LOCUS NEMINIS I

[EN] The forests were in fact commonly referred to as the locus neminis, or “place of no one”*. Locus Neminis revives the theme of the forest as an itinerary and an absolute ideal, as an adventure in the unknown and lost paradise, as a return to the origins and nucleus of humanity, as a place of mystery and human aspirations.

What does one see vertically or laterally in a dense forest ? [To look at a tree and see not the leaves, but the space between]. The mute closure of foliage. The boundless oblivion of the dormant mind. A sudden illumination of nothingness. How to picture the sky to oneself in the aspect of a huge animated body: a body not seen but imagined as there beyond the treetops. (based on a citation from *Robert Pogue Harrison “Forests – The Shadows of Civilisation”, pag. 4)

By an internal industry and expansion, our body renews. The snake casts its slough, the caterpillar its wormy coat. The loon retires to solitary ponds to spend it. Our moulting season,[ like that of the animals] must be a crisis in our lives. [In search of a new body] (based on a citation from Henry David Thoreau, Walden – Economy, pg. 22)

The paintings Delirium / Pleasure and Flow of Zăercs are made over my older paintings. It is a recurrence in my artistic path  to paint over compositions that have been wrapped and finished in the past, transforming and destroying at the same time.

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[RO] Pădurile erau numite în mod obișnuit locus neminis, sau “locul nimănui”*.

“Locus Neminis” reia tema pădurii ca itinerariu și ideal absolut, ca aventură în necunoscut și paradis pierdut, ca întoarcere la origini și nucleu al umanității, ca lăcaș al misterului și al aspirațiilor umane.

Ce se vede privind în sus sau în jur într-o pădure densă? [Să te uiți la un copac și să vezi nu frunzele, ci spațiul dintre ele] Închiderea mută a frunzișului. Uitarea necuprinsă a minții latente. O iluminare bruscă a nimicului. Cum să imaginezi cerul pentru tine însuți, sub aspectul unui corp uriaș animat: un corp nevăzut, dar imaginat ca acolo dincolo de vârfurile copacilor.   (apud din *Robert Pogue Harrison “Pădurile – Umbrele civilizației”- pag. 4)

Printr-o lucrare internă și o expansiune, corpul se înnoiește. Șarpele își desprinde pielea, omida iese din stratul său de vierme. Cufundarul se retrage în iazuri solitare. Perioada noastră de năpârlire [ca şi cea a animalelor] ar trebui să fie o criză în viața noastră. [În căutarea unui nou corp].  ( apud din  Henry David Thoreau, “Walden” –pag. 22)

Picturile Delir / Plăcere și Flux de zercși sunt realizate peste picturi mai vechi ale mele. Este o recurență în parcursul meu artistic să pictez peste compoziții închegate și terminate în trecut, transformând și distrugând totodată.

 

‘Locus Neminis’ exhibition @ Kube Musette, Bucharest, 2017

Delir Plaisir, acrylic on canvas, 200 x 160 cm, 2017

‘Locus Neminis’ exhibition @ Kube Musette, 2017

hanging zăercs

Flow of zăercs, acrylic and digital print transferred on canvas, 210 x 170 cm, 2017

Nocturnal, mixed technique on canvas,

HARILAQ ‘4 ART FESTIVAL – KOSOVO 2015

Every year, at the beginning of June, the Harilaq Art Festival (organised by the Municipality of Fushe Kosova and Muhamet Metis ) takes place near Prishtina, Kosovo. The Harilaq fortress is situated on top of the hill known by the local toponomy as the Gradina – Harilaq. It is built on the remain of an earlier prehistoric settlement, attested by the archaeological findings.

“The thought of Lady M.”

“The Thought of Lady M.” was realised in February 2012. I used a mixed technique, combining washable pastels, acrylics, oil colours, paper, wool, thread, all on a 80 x 60 cm canvas. It is available for sale at the price of 230 EUR(shipping not included.)

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A nocturnal atmosphere, in which each forehead hides a consciousness that cuts and cuts and cuts, like a guillotine blade. Everything exhales complicity and exhaustion. Each character stays silent and keeps hidden under its tongue, a black and wild thought, like a young mouse, a “corpse” who refuses to become word. Therefore, we are, somehow, in a dostoievskian situation, because each person buries behind its mimic a fault which does not fit elsewhere than in unspoken thoughts …
There is one character in the painting who knows that any guilty man plays with the snakes, with some snakes that only he can see. Guess who is it?

“Germination” painting series

<<In what concerns the “Germination” series – beyond the almost premonitory sensitive character of the line, and the wild effect of carnal architecture in decay–, what especially attracts our attention is Maia Oprea’s capacity to maintain irreconcilable painting styles in proportion of structural balance. These are usually looking to exterminate each other when put “face to face”.>>

Germination I, 60 x 80 cm, mixed technique on canvas, 2011

Germination II, 60 x 80 cm, mixed technique on canvas, 2011

Germination III, 60 x 80 cm, mixed technique on canvas, 2011

Germination IV, 60 x 80 cm, mixed technique on canvas, 2011

Germination V, 60 x 80 cm, mixed technique on canvas, 2011

Germination series in perspective

Germination series on view at Melenia Art Gallery 2011

The “Germination” series is composed of five individual canvases, standing for themselves, which are based on the same inner form. Most important for me has been to reach the climax of the fight given to create, at the same time: a possible modular structure that could be perpetuated indefinitely and a sequence in which these so-called modules remain completely embedded in the whole that contains them, without their independence being affected.

Germination series in perspective

The current set is the result of a fiery war –which I attended as an active spectator – and the countless transformations occurring during work. What I had initially proposed myself was almost meant not to reach a purpose, and not infrequently I was afraid that if I add anything else, the canvas will be destroyed. 

Germination series on view at Melenia Art Gallery 2011

Births

The first artwork of the „Births” cycle – the one that also stands for the title – is a self-portrait in shadow, also remains the most intimate one. Through its visceral feeling, its vulnerability. As a cry for power and of solemn weakness.

BIRTHS, mixed technique on canvas, 120x100cm, available for sale at 1056 EUR

When I realised this project, I believed that the „Births” cycle represents a new age of my painting. In addition to what concerns the crystallization of my chromatic instincts and the dynamic compositions, it stands as a radical affirmation of an inner burning that descends into depth and comes from the depth. This inward combustion was meant to expose the interior through an explosion of the form. Therefore, I myself assisted at the birth of a language (extremely personal and intentionally without conceptual „air-bag”!): the form escapes from the empire of fantasy – that being from the „institution” of symbol ! -, unchaining a self-devouring confrontation with its own vitality. However, never devouring itself. I was looking for the restauration of an instant that cannot anymore organize oblivion.

In the introduction of the book „The Life of Forms”, which profoundly influenced me theoretically, Henri Focillon writes:

„The old antinomies, spirit-matter, matter-form, obsess us with the same authority with which the antique dualism of form and contentis obsessing. Even though some slight trace of signification or commodity still persists in these antitheses of pure logic, whoever wants to understand what is happening in the life of forms must begin by liberating oneself from them”.

This specific time-frame (from a certain spiritual impulse to the impoverishmentof the formal matter resulted from the reproduction of this impulse into space) has been determined by the capacity with which I was able to freely movewithin the interior of this inner environment, imposing myself the abidance by a sincerity towards myself, that I consider being one of the most severe and tormenting rules of creation: intactly preserving the abisality of the primary sensation, by suppressing the tentation to repeat the form of that abisality through the same thematical variation on the respective form.

Although during my past I have taken on doing over certain themes or painting compositions, it is now the first time that a form has imposed as a profound obsession, giving rise to a life in motion, within a world that is transforming along with it. I must admit, it was hard for me to part from this obsessive form, but my wish was to immortalize the various development phases of something that could have represented a possible manner, thus hindering the birth of a formula, that is to say of a sudden interruption.

In the next posts I will show you my other works from the “Births” cycle. You can also download the pdf.version I have made for the exhibition of these works at Melenia Art Gallery (http://www.meleniagallery.com/)  in November 2011 :

BIRTHS

Hello Everyone

Hello everyone,

I am a young Romanian artist, currently living and working in Bucharest, Romania. After pursuing my fine arts studies in the quiet Savannah (Georgia), on the east coast of the United States of America, followed by a great encounter with the french Alps in Grenoble, I am now finishing my painting bachelor at the Bucharest National Arts University.

Over the years I have undertaken projects in many different medias and techniques (such as video art, photography, graphic arts, sound art, art in public spaces), but I am nevertheless committed to what one would consider being the “traditional” arts, mainly those of painting, drawing, engraving and sculpture. For the moment I am going back and forth between contemporary approaches and traditional subjects . My paintings are usually the result of a fiery war, which I attend as an active spectator, and of the countless transformations occurring during work. What I often propose myself is almost meant not to reach a purpose, and not infrequently I am afraid that if I add anything else, the canvas will be destroyed. This makes me think of something I have read in the notes written by an artist I very much appreciate, the italian sculptor Alberto Giacometti : „ This is not to realise the vision I have of things, but to understand why we fail. (…) I’m indifferent to the difference between a successful and an unsuccessful thing. A successful painting, a failed painting, a successful drawing, a failed drawing , this doesn’t mean anything. The failure is of interest to me just as much as the success.” I wanted to share this with you because it somehow states what I consider will remain forever my conviction, mainly that the importance lies in the working process, and not in the finality of the art object.That my art will change according to my life, and the different styles as well, trying to remain as sincere as possible towards my art.

Having that in mind, I let the paintings speak for themselves.

As a mention, all my artworks are for sale.