New Genres: abstract art

The splendor of abstract art in Maurizio D'Andrea's award-winning work at the Venice Triennale

January 18, 2025 | nadiaevangelina

The Venice Triennale, held at the iconic Forte Marghera, is an event that brings together the most innovative and outstanding artists of the contemporary art scene. In its 2024 edition, more than one hundred creators from around the world participated, offering a diverse and representative sample of global art. The Golden Lion, the Triennale's highest award, is given to the work that best encapsulates innovation and emotional impact. The jury, composed of leading figures such as Stefania Pieralice, ex-former director of the Venice Biennale, and art critics Antonio Castellana, Barbara Bortot, and Giada Eva Elisa Tarantino, awarded D'Andrea's painting “Mi.R bb49”.

Maurizio D'Andrea, Winner of the Venice Triennale.

Maurizio D'Andrea with the jury.

D'Andrea's art is distinguished by a singular ability to combine the symbolic with the abstract, creating pieces that explore the unconscious. His award-winning painting, “Mi.R bb49”, is a compelling example of this virtue. On the one hand, the composition of the work explores the limits of plastic expression, influenced by the materiality and gesturality of abstract expressionism. Conversely, the chromatic palette, dominated by vibrant tones juxtaposed with subtle gradients, symbolizes the tension between progress and the human essence. The carefully crafted strokes and textures reinforce this sense of conflict, creating a visual field oscillating between calm and chaos.

In an increasingly technologized world, where humanity seems to be disconnected from its natural roots, “Mi.R bb49” acts as a mirror. The piece is an invitation to reflect on what it means to be human in an era dominated by the unstoppable advances of science and industry.

D'Andrea's art is influenced by the theories of Sigmund Freud and Carl Gustav Jung. The work dialogues with Freudian concepts of the unconscious, especially in its ability to evoke emotions and inner conflicts that often remain repressed. From a Jungian perspective, “Mi.R bb49” connects with the universal archetypes of the collective psyche, especially those related to fertility, creation, and destruction. The vibrant colors and organic forms could be interpreted as an expression of the Mother Earth archetype, while the chaotic elements represent the transformative power of technology as a destructive and regenerative force.

D'Andrea is not an artist looking for definitive answers. On the contrary, his art poses questions that challenge established perceptions. This philosophical approach is rooted in a multidisciplinary practice that combines elements of painting, sculpture, and, in some cases, digital technology. His work is not limited to being a visual product; it is an experience that actively engages the viewer, forcing them to question their relationship to the world around them.

"Mi.R bb49" (2023). Winner of the Venice Triennale.

"Disequilibrio" (2024)

"Film" (2019)

D'Andrea's importance in the context of contemporary art lies in his ability to maintain the relevance of abstract art at a time when figurative narratives and conceptual art seem to dominate the discourse. His refreshing and deeply humanistic approach demonstrates that abstract art can still be a powerful medium for exploring the existential dilemmas of our society. Furthermore, his work stands out for its artistic integrity; each piece is the result of an honest and uncompromising search, which reinforces its authenticity.

The recognition at the Venice Triennale not only celebrates D'Andrea's talent but also underscores the relevance of art as a tool for reflection and change. In an event that brought together over one hundred artists from around the world, his work managed to stand out for its ability to resonate both emotionally and intellectually. This is a testament to the depth and scope of his artistic vision. In this sense, Maurizio D'Andrea consolidates herself as one of the most important and necessary voices in contemporary art, a voice that invites us to look beyond the visible and confront the deepest truths of our existence.

"L'inchino" (2024)

Golden Lion- The Venice Triennale

Location: Forte Marghea Mestre (VE) 30, 30173, Venezia (Italy)

Opening Date: 7th November 2024

End Date: 22nd November 2024

Working hours: Monday: 9am to 8pm

Tuesday-Sunday: 9am to 12am

Official website:

https://triennaledivenezia.it/

Artist:

Maurizio D'Andrea

abstract art

"Obscene", an unedited exhibition by Pablo Siquier

January 05, 2024 | nadiaevangelina

"Obscene" brings together 12 unpublished works by Pablo Siquier, one of the great Argentine artists who emerged in the 80s under the artistic current of formalism. Through paintings that range from monumental scales to smaller drawings in plots where black and white predominate, the proposal gives an account of his artistic trajectory. The exhibition is held at Macba and is curated by Rodrigo Alonso.

Photo credit: MACBA

The title "Obscene" seems to disorient the viewer by promising something impudent, when one can see a series of works that have never been exhibited before. The common thread is geometry with some alterations, which organize the plane in rigorous black and white, while there are only a few works where color appears contained in less complex forms.

This is Siquier's first exhibition in Buenos Aires in eight years. Curator Rodrigo Alonso explains in the text that "Pablo Siquier's works are impudently oriented towards the gaze. They do not hide their formalist vocation or need to find an echo in the observer. Thus the title is a full recognition of a very recognizable imprint of the artist, who has maintained a long trajectory since the mid-80s.

Siquier's works at the beginning of his career contemplated a certain contrast between the figurative and the abstract, the figure-ground games, and the use of vibrant colors. But from '93 onwards he abandons color and starts to reflect, more and more austerely, pure and precise abstractions, strictly graphic.

MACBA

The big cities are one of the main axes in his work, both in the drawing on the wall with charcoal or graphite pencil and in a digital design. The artist does not refer to any kind of personal emotion or commentary on reality but rather reflects his own version of the experience of living in a big city. A better-known facet of Siquier's work is the murals that can be seen at Los Molinos Building de Faena in Puerto Madero, at the Reina Sofía Museum in Spain, and at the San Martín Cultural Center on Corrientes Street in Buenos Aires. His work has a strong presence in Buenos Aires.

The idea that prevails in all of Siquier's works has resonances with a meticulous construction, of repetition and several possible combinations made on the computer, but with a process that is not so simple because it occupies him with attention for hours and weeks. The forms are sustained in an empty plane, without an atmosphere. In others he appeals to the shadow, always projected in the same way and almost resorting to the same contrast of black and white.

"Obscene" invites a quiet journey, to persevere in the substance that alludes to a vibration of multiple visual stimuli that recall the complex city of Buenos Aires, its varied architectural densities, and the impacts that these forms leave in our experience.

MACBA

"Obscene"

Location: Macba, Av. San Juan 328, C1141 CABA, Buenos Aires (Argentina)

Opening Date: 10th November 2023

End Date: 10th March 2024

Working hours: Wednesday- Monday 12am-7pm

Official website:

https://museomacba.org/

https://www.instagram.com/museomacba/?hl=es

Artists:

Pablo Siquier

abstract art

"Color in Transit": experiencing color by argentine artist Martín Reyna

April 10, 2022 | nadiaevangelina

The unique solo exhibition of Argentine artist Martín Reyna offers the viewer a complete sensory experience. "Color in Transit" held at Del Infinito Art Gallery, consists of an extensive series of abstract landscapes painted with watercolor on approximately more than 36 meters of curved paper. The set-up is the key element: the large paintings float in the middle of the rooms so that the public can walk through the canvases as if they could stroll among the colors.

"Color in Transit" (2022), Del Infinito Art Gallery

Based in Paris for 30 years, Martín Reyna began his artistic career in the 80s under the current of abstract expressionism. That is why when we see his works we can recognize the influence of artists such as Jackson Pollock or Lee Krasner. However, Reyna's paintings are composed of more subtle and harmonious strokes, inspired by the landscapes of nature. But these are not works of a documentary nature; rather, the artist intends to capture the sensations and emotions that those landscapes provoke in him.

Reyna's art is characterized by his spirit of experimentation. Currently, his works are composed of minimal elements that flow looking for autonomous paths in their journey across the surface. In fact, the artist almost does not intervene in his works; he lets the fluidity of water act on light, space, and color. There is a factor of freedom that can be transmitted to his viewers. That lack of control over nature makes a strong statement. At a time when humans strive to control their environment despite the damage they generate, to visit this exhibition is to be carried away by the forces of nature even while inside a building in the middle of the city of Buenos Aires.

"Color in Transit" (2022), Del Infinito Art Gallery

The exhibition set-up completely transforms the relationship with the space. The bland walls of the gallery have now become a strange, sinuous, and voluminous landscape. The gallerist Julian Mizrahi describes the project as "an experimental, almost heroic act by an artist who fearlessly poses the need to leave the wall, a great ally in his career. His proposal is on the way to add volumetry to color and to continue conquering spatiality, which gives infinite possibilities to his own universe".

"Color in transit" is a festival of sensations. The use of perspective, different rhythms, falls and accidents of matter accentuated by the intensity of color, give great dynamism to the space. Reyna seduces with his loose, spontaneous, and natural style, and recovers the virtues of modern painting. A dramatic black painting puts the finishing touch to the show with the strong contrast of the red color used as a rubric.

"Color in Transit" (2022), Del Infinito Art Gallery

"Color in Transit"

Location: Del Infinito Art Gallery, Pres. Manuel Quintana 325, C1014 ACD, Buenos Aires (Argentina)

Opening Date: 11th March 2022

End Date: 2nd May 2022

Working hours: Monday-Friday: 11 am to 18 pm

Official website: https://delinfinito.com/

https://www.instagram.com/delinfinito/?hl=es

Artist: https://www.instagram.com/martin.reyna__/

abstract art

“Free Camp” International Arts Workshop: Abstract expressions and chromatic harmonies, in the space of the Art Gallery of HCC

September 28, 2021 | Cosmina Marcela OLTEAN ArtPage

Recently, the Art Gallery of Harghita County Council displayed the artistic results of the participants in the international art workshop “Free Camp” (August 27 - September 15), now in its seventeenth edition, an event that encourages freedom of expression and does not impose barriers in terms of working technique or theme. However, in the exhibition one can easily notice a predilection of artists for abstract representation, translated by works that fall into artistic movements such as action painting and gesturalism. The contemporary artist often associates the idea of creative freedom with an abstract representation centered on the expressiveness of color.

Gallery capture by Bogdan Urzica

Thus, the visitors of the exhibition were able to discover in the gallery space a series of abstract expressions that speak about color, line, matter, gesture and authorial freedom. In some works the color spots dominate, and in others the lines and shapes obtained spontaneously, through the freedom of gesture, but all are inscribed in the register of a nonfigurative denoting tension or creative energy. The characteristic of the gesturalist movement, but also of the tacitist one, is especially the exteriorization through colors and forms of some inner states or tensions.

"Creation is the true measure of human freedom. At Miercurea Ciuc, Harghita County, there is a space where plastic artists from everywhere, demolishing any kind of borders, focusing only on themselves, can create together: Free Camp", said the critic Székedi Ferenc. And this year's edition managed to "defeat the virus and virtuality, and life and creation present themselves before us again, in their reality", the critic continued.

Photo - Cosmina M. Oltean

In the exhibition were found works signed by the artists Andrea Balló, Nicolae Barb, Elena Drăgulelei Dumitru, Mariana Papară, Csaba Fazakas, Endre Lehel, Volker Schwarz, Ger Varga and Torino Bocaniciu. The project was curated by László Botár. The exhibition was organized by the Harghita County Council / CJHr Art Gallery, in collaboration with the Harghita County Cultural Center and the Cultura Nostra Association.

Ph. Cosmina M. Oltean

Ph. Bogdan Urzica

abstract art

Interview - Artist Viorica Ciucanu about her art practice: "Contemporary artist has total freedom of expression. Contemporary art wants to stimulate not only the eye of the beholder, but also his mind..."

July 12, 2021 | Cosmina Marcela OLTEAN ArtPage

Artist Viorica Ciucanu was born in 1961, in the village of Potoci, near of Ceahlău mountain. She first trained in the studio of the artist Arcadie Răileanu, then she studied painting in the academic environment of the “George Enescu” National University of Arts in Iași.

Interview

For starters, please tell us your story and a few things about your artistic journey.

V.C. - When I finished high school, art couldn't be my choice. There are times when you can and others when you can't choose a certain path to go on in life. It's so simple and so complicated at the same time ... In 2006 I started studying with the artist Arcadie Răileanu. I like to say that I studied at "Răileanu University". At the time, it seemed too late to go to an art university. However, I already had 12 personal exhibitions and over 50 participations in group exhibitions in the country and abroad, but to find my "place in the puzzle", in 2017 I was admitted to the National University of Arts "George Enescu" Iași and it didn't seem too late anymore.

View of Ceahlău mountain

What are you looking for in art and daily practice?

In my artistic practice I focus on 3 main concepts / projects with which I work constantly: Contemplating, where the main subject is the Ceahlău mountain, the surroundings and other dear places where I travel.

The 5 elements: earth, water, air, fire and spirit. The joining of these elements gives shape to the world and are closely related to the golden number 1,618 which has a very special importance, especially in art. It is considered the most beautiful number in the entire universe. Both the soul and the human body are subject to the laws that govern the harmony of the cosmos, so that the micro and macro-cosmos, the world we live in, appear mathematically and aesthetically connected at the same time. This phi number, the ancients believe, was dictated by God.

The artist in her studio

Human complexity, a project that makes a foray into recent history, from Don Quixote, the Myth of Sisyphus to Iphon and Drona, in the idea that art is what facilitates communication in time and space, people have the same anxieties and only differ the way of expression according to time and the discoveries of the weather. On this concept, we organized traveling exhibitions at the Bal Shem Tov Synagogue in Piatra Neamț, the Labyrinth Gallery in Iași and the Galateca Gallery, Bucharest.

I am not looking for a realistic reproduction of the visible, but for its vision. As Mondrian used to say, "what does the eye remember when it chooses to forget the visible world?" Today we live in a very good period for art, I think, in which there are not so many barriers and restrictions. The contemporary artist has total freedom of expression. Contemporary art wants to stimulate not only the eye of the beholder, but also his mind.

Which are the art techniques that you prefer and in which you think you express yourself best?

From a technical point of view, I work a lot in oil, I often resort to painting on old wood and I also have a penchant for performance. I recently made a conceptual work - a "gate" on a hill in my village Potoci, oriented in the direction of Mount Ceahlau, which I called Liberation.

Talk briefly about your most special experiences.

I had the privilege of participating in many creative and documentary camps and events, completed with exhibitions in Italy, in Genoa, Florence, Perugia, Siena, Sardinia and others in Turkey and Spain.

Which artists inspire your work?

I find inspiration in the work of Rembrandt, Paul Klee, Wassily Kandinsky, Joan Miro and the performance of Marina Abramovici. Brâncuși is the one who profoundly influenced my modern concept of creation, formally combining the simplicity of Romanian folk art with the refinement of the Parisian avant-garde.

abstract art

"PLANETARIUM", new pictorial project by romanian artist Mirela Iordache

April 21, 2021 | Cosmina Marcela OLTEAN ArtPage

Artist Mirela Iordache studied Fine Arts, Cultural Heritage and Restoration at University of Bucharest (2002) and has a master's degree in Creative Strategies in Painting from UNArte Bucharest (2014).

The artist works with both classical and experimental art. She creates pictorial works (classical and experimental), engraving (lino, pointe sèche), collage and photography. His pictorial style is divided between abstract and figurative. The abstract works include entropic expressionism and abstract expressionism. In the figurative area of her practice, Mirela works in the style of Photorealism and Neo-expressionism. Among her past projects list are „Entropomorphs” (exhibitions in 2014, 2016, 2017), „Trans-ego” (2015), „Axis” (2012-2013), „Self” (2012) and „Imaginary Architectures” (2012), but the list of her personal and collective exhibitions is longer.

Mirela Iordache in her studio

The artist's latest exhibition project, recently opened in the Art Yourself Gallery in

Bucharest until April 30, is Planetarium - an exhibition focused on abstractionism,

chromatic force and total lack of geometry and shape. The artist's compositions focus on gesture,

on the inner state, on the moment that generates them, on the „now”, on color, matter, all linked on the imaginary level by the artistic concept.

Mirela Iordache, "Blue fragments"

“The abstract is the absolute nonfigurative! A statement in the absence of the recognizable, in a denial of the eikon, a work that cannot be read in waiting horizons… Geometry and straight lines are absent. The form is born from gesture, the gesture from inner state, and the state and the moment give the uniqueness! Matter is born from sinuosities defying perpendicularity, a self-dictation faithfully following the state, expressed in plastic language. Gestures and form acquire kinetic features, they become geographies of the imaginary ”, explains the artist in the exhibition statement that accompanies the Planetarium project.

"Explosion"

"Each new canvas is a challenge, fragments or whole in search for a response. It is the revelation of a moment or the culmination of endless days and nights of unrest. The germination of the idea towards gesture, shape and color. It is the essence of the narrator encapsulated in a new plastic expression! ”, added Mirela.

The rest I think is beyond words, is art and it's purely visual. To understand better and more, we have look at her artworks, brought together under the title of this exhibition. Now I should list the most important painting exhibitions of artist Mirela Iordache in Romania, which are:

2021, PLANETARIUM // ArtYourself Galleries, Bucharest

2019, Anthropogen // Carol Galleries, Oradea

2018, Risipitori II // Prahova County Art Museum „Ion Ionescu - Quintusˮ, Ploiești

2018, Ne / ow Art // Cantacuzino Castle, Busteni

2017, Entropomorphs // Carol Galleries, Bucharest

2016, Mirela Iordache // Museum of Visual Art, Galați

2015, Squanderers // GO Art Projects Gallery, Bucharest

2013, Axis // ArtYourself Gallery, Bucharest

At the same time, the artist was present in a series of collective national and international exhibitions, such as:

2020, National Salon of Contemporary Art / Visual Arts Center, Bucharest

2020, Contemporania II [50 x 50] / Art Yourself Gallery, Bucharest

2018, National Salon of Contemporary Art / National Museum of Art of Romania (MnaR), Bucharest

2017, Chisinau International Painting Biennial / Iasi Art Museum, National Art Museum of Moldova Chisinau

2017, Retrospective of Romanian contemporary painting Paris - Bucharest / Espace culturel Christiane Peugeot, Paris

2016, Soleil de L’Est Retrospective in Bucharest / ARCUB, Sala Coloanelor, Bucharest

2016, Art Safari - Bucharest Art Pavilion / Dacia-Romania Palace, Bucharest

2015, Soleil de L’Est: 20 years of activity / Romanian Cultural Institute (ICR), Bucharest

2015, Chisinau International Painting Biennial / Brâncuși Hall, Parliament Palace, Bucharest

2014, UNArte at 150 years / Dalles Hall, Bucharest

2013, Presences of Romanian contemporary painting in France / Romanian Cultural Institute, Bucharest

2013, Triennale Européene de l’Estampe Contemporaine / Cultural Center, Rignac, France

The splendor of abstract art in Maurizio D'Andrea's award-winning work at the Venice Triennale

"Obscene", an unedited exhibition by Pablo Siquier

"Color in Transit": experiencing color by argentine artist Martín Reyna

“Free Camp” International Arts Workshop: Abstract expressions and chromatic harmonies, in the space of the Art Gallery of HCC

Interview - Artist Viorica Ciucanu about her art practice: "Contemporary artist has total freedom of expression. Contemporary art wants to stimulate not only the eye of the beholder, but also his mind..."

"PLANETARIUM", new pictorial project by romanian artist Mirela Iordache

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