of Body” presents seven contemporary artists within
the Independents Liverpool Biennial 2012 and is proudly hosted in St. George’s
Hall, Gladstone and Dickens Galleries.

S

t George’s Hall is a Grade 1 listed building at the
Sayers, PD James and Raymond Chandler and was mentiheart of Liverpool’s cultural quarter, part of a
oned in US crime drama CSI.
UNESCO World Heritage Site. It’s widely regarThe Hall has held 100s of events through the years,
ded as one of the finest neo-classical buildings
including Liverpool’s first motor show, dances, bazaars,
in the world and was described by Nickolaus Pevsner as
fairs, ice rinks and sporting events such as boxing matches
‘the finest neo-Grecian building in England and one of
and squash tournaments.
the finest in the world.' Former poet laureate Sir John
Famous visitors to the building include Queen Victoria
Betjeman listed the building among the 10 he would die for in 1851 who said the building was ‘worthy of ancient
and viewed it as ‘the finest secular hall in England.’
Athens’, Charles Dickens who gave a number of public
The Hall opened in 1854 as a civic building for the
readings in the Concert Room, which he described as being
purposes of the law courts of Liverpool and to serve as
”the most perfect room in the world” and Liverpool-born
a venue for the town’s music festivals and other public
4 times Prime Minister William Gladstone who was given
purposes.
the Freedom of the City in the Hall in 1892.
The Hall is the combination of 2 separate buildings: a
St George’s Hall also houses the third largest organ in
music venue and a court building that were designed by
the UK with 7737 pipes.
the same architect, Harvey Lonsdale
In 1984, when the law courts of
Elmes.
Liverpool were moved to the new
The exhibition is
Elmes laid scale drawings of
Queen Elizabeth II Courts in Derby
Birmingham’s New Town Hall and St
Square, the Hall was ‘mothballed’ due
accompanied by
Paul’s Cathedral in London to display
to a lack of purpose and funding, and
“The Soft Power of
that St George’s Hall would eclipse
fell into a state of disrepair.
both in terms of size and design.
However, following a £23m restothe Artmarket”, a
Over the years the Hall played
ration project that was completed in
debate on systems
host to numerous famous court cases
2007, the Hall was reopened on St
such as the trial of Florence Maybrick
George’s Day that year by another of
and mechanisms of
(whose husband, James, is a Jack the
the contemporary art its admirers, Prince Charles, and has
Ripper suspect) and William Wallace:
become a grand focal point for cultural,
industry.
‘the man from the Pru’, who has been
community, civic, corporate and
written about by the likes of Dorothy
performing arts activities once more.

In brief: The visionaries
behind the names
DICKENS GALLERY

GLADSTONE GALLERY
A STATUE OF GLADSTONE STANDS IN THE GREAT HALL
Liverpool-born 4 times Prime Minister William Gladstone was
given the Freedom of the City in the Hall in 1892.
A statue of Gladstone, erected in 1872, stands in the Great
Hall of St. George's Hall, Liverpool.

2012-2013

Photo: ST GEORGE’S HALL

”THE MOST PERFECT ROOM IN THE WORLD”
Charles Dickens gave a number of public readings in the
Concert Room, which he described as being ”the most perfect
room in the world”.

2012-2013


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into account the specific cultural context, without
altering their meaning.


2012-2013

Chapman Taylor is an international practice
of architects, masterplanners and interior
designers operating from 17 regional offices
and with experience of working in over 70
countries around the world.
As a company with an international
network of offices we pride
ourselves on our ability to effectively
balance our knowledge of working
internationally with a sensitivity
to local experience, environment
and culture. Our various regional
companies work as a cohesive group
and can pool skills and resources as
required to provide the best possible

service to our clients while always
aiming to produce bespoke design
solutions for all our projects.
The mission is to deliver high
quality designs and commercially
viable schemes that exceed client
expectations and provide awardwinning sustainable environments
that people enjoy.

www.chapmantaylor.com

2012-2013


FUTURE NOW

WORKING TITLE
2013-2014

The curatorial concept gathers synergies
from the two fields of creation: art and
science. The theoretical framework
searches for common grounds for the both,
in order to stimulate the contemporary
creativity.


2012-2013

Artists and researchers, inventors and
business visionaries, scientific academics
and young experimental artists will be
brought together to create unexpected
art & science works.

MORE TO COME ON COSMINNASUI.COM

PHOTO: DRAGOȘ B URLACU ”UNDEFINED STATE”,
OIL ON STAINLESS STEEL SHEET, 46 X 56 CM

ARTISTS & INVENTORS

The soft power of the artmarket - a new East European fresh look at the art systems

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