A new contemporary art exhibition, "Monumental Needs" by artist Radu Carnariu, curated by Dana Lungu, opened on June 15 at ArtEast Gallery in Iași, Romania. The exhibition can be visited until August 31th.

In "Monumental Needs", Radu Carnariu artistically explores the imaginary surrounding the "need", as it is reconstructed, hybridized, metamorphosed in the hyper-contemporary reality. For this, he makes a real tour de force of the artistic means used, using both painting, drawing, metalwork, collage, digital graphics in collaboration with artificial intelligence and video.

Curator Dana Lungu presents the artist's project as follows: << Radu Carnariu runs at the speed of his era. For him, nothing is too new. Any change in the air of our time is detected with ultra-fine antennae, intelligently theorized, dissolved with analytical irony and above all researched with the most surprising and sophisticated conceptual art tools.

Whether we're talking about the relationship between Artificial Intelligence and artistic imagination in the digital age, the blurring of the boundaries between "real" and "virtual", the new sociability in augmented reality or post-digital artifacts, Radu Carnariu offers us personal artistic investigations. At the center of his toolkit is the concept of "cognitive shock", which forces us to see and be present through powerful images that illuminate the mentality and context with the force of small intuitive-cultural revelations. Unlike the "aesthetic shock" which primarily delights us visually, the "cognitive shock", without disparaging the artistic mastery in any way, awakens us, intrigues us, problems us, insulates us >>, points out the curator.

<< This artistic project ironically explores the imaginary of "need" from the perspective of new relational contexts determined by the unprecedented impact of technology, artificial intelligence, in particular, on human life and the environment, but also on the way we redefine the image and artistic imagination. The concept of "need" is visually explored at the intersection of fiction and fact in relation to contemporary hyper-consumerist hedonism based on post-artificial imagery metaphors, such as "bioluminescent nuclear power plants" or "commercial constellations", determined through a critical dialogue game between AI and artist>>, explains the artist.

Radu CARNARIU (b. 1979), lives and works in Iași, maintaining an intense artistic activity on the national and international scene. He graduated from the "George Enescu" University of Arts, Faculty of Visual Arts and Design. In 2012 he obtained his doctorate in the field of visual arts with a work dedicated to the fantastic and surrealism. 

He had 19 personal exhibitions (graphic, painting, installation, object, ready-made, sculpture-object, installation in situ) in Iasi, Bucharest, Berlin and collective and group exhibitions in Iasi, Bucharest, Belgrade, Chisinau, Godsbanen, Budapest , Rome, Sophia, Tel Aviv, Buedelsdorf, Taipei. In 2011, he was awarded the UAP Iași graphics award and received more than 7 other national and international awards and distinctions.