What can a sheet of paper reveal about an artist, the time in which she lived, and the way she chose to look at the world? For artist Marcela Rădulescu, graphic art is not merely a means of expression, but also a space of observation, memory and artistic identity. More than six decades of her creative journey are brought together in “Fiber. A Radiography of Presence”, an exhibition presented by the Cotroceni National Museum in partnership with the Brașov Art Museum.

Open to the public in the Medieval Spaces of the Cotroceni National Museum from September 24 to October 25, 2026, the exhibition approaches Rădulescu’s work from a perspective that goes beyond a purely aesthetic reading. Drawings, paper, archival documents and even the titles of the works become elements through which an artistic practice and the context in which it developed can be explored.

The exhibition brings together works created in pencil, ink, pastel, watercolour, mixed media and printmaking, varying in size and visual language. Together, they trace an extensive creative journey in which graphic art can be understood as a form of recording presence: a mark left on paper, but also a testimony to the artist’s concerns, choices and historical surroundings.

The title itself points towards this double dimension. “Fiber” refers to the materiality of paper, the surface on which the image takes shape, while also suggesting the deeper structure of an artistic practice. “A Radiography of Presence”, meanwhile, evokes an attempt to look beyond the finished image and examine what lies behind it: gestures, ideas, documents, contexts and experiences.

Curated by Olivia Nițiș, the exhibition draws on concepts such as situated knowledge and partial perspective. Rather than presenting a conventional retrospective, the project investigates how artworks can generate new ways of understanding an artist and her practice. The works are not treated simply as objects on display, but as active components of a broader artistic and contextual system, revealing both the particularities of Marcela Rădulescu’s practice and the historical period in which it developed.

An important part of the project is the archival research carried out by the Brașov Art Museum team together with Olivia Nițiș. Documents from the artist’s personal archive complement the selection of works, allowing visitors to approach her creative trajectory from a broader perspective. The exhibition thus becomes an act of research and recontextualisation, bringing renewed attention to an artist whose career spans more than six decades, while whose work has been less visible in the exhibition circuit in recent decades.

The partnership between the Brașov Art Museum and the Cotroceni National Museum brings an important chapter of Romanian contemporary graphic art to a wider audience, while also providing access to a substantial body of works and documents that invite a closer look at Marcela Rădulescu’s artistic legacy.

Within the Medieval Spaces of the Cotroceni National Museum, paper becomes a place where image and memory meet. What begins as an exhibition of graphic art unfolds into a journey through time, where every mark, layer and archival document contributes to reconstructing an artistic presence.

“Fiber. A Radiography of Presence” can be visited until October 25, 2026. A bilingual Romanian-English catalogue accompanies the exhibition and is available at the Cotroceni National Museum’s shop.