Marilena Preda Sânc

Thinking

on art

nature

Society

Artist vs curator. 360 de grade | Artist vs. Curator. 360 Degrees performance: Marilena Preda Sânc, Ruxandra Demetrescu • Mogoșoaia • 2019

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The exhibition opened by Marilena Preda Sânc in the ground floor gallery of the Mog-oșoaia Palace offers a concentrated view of her creativity, spanning over four decades and defined by a remarkable dynamic between her artistic vision and worldviews. Her artis-tic intent is revealed by her choice of media – from painting to photography (often with interventions), performance, installation and video art. Her worldviews are explicitly stated in the series of artworks in which the contemplation of nature as a whole clashes with an open engagement in the social and the political, mainly feminist and ecologist thematic. These two directions, or rather the retrospective dimension of the first and the introspective dimension of the latter, determine, I dare to say, the (un)expected visual surprise constructed by the author in this exhibition. Let us reconsider the Latin origin of the word retrospective, which reunites the two key words: retro (back) and specto/specio (to regard, to contemplate), later generating spectator and show. The retrospec-tion to which Marilena Preda Sânc now obviously invites the viewer is conjugated with a surprising introspection modeling this journey into the world of forms. The Latin ety-mology is again emblematic: intro (inside) and again specto. Retro – and introspection seem to meet in the here and now to (re)define the visual universe of an artist who has been, as early as her debut in the 80s, a distinct voice in the Romanian visual culture.

I will further attempt to decipher the particularities of the exhibition shaped by and for the spaces in Mogoșoaia. The first discovery is the supremacy of the painting, which dominates the exhibition: it seems to speak not only of her (never denied or contested) formation as painter, but also of the constancy in its practice, in the exploration of its

“I wouLD LIke To fLy buT My eaRTHLy wHeeLS won’T LeT Me”

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expressive and technical possibilities: the force of a powerful gesturation (which conse-crated the author as one of the most convincing voices of the Romanian neo-expression-ism, as early as the 1980s) combined with an almost visceral chromatic (I think mostly of the brutal expressivity of the reds which seem to embody the “flesh” of the painting, from Will, dated 1986 to the recent Possible Landscape). Marilena Preda Sânc structures her painterly spaces in large strokes, as she explores the specificity of oil paint exacerbat-ed by her own technical discoveries. I was fascinated to discover the mix of pigment with gold leaf adhesive – a reminder of her initial formation as a muralist – and the creativity of the technical solution for building volume while maintaining durability. The game of complementary colors is conjugated with a choice of a single dominant, often symbolic color (as in for instance Green Planet, an admirable ecologist landscape from 2018). The gesturalism dominating the show, mark of a stylistic identity matching the tempera-ment of the artist is controlled/toned down by the means of two strategies – revealed in the geometrical structure of the composition and in the search for the graphic virtues of the painting. The latter seemed more convincing, since it unveils an exercise of “disci-pline”, of purification in the painting, allowing at the same time for the valuing of draw-ing as a constant – usually studio – practice. The juxtaposition of painting and drawing also reveals the journey from the proximal (drawing) to the specific difference (painterly expression exacerbated by color). There is a trajectory in the exhibition structure, and it begins with an artwork from the series of Modules (Module, in pencil on hand colored paper, from 1980, being the earliest work) and is completed with two recent composi-tions, one in ink on paper, from 2019, the other in oil on canvas from 2018; these two, reunited under the same title – Fate – are an ad hoc diptych revealing a strict geometry and at the same time a remarkable exercise of translating drawing into painting.

The essentialization of the painterly means can be identified in other recent works as well, such as NIMBY/Not in My Backyard and Universal Predators, two ample oil sketch

Artist vs curator. 360 de grade | Artist vs. Curator. 360 Degrees performance: Marilena Preda Sânc, Ruxandra Demetrescu • Mogoșoaia • 2019

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es on canvas from 2018, in which the contrast between the dynamic black outline and the red areas of color is dominating the image. exhibited opposite each other in the last hall, these two artworks are an “epilogue” for the exhibition, as they state the mili-tant position of the author (obvious in the titles which speak of her radical feminism), expressed in a cleansed painterly expression which sublimates the extreme chromatic density (omni)present in the other artworks. In between the two, placed in an expres-sive and inciting dialogue, is the ample Terra Madre (Flower Power series), the manifest artwork bringing together Marilena’s formal and thematic interests: the symbolic land-scape, structured in large areas of saturated hues, is invested with a signification which goes beyond the limitations of genre, in an affirmation of a cosmic original feminine identity. The monumental identity of the painting affirms the author’s creed, stated a few years ago: “My painting is my freedom to be. In other words, the principle of freedom is my artistic creed”.

The exhibition in Mogoșoaia is nevertheless centered on the dialogue of painting with all of the other media, and it is obvious that since the 90s until today Marilena Preda Sânc has been equally interested in photography, intervention on photography, performance and installation, and the dynamic possibilities of video art. She has em-ployed them in order to enrich her previous expression, and also since they allowed for a more direct engagement in the social and the political. because the above mentioned quotation ended, symptomatically, with: “To think and work what I feel, in more than one medium, to translate into images a thought, a feeling, an attitude on my context is my way of being an artist”.

The first space in the gallery showcases her explorations of the new media, and at the same time, the numerous photographic images also document her artistic experiments. There is an interesting dialogue between two large compositions of digital prints: Video puzzle, made from the stills of films from 1993 to 2018, and Artist vs. Curator, docu-

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menting a performance made by Marilena Preda Sânc with olivia nițiș a year ago on the theme of the tension between artist and curator (out of which the artist has always emerged victorious). between the two compositions is a 2006 digigraph, Femslogan, a manifest – artwork stating the feminist identity and dimension of her entire creation with the courage and tenacity that defines the artist’s personality.

The collage also must be mentioned, as it permeates the exhibition and pinpoints the curiosity of Marilena’s experiments. I will only mention The 1938 Flower. Mother’s Plantbook (an edelweiss flower symbolizing perennity/loyalty) and Flight, both dating from 2018. I have deciphered in both artworks distinct, very powerful, autobiographic elements. we must mention that the memory of the artist’s mother from the first collage communicates with Heart of Grandmother, now exhibited for the first time, and that Flight is almost hidden in a corner between a staircase (outside the visitation area) and a window opening to the gardens. Placed there by the author, this small artwork offers a double surprise: firstly, it must be discovered (it cannot be seen from the other spaces) and then it surprises by its mysterious text “I would like to fly but my earthly wheels won’t let me”. Its deciphering is, I believe, our – the viewer’s – mission, and once it is completed, the surprise is accentuated: stupore is conjugated with meraviglia. or at least that is how it felt for me, after I have searched the length and the width of the exhibition and decided this ciphered message can be the best title for the text in the catalogue of this show. My text does not however replace the text written explicitly and concisely by the artist herself, who was also her own curator for this rigorously structured exhibition, proving she is indeed a complete author.

Ruxandra Demetrescuart historian and critic, curator

professor at the national art university bucharest

Module. Sample. Lithological Column – possible / probable states of existence. Heu-ristic hypothesis.

Landscape Reconfigurations – by the means of trans-substantial analogies we model visual, objectual representations of materiality, time and the perception of the world we live in, the world we know / re-invent in the images.

Modul. eșantion. Coloană lithologică – stări de existență posibile / probabile. Ipoteză euristică.

Reconfigurări de peisaj – prin analogii transubstanțiale modelăm reprezentări vizua-le obiectuale ale materialității, spațialității, temporalității și simțirii lumii în care trăim și pe care o cunoaștem / o reinventăm în imagini.

MoDuL . ReConfIGuRĂRI De PeISaJMoDuLe . LanDSCaPe ReConfIGuRaTIonS

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Modul | Module • creion pe hârtie colorată manual | pencil on hand colored paper • 88 × 61.5 cm • 1980

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Reconfigurări de peisaj | Landscape Reconfigurations • creion pe hârtie colorată manual | pencil on hand colored paper 47.5 × 63 cm • 1982

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Reconfigurări de peisaj | Landscape Reconfigurations • creion și acuarelă pe hârtie | pencil and watercolor on paper50 × 64.7 cm • 1985

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PeISaJ uRban

The artworks from the urbanscape cycle investigate and visualize the urban space as metaphysical and representational spaces for inhabiting / living.

Lucrările din seria Peisaj urban investighează și vizualizează spațiul urban ca spațiu metafizic și ca spațiu reprezentațional al locuirii.

uRbanSCaPe

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Casă pentru suflete | House for Souls • ulei pe pânză | oil on canvas • 130 × 76 cm • 2005

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Peisaj urban | Urbanscape • ulei pe pânză | oil on canvas • 120 × 100 cm • 2016

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Peisaj urban | Urbanscape • ulei pe pânză | oil on canvas • 120 × 100 cm • 2016

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Deconstruction in Dark Sky • ulei pe pânză | oil on canvas • 146 × 114 cm • 2017

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Deconstrucție | Deconstruction • ulei pe pânză | oil on canvas • 146 × 114 cm • 2018

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CoSMICe . TeCTonICe

Cosmic . Tectonic is a serie of paintings and drawings which speak of magic from be-yond the celestial or the earthly, a realm of the unknown – fascinating and with its own rules and histories. Constructions and deconstructions are gates of passage or inner or outer disintegrations of matter – an integratory cosmic-vision.

CoSMIC . TeCTonIC

Cosmice . Tectonice reprezintă o serie de picturi și desene ce conțin magia unui din-colo celest / pământean, a unui spațiu necunoscut, fascinant,cu regulile și poveștile sale – construcții și deconstrucții, porți de trecere sau dezintegrări în lăuntrul sau în afara materiei – o cosmoviziune integratoare.

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The Landscape Body • tuș pe fotografie | ink on photography • 22.5 × 16 cm • 1983Cutremur | Earthquake • ulei pe pânză | oil on canvas • 146 × 114 cm • 1992

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Rană cosmică | Cosmic Wound • ulei pe pânză | oil on canvas • 114 × 146 cm • 1993

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Horror Vacuum • ulei pe pânză | oil on canvas • 100 × 170 cm • 2012

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Planeta verde | Green Planet • ulei pe pânză | oil on canvas • 100 × 100 cm • 2014

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Trecerea | Passing • ulei pe pânză | oil on canvas • 100 × 100 cm • 2015

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Soartă | Fate • tuș și cretă pe hârtie manuală | ink and chalk on handmade paper • 64 × 98 cm • 2019

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Între lumi | Between the Worlds • ulei pe pânză | oil on canvas • 146 × 200 cm • 2015

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eCo aRT . CoRP naTuRĂ

body nature. I emphatize with nature, with the living things, with society. I am adept of an ecology of the environment, of the mind and of the human behavior.

eCo aRT . boDy naTuRe

Corp natură. empatizez cu natura, viul, societatea. Sunt adepta unei ecologii a me-diului, a minții și comportamentului uman.

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My Body is Space in Space Time in Time and Memory of All • tuș pe fotografie | ink on photography 18 × 27 cm, 29.5 × 39.5 cm • 1983, 1984

Body in the Light • tuș pe fotografie | ink on photography • 15.5 × 22.3 cm • 1988

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Stop Fracking • asamblaj | assemblage • 38.5 × 20.5 × 5 cm • 2014Planeta verde | Green Planet • ulei pe pânză | oil on canvas • 50 × 50 cm • 2018

Stop Fracking • asamblaj | assemblage • 33 × 21.5 × 3.5 cm • 2014

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ALIVE • carte de artist | artist book • 24 × 34 × 3 cm • 1993Dialog | Dialogue • tehnică mixtă pe pânză | mixed media on canvas • 70 × 100 cm • 2010

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Floare din 1938 (Ierbarul mamei) | Flower from 1938 (My Mother's Herbarium) • colaj | collage • 21 × 21 cm • 2018Inima bunicii| Heart of Grandmother • ulei pe pânză | oil on canvas • 61 × 46 cm • 1998

Zbor | Flying • colaj | collage • 32 × 41 cm • 2016

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Hoinărind prin cer | Wondering Through the Sky • ulei pe pânză | oil on canvas • 146 × 114 cm • 2013

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Râul de lumină | River of Light • creion și cretă pe hârtie | pencil and chalk on paper • 48.5 × 63 cm • 2018

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Corp Natură | Body Nature • ulei pe pânză | oil on canvas • 146 × 114 cm • 2019

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PoLITICe . CoTIDIene

Political . Daily – is a series of paintings, collages, digital artworks, videos which re-flect on the world, on the local / global society we live in.

Politice . Cotidiene – sunt lucrări de pictură, colaj, digigraphie, obiect, video, neon ce conțin reflecții asupra lumii / societății locale / globale în care trăim.

PoLITICaL . DaILy

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Voință | Will • ulei pe pânză | oil on canvas • 73 × 81 cm • 1986

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The Algorithms of Power, 1995 . The Wall in the Tower (performer florin fieroiu), 1996 . The Fence, 2003Eurogame Bambilici, 2006 . Femslogan, 2007 . Power Never Asks for Forgiveness, 2017 • video

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NIMBY • instalație, digigraphie și neon | installation, digigraphy and neondimensiuni variabile | dimensions variable • 2015

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NIMBY • ulei pe pânză | oil on canvas • 194 × 130 cm • 2018

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Prădători universali | Universal Predators • ulei pe pânză | oil on canvas • 194 × 130 cm • 2018

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Flower Power • colaj | collage • 30 × 21 cm • 2018Glob | Globe • obiect | object • 33 × 33 × 33 cm • 1999

Devoratorii planetei | Planet Eaters • ulei pe pânză | oil on canvas • 60 × 80 cm • 2019

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Terra Madre (Flower Power) • ulei pe pânză | oil on canvas • 146 × 200 cm • 2017

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Artist vs Curator. Sweet Art • performance: Marilena Preda Sânc, olivia nițiș • netcast bucurești – Paris, waSP video camera & editing: florin Pruteanu, Răzvan Mihalachi • 2019

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© antonia Pruteanu

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THInkInG on aRT naTuRe SoCIeTy

art means freedom. a responsible freedom. The artistic medium is, for me, both mat-ter and means for communication – a space which is inhabited by the message.

To feel / think, an aesthetic, synesthetic experience of knowledge. Truth and ethics, science and faith, all shared with the others.

as an artist I observe. My images are eco-poetical, metaphysical and ethical com-ments. I hope and believe in humanity.

My work-space is a physical space but also a spiritual one, without vectors, which I constantly carry with me, in which I find myself and the strength to continue.

arta înseamnă libertate. o libertate responsabilă. Medium-ul artistic, pentru mine este materie și vehicul al comunicării, un spațiu locuit de mesaj.

a simți / gândi, o experiență estetică sinestezică a cunoașterii. adevăr și etică, știință și credință, împărtășite cu ceilalți.

Ca artistă observ și comentez în imagini din perspectivă ecopoetică, metafizică și etică lumea. Sper și cred în umanitate.

atelierul reprezintă un spațiu fizic dar și un spațiu spiritual, fără vectori, pe care îl port permanent cu mine și în care mă regăsesc și găsesc forța să continui.

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Art is Art Beyond Art Now • neon • 30 × 200 × 15 cm • 2015© aurora király

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CV

www.preda-sanc.ro

MARILENA PREDA SÂNC, artist vizual, profesor universitatea naţională de arte din bucurești

Marilena Preda Sânc este o artistă interdisciplinară care realizează lucrări de pictură, desen, obiect, fotografie intervenită, cărţi de artist, body art, Land art, instalaţie, per-formance, video, Public art.

Din 1980 lucrările sale au fost prezentate internaţional în muzee, la conferinţe, sim-pozioane, în galerii naţionale și internaţionale, în media și târguri de artă.

Lucrările, integrează forme de artă tradiţională și noi media, investighează și vizua-lizează corpul/mentalul/sufletul/comportamentele umane în relaţie cu natura, spaţiul social/politic/reprezentaţional. arta sa explorează problematicile feministe de gen /bă-trâneţe/femeia ca leader în cheie eco-feministă.

este autoarea unor scrieri de specialitate centrate pe arta în Spaţiul Public, feminism și noile Media.

MARILENA PREDA SÂNC, visual artist, professor, national university of arts, bu-charest

Marilena Preda Sanc is an interdisciplinary artist who creates drawing, painting ob-ject, photography, artist book, media installation, video, performing arts and public art.

from 1980 her work has been presented internationally at museums, conferences, symposium, broadcast, venues, art galleries and art fairs.

Integrating the traditional forms of art and the new media arts, her art works visu-alizes and investigates the body/mind/soul/behavior in relation to nature and social/political and representational space. Her art work explores the feminism problematic as gender / ageism and woman as leader in an eco-feminism key.

She is the author of art writings focused on feminism, electronic art and Public art.

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Atelierul artistei | Artist's Studio • fotografie | photography • 2019© Radu Igazsag© Radu Igazsag

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Thinking on Art Nature Society • Mogoșoaia • 2019

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Marilena Preda Sânc și Ruxandra Demetrescu • Mogoșoaia • 2019© bogdan Mateiaș

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6 – 28 aprilie 2019

Text critic • Ruxandra Demetrescu

MARILENA PREDA SÂNC

editură • Centrul Cultural Palatele brâncoveneștiISbn • 978-606-9045-09-1

Centrul Cultural Palatele brâncovenești este o instituție finanțată de

Consiliul General al Municipiului bucurești

Traducere • Mălina IonescuLayout • Romana și bogdan Mateiaș

Centrul Cultural Palatele brâncovenești

Soartă | Fate • ulei pe pânză | oil on canvas • 60 × 80 cm • 2018

Peisaj posibil | Possible Landscape • ulei pe pânză | oil on canvas • 70 × 70 cm • 2019

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