Today is the last day to view my solo show “Still” at Nucleus Portland!
My artist’s statement: “Still” is a reflection on feeling stuck in place and stuck in time. It is about coping in the face of an anxious present and an unpredictable future—“I’m still here”—and frustration at a lack of progress—“I’m still here?” It is about finding ways to grow and adapt despite being stuck in a seemingly endless cycle. It is also an acknowledgement of the things we keep close and the things we hide away in order to keep going.
Thank you so much to the lovely people at Nucleus Portland for the opportunity to exhibit a new body of work, and thanks to everyone who has taken the time to view the work, either in person or by following me here. Your kind words and support mean a lot to me. It’s always amazing to be able to feel a connection to others through art, so thanks for connecting!
I bought a ticket for the second show and y'all are surprisingly quiet about yesterday, so I don't know what to think, but it for sure is making it easy for me to avoid spoilers
A two-part solo show in collaboration with One Night Gallery that happened over the summer of 2020 in both Bucharest & Timisoara, Romania.
One Night Gallery is an event focusing on Romanian contemporary art, innovation and technology, during which a different artist is invited every month to create a solo exhibition. They provide the artists with the technical means to experiment with new technological ways of rendering their work.
For the Bucharest edition, we shifted from a single indoor location to multiple outdoor spaces around the downtown area, using solely windows and building facades. People were able to enjoy the exhibition as an art tour while taking a walk through the city, therefore minimizing as much as possible crowd gatherings in the context of the pandemic. As we scouted for spots, more and more businesses joined the circuit, resulting in a total of 13 locations - from galleries to shops and bars.
The setups were divided into different concepts and mediums - from printed illustrations in some of the locations, to installations, video mapping, paste-ups or AR experiences in others.
Process:
First, I sketched the two main characters that would become the leitmotif of the event: Birdman (AKA G Dog) & Beeple
I then 3D modeled them in VR and we included them in an interactive Instagram filter that people could use during the event. We launched the filter together with the event teaser video:
vimeo
Using the 3D model as a reference, we created a 14m tall inflatable installation of G Dog and hung it on the Știrbei Palace facade, inside Eden Terrace.
GUCCI Takeover
Another part of the event consisted of animating some of my characters and projecting them onto the windows of the Gucci Store
in downtown Bucharest.
vimeo
vimeo
Event:
Two months after the Bucharest edition, we shipped the whole thing to my hometown, Timisoara, for a second event. The set was a large tram depot turned into a museum, with enough space to host all the artwork in one place: inflatable characters, installations, prints, and a tram that I painted back in 2019. This enabled me and the production team to experiment with a new display layout in a totally different setup.
vimeo
Event:
Credits:
Powered by ONE NIGHT GALLERY
Production:
Technical & good vibes team Musicgear.ro
Photo/Video (Bucharest) Stay Sharp Film
Photo/Video (Timisoara) Razvan Riscuta, Petru Belibou & Blanka Szori
Video Mapping/ Animation Aural Eye, Dragos Botcau
Inflatable Installation Aztec.ro
3D rigging & AR design Mihai Cojocaru
I'm going to hold my third solo exhibition at Design Festa Gallery Harajuku in early November 2024. The artworks never been exhibited before will be on display and on sale (maybe some works will be not for sale) and the drawings, the postcards and the zines will be on sale too, though the theme and the title of the show are to be decided. I'm so excited to hold my solo show at DFG again!