DISTILLED OUT OF FIGURATION

09/10/2024

Oscillating between materiality and expression, between movement and stillness, the exhibition Distilled out of Figuration brings the human body to the forefront of artistic exploration.

MARIA LUIZA BALAN / TAISIA CORBUȚ / IULIA HLIHOR ANA CRISTINA LUPU / LAVINIA ONICIUC / MARA POPA

curator: IOANA OLĂHUȚ

The human body. The body that inhabits the world. The body that carries us through the world. A vehicle for our actions and a keeper of our experiences. We observe it, admire it, or sometimes despise it, but we cannot escape it. Especially in an exhibition event designed for a festival that aims to explore how performing and visual arts relate, interact, enhance, and inspire each other. As a medium for performing arts or a recurring subject in visual arts, we constantly return to it to analyze its material presence in its fullness. Whether in motion or at rest, we gauge its volumes, roughness, curves, signs of vitality, or marks of decay. It is always there for us, and we strive to capture it in novel forms, transforming it into a significant element of our narratives, as do the six young artists whose works unite this exhibition.

In Taisia Corbuț‘s works, the body is entirely stripped of any sign of its carnality, synthesized through the austerity of a line tracing its contour. Its age, race, the time it lived in, or the geographical space it traversed are unidentifiable. Her figures, imprinted in stone, resemble hieroglyphic signs or fossilized remnants of long-lost worlds.

On her often irregular geometric surfaces, made up of mirror fragments, Maria Luiza Balan captures a body immersed in its reflections, in a perpetual search for identity. The viewer seems to have little relevance for this female figure turned away, exposing itself to the gaze but refusing communication. Always the same and yet different in each work, the viewer remains an external witness trying to guess the possible thoughts sparked by the solitude of its reflection.

Iulia Hlihor‘s series of paintings evoke the image of a chest filled with ancient scrolls, accidentally discovered in the attic of a religious building or in one of the miniature schools from Orhan Pamuk’s novels. Small, precious, and painted with meticulous chromatic mastery, they possess an enigmatic mystery that invites the viewer to uncover new meanings each time.

Ana Cristina Lupu presents a fragmented body, reminiscent of a matrix torso found in the creative laboratories of the “new human” or a prefabricated element, forgotten in an abandoned display, configured from layers of fluid and spontaneous strokes.

In her paintings, Lavinia Oniciuc opts for a naturalistic study of her characters. Without compromising the correct rendering of anatomical structure, she delicately captures their subtle movements and facial expressions, enveloping them in a light that speaks volumes about the tenderness with which she observes them.

Perhaps the only ones in this exhibition, Mara Popa’s figures are bodies that inhabit space. Bodies that traverse, explore, and leave their shadow upon it. Even if the location is unclear, it becomes evident they are characters on a nocturnal, initiatory journey.

The exhibition is an integral part of the first edition of the contemporary dance festival OM – TRANSILVANIA INTERNATIONAL DANCE FESTIVAL, which will take place from October 10-13, 2024, in Cluj-Napoca and which aims to promote contemporary dance and its interconnection with other art forms. The theme of the inaugural edition, entitled “Common Rhythm“, addresses two fundamental aspects: on the one hand, the fusion between different arts, especially visual art, and on the other hand, the need to discover a common rhythm, a universal language through which artistic and cultural diversity can be communicated and understood. Contemporary dance, with its flexibility and openness to experimentation and innovation, responds perfectly to these needs, providing a platform where differences are celebrated and connections between artists and audiences become essential.

The festival program is available on https://omdancefestival.ro/.