A special exhibition, which makes the viewer plunge into the fragrant splendor of the "warped" herbs with a special refinement and ingenuity, was inaugurated with notable success to the public, on Wednesday, September 15, 2021, at the Art Museum in Cluj -Napoca (Bánffy Palace), where it will remain open until October 22. It is about the most recent personal exhibition of decorative art (fiber art, assemblies, installation and object) of the appreciated textile artist Mariana Gheorghiu, lead member of the Cluj Branch of the Union of Visual Artists in Romania (UAP) and a prestigious name in the field of romanian contemporary decorative art, generously reunited under a title with metaphorical-symbolic valences: "Warp of herbs".

Photos by Nadejda Ursu

The exhibition presents over 40 artworks, some of which are imposing compositional ensembles made up of several pieces, while others are subtly integrated in scenic framework environments, suggestively recompose a journey with biographical-artistic value, which takes the viewer on a fascinating chronological journey, extended during the years 1996-2020. Constructed as an essay that stimulates optically and emotionally, the exhibition proposes a disturbingly beautiful visual journey that lists the artistic-standard works of Mariana Gheorghiu, a noted and established artist, as the curator of the exhibition, Alexandra Sârbu, pointed out: "not only by her impressive flexibility creative and inventive, but also through the very personal, spontaneous work technique, which, since 1994, uses, almost exclusively, the vegetal elements (bundles of dry grass, hay, wheat ears, sheaves of barley, leaves, plants, etc. ) as a favorite raw material for artistic workshop creation. For this reason, beyond the seductive visual spectacle offered by the subtle and refined contrast of the chromatic chords, of the associated forms and textures, the olfactory side becomes an important component in the equation of reading his works ”.

Also noteworthy are the two short video productions dedicated especially to this exhibition, which will be launched soon on the official facebook page of the Art Museum Cluj-Napoca (MACN), both being made based on a collaborative partnership between MACN and the Department of Photo-Video and Computerized Image Processing within the University of Art and Design of Cluj-Napoca (UAD), at the initiative and under the coordination of art historian Alexandra Sârbu (MACN), with the support of the artist photographer Andrei Budescu (UAD). The two videos are authored by Nadejda Ursu, a young artist with a promising potential, very creative and sensitive, UAD student in the 2nd year, specialization "Photo-Video and PCI", who is currently at the the second collaboration with MACN, after a first approach of this kind, appreciated and welcomed by the general public and specialists in the field, on the occasion of the 2021 edition of the international exhibition "World Press Photo".

Regarding her new collaboration with MACN, an experience that shows, joyfully and meritoriously, a great openness, concern and receptivity on the part of the Cluj museum institution towards the young generation, Nadejda Ursu underlined: “I am very grateful to the Cluj Art Museum for this renewed opportunity to interact and collaborate directly with museum professionals and established artists such as Mariana Gheorghiu, whose surprising and emotional personal exhibition managed to bring me closer to nature, soul and roots. I enjoyed every moment spent at the museum, and the approach of photographic and video documentation of the exhibition represents, without any doubt, a unique and very beneficial experience in the academic training process I am currently going through ”.

To the public interested in this event, the Art Museum of Cluj also offers the unic opportunity to enter the unseen "laboratory" of a creative process of a very special sensitivity and inventiveness, through a series of "face to face" meetings with the textile artist Mariana Gheorghiu, even in the impressive ambiance of her own exhibition. These meetings will take place until the end of the opening period - October 22, 2021, from Wednesday to Sunday, including, between the hours 11:00-13:00, with strict observance of the hygienic-sanitary norms against the spread of COVID- 19.

Photos by Nadejda Ursu