Nombre de personnages dans les tableaux, classés selon leur milieu et activité

Șerban SavuEn Dérive

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Le Lait

Milieu rural Milieu urbain

TravailLoisir

Press Kit

p. 3

Press releasep. 4

Works selection p. 6

Press selection p. 8

Publicationp. 11

Biography p. 14

Rendez-vous / practical information

Exhibition

En dériveof

Șerban Savufrom to

13|04|19 23|06|19Opening on at

April 12, 2019 6.30 pmCurated by Antoine Marchand

3Exhibition from to

13|04|19 23|06|19Opening on at

April 12, 2019 6.30 pmCurated byAntoine Marchand

Prior to the exhibition, an encounter withthe artist is scheduled for Tuesday the 9th of april at 6.30 pm, in the MédiathèquePierre Amalric. Şerban Savu (born in 1978 in Sighisoara (Romania); lives and works in

Cluj-Napoca (Romania)) belongs to a group of Romanian artists living in Cluj-Napoca, a Transylvanian university city not far from Hungary, nowadays regarded as Romania’s art capital. In it, this bunch of friends has developed an extremely rich art scene, whose ranks include various internationally recognized figures, such as Adrian Ghenie, Victor Man and Ciprian Muresan.

Şerban Savu’s figurative paintings usually depict vast post-industrial landscapes in which figures walk about, swim and undertake everyday activities. For the most part, they portray solitary people, caught in the middle distance, isolated, and involved in a specific act. Where his interior scenes are concerned, they reveal people unaware of us as onlookers, absorbed in their tasks. The result is a series of poignant snapshots subtly showing the psyche of “ordinary” Romanians, while the country is undergoing frequent political and economic upheavals.

Şerban Savu offers a critical look at these landscapes. The gap between the pictorial treatment, magnifying the whole—in particular through very precise work on light--, and the pointlessness of the scenes represented lends these pictures a jaded tone. His works conjure up both the late 19th century canvases of the Impressionists, and also echo the works of Jean-François Millet, Pieter Bruegel and Edward Hopper, by their ability to capture a special moment, and suspend time for a brief moment.

These paintings also attest to a now bygone period, evoking dreams of a communist utopia: these cityscapes, which seemed to open the way to a bright future, have become relics in just a few years. It is these two periods of history which intermingle and confront one another in Şerban Savu’s compositions, like symbols of past promises and scenes of present-day reality.

The show at Le LAIT, titled En dérive, brings together works produced by Şerban Savu over the past twelve years, some of which echo the local context and in particular the work of Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec.

Prior to his exhibition in Albi, Şerban has been invited to show his work in the Centre Pompidou. This project, undertaken with his compatriot Ciprian Muresan, is organized around Constantin Brancusi, the figurehead of the Romanian art scene.

Exhibition placeLe Lait centre d’art contemporain28 rue Rochegude81000 Albi

Opening hoursfrom Wednesday to Sundayfrom 1-6 pmFree entry, accessible to all

Group visits on reservationMonday morning to Friday nightBooking : centredart@centredartlelait.comT. : +33 (0)9 63 03 98 98

AdministrationCarré Public6 rue Jules Rolland81000 Albi

InformationT. : +33 (0)9 63 03 98 84centredart@centredartlelait.comwww.centredartlelait.comfacebook.com/centredartlelait

Press contactmurielle.edet@centredartlelait.comT. : +33 (0)9 63 03 98 98 M. : +33 (0)6 72 82 22 78

4Works selection

Şerban Savu, Untitled, 33 x 50 cm, oil on canvas, 2006

Şerban Savu, Picnic, 20 x 30 cm, oil on canvas, 2006

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Şerban Savu, About Love, 60 x 43 cm, oil on canvas, 2007

Works selection

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Şerban Savu, Random Audience, 134 x 192 cm, oil on canvas, 2014

Works selection

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Şerban Savu, The Guardian, 175 x 223 cm, oil on canvas, 2015

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What Work Is Philip Levine

We stand in the rain in a long linewaiting at Ford Highland Park. For work.You know what work is—if you’reold enough to read this you know whatwork is, although you may not do it.Forget you. This is about waiting,shifting from one foot to another.Feeling the light rain falling like mistinto your hair, blurring your visionuntil you think you see your own brotherahead of you, maybe ten places.You rub your glasses with your fingers,and of course it’s someone else’s brother,narrower across the shoulders thanyours but with the same sad slouch, the grinthat does not hide the stubbornness,the sad refusal to give in torain, to the hours of wasted waiting,to the knowledge that somewhere aheada man is waiting who will say, “No,we’re not hiring today,” for anyreason he wants. You love your brother,now suddenly you can hardly standthe love flooding you for your brother,who’s not beside you or behind orahead because he’s home trying tosleep off a miserable night shiftat Cadillac so he can get upbefore noon to study his German.[...]

Philip Levine, “What Work Is” from What Work Is, New York, Alfred A. Knopf, 1991

For the Şerban Savu show at the Le LAIT contemporary art centre, a book will also be published, on the borderline between a retrospective catalogue and an artist’s book. Richly illustrated, with different essays and interviews, this publication adopts a new angle to broach Şerban Savu’s oeuvre, offering an overview of his pictorial work accompanied by texts by the American poet Philip Levine, who, in his poems, casts a unique eye over the world of the American worker.

This is a joint publication by IDEA Design + Print, Cluj, the Plan B gallery, Cluj/Berlin, and the Le LAIT contemporary art centre, Albi.

Publication

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Volume 1 / Issue 2 / 2011 / p.80

Press Selection

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 Serban  Savu  (right)  and  Weekend  (2006)  

 Phaidon.com  26  January  2012    Figurative  painter  Serban  Savu's  skillfully  rendered  canvases  capture  the  daily  existence  of  contemporary  Romanians  at  work  and  leisure.  Savu  treats  his  protagonists’  facial  characteristics  in  a  generic  manner,  causing  their  individual  identities  to  remain  elusive.  Interior  scenes  depict  people  unaware  of  our  gaze  and  absorbed  in  their  own  worlds,  viewed  through  glass  and  embedded  in  compositions  governed  by  architectural  features.  Exterior  rural  landscapes  often  portray  solitary  figures  in  the  middle-­‐distance,  isolated  and  overwhelmed.  The  result  is  a  series  of  poignant,  observational  'snapshots'  that  obliquely  reveal  the  psyche  of  the  ‘ordinary’  Romanian  as  the  country  experiences  political  change  and  economic  growth.    Who  are  you?  Do  you  expect  me  to  know  the  answer  to  this  question?!  Probably  at  the  end  of  my  days  I  will  have  a  general  idea  about  who  I  was.  I  try  to  answer  this  question  through  my  painting  because  I  believe  that  painting  is  like  a  fingerprint,  it  doesn’t  lie  about  the  personality  of  the  artist.    What’s  on  your  mind  right  now?  To  be  honest,  I  have  just  returned  yesterday  from  a  ski  holiday  in  Austria.  I  needed  a  break,  but  it  is  always  challenging  to  focus  on  your  work  after  a  break.  If  before  leaving  I  had  a  particular  logic  of  ideas,  now  I  feel  that  a  new  logic  will  take  over.  Anyhow,  on  the  way  back  to  Cluj,  my  hometown  in  Romania,  I  stopped  for  one  day  in  Vienna  to  revisit  the  Kunsthistorisches  Museum  and  to  recharge  myself  with  some  new  energy  from  the  old  masters  that  I  love  so  much.    

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         How  do  you  get  this  stuff  out?  I  like  to  follow  what  Leonardo  said:  “Pittura  e  una  cosa  mentale”  (painting  is  a  mental  occupation).  In  my  case,  everything  starts  with  an  idea,  then  I  do  my  own  photographic  research.  Afterwards,  I  feel  like  a  puppeteer  when  I  play  in  Photoshop  to  ‘order’  the  composition  by  moving  the  characters  around.  In  the  end,  the  ‘preparatory  drawing’  looks  more  like  a  collage.  After  I  do  all  these  boring  preparations,  painting  comes  as  a  relief.    How  does  it  fit  together?  What  bounds  them  together  is  the  language.  I  try  to  find  the  right  voice  or  tone  for  each  painting.  It  is  a  mixture  of  intuition  and  lucidity  and  my  goal  is  to  find  the  right  balance  -­‐  balance  that  gives  a  certain  fluidity  to  the  painting.    What  brought  you  to  this  point?  Ever  since  I  was  a  teenager,  I  was  interested  in  the  subjects  that  I  am  painting  now,  but  I  didn’t  know  that  they  could  be  painted.  After  my  stay  in  Venice,  Italy  between  2002  and  2004  (“Vietato  l’ingresso  ai  non  addetti  ai  lavori”,  Cube  Gallery,  Venice,  Italy  “Ichtyos”,  Spazio  Arte  Pisanello,  Verona,  Italy)  when  I  came  back  to  Cluj  I  was  able  to  see  more  clearly  the  reality  around  me,  I  could  understand  better  what  triggered  me  and  I  knew  I  had  found  my  way.    Can  you  control  it?  Actually  I  wait  for  the  moments  when  I  lose  control.  In  general  I  control  everything  in  my  painting,  starting  from  the  geometry  underneath  the  painting  to  the  way  the  light  envelops  the  characters  and  the  surroundings.  I  consider  the  moments  I  lose  control  to  be  revelations.    What's  next?  I  don’t  know  what  is  next  and  I  am  not  really  keen  to  find  out.  I  like  to  focus  on  the  present  and  what  I  am  doing  now.    Serban  Savu  is  represented  by  Nicodim  Gallery,  Los  Angeles;  Galerie  Hussenot,  Paris,  Plan  B,  Cluj,  and  David  Nolan,  New  York.                          

Press Selection

12Biography

Education

1996 - 2001 – University of Art and Design, Cluj, Romania

Grant

2002 - 2004 - “Nicolae Iorga” postgraduate research grant, Venice, Italy

Selected Solo Exhibitions

2019“En dérive”, Centre d’art Le Lait, Albi

2018“Heroes, Saints and Other Figures”, Galeria Plan B, Berlin“Serban Savu”, Museo Pietro Canonica, Rome“All Saints’s Day”, White Cuib, Cluj

2016“New Works”, Nicodim Gallery, Los Angeles

2015“Pictures at an Exhibition”, Plan B Gallery, Berlin“Manastur”, Dawid Radziszewski Gallery, Warsaw

2014“Sometimes My Eyes Are the Eyes of a

Stranger”, Monica de Cardenas Gallery, Milan

2012“Daily Practice for the End of the World”, Plan B Gallery, Berlin“Overview”, Nicodim Gallery, Los Angeles

2011“Close to Nature”, David Nolan Gallery, New York“Under the Radar”, Pitzhanger Manor, PM Gallery & House, London

2010 “Unimportant Stories”, Nicodim Gallery, Los Angeles“Essay on Limits”, Galerie Hussenot, Paris

2009“Recent Paintings”, Plan B Gallery, Berlin“The Edge of the Empire”, David Nolan Gallery, New York “Behind the Walls”, Laika, Cluj

2007“Harvest”, Kontainer Gallery, Los Angeles “Girls”, Plan B Gallery, Cluj“Along the River”, F A Projects, London

2006“The New Man”, Mie Lefever Gallery, Gent“Foaia de pontaj”, H’art Gallery, Bucharest

Selected Group Exhibitions

2019“Ciprian Muresan et Serban Savu: L’atelier sans fin”, Centre Pompidou, Paris“Ex-East, Past and Recent Stories of the Romanian Avant-Garde”, Espace Niemeyer, Paris“La Brique, The Brick, Caramida”, La Kunsthalle, Mulhouse

2018“Ciprian Muresan et Serban Savu: L’entretien infini”, Centre Pompidou, Paris“The State We Are In” Collection of the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw, Galeria Labirynt, Lublin“Art on Stage”, Art Safari, Bucharest“Double Heads Matches”, New Budapest Gallery, Budapest“BioPerversity”, Nicodim Gallery, Los Angeles

2017“Hierophant”, Nicodim Gallery, BucharestThe 3rd Mediterranean Biennale “Out of Place”, Sakhnin“Disruptive Imagination. Making Windows Where There Were Once Walls”, Gallery of Fine Arts, Ostrava“On the Sex of Angels”, Nicodim Gallery, Bucharest

Born 1978 Sighișoara, Romania

Lives and works in Cluj, Romania

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“Disruptive Imagination. Making Windows Where There Were Once Walls”, Ferenczy Museum Center, Szentendre

2016“...Hounded by External Events...”, Maureen Paley Gallery, London“Landscapes After Ruskin: Redefining the Sublime”, Hall Art Foundation, Reading“Layers”, Nicodim Gallery, Bucharest Berlin Show # 4: Inventory, Plan B Gallery, Berlin“George Grosz: Politics and His Influence”, David Nolan Gallery, New York“Track Changes”, Mendes Wood DM Gallery, Sao Paulo“The Factory of Facts and Other (Unspoken) Stories”, Salonul de Proiecte, Bucharest“The Factory of Facts and Other (Unspoken) Stories”, Domino, Cluj

2015“Appearance and Essence”, Art Encounters Biennial, Timisoara“Pocket Revolutions”, Korea Foundation, Seoul“Tracing Shadows”, Plateau Samsung Museum of Art, Seoul“Group Exhibition”, Nicodim Gallery, Los Angeles

2014“Defaced”, Boulder

Museum of Contemporary Art, Boulder“Through the Collector’s Eye”, The Office, Cluj“A Few Grams of Red, Yellow, Blue”, Centre for Contemporary Art Ujazdowski Castle, Warsaw“This Side of Paradise”, Sotheby’s S|2 Gallery, London

2013“Nightfall”, Galerie Rudolfinum, Prague “Romanian Scenes”, Espace Culturel Loius Vuitton, Paris“Km/h, Utopies automobiles et ferroviaires (1913-2013)”, Musée du château des ducs de Wurtemberg, Montbéliard and Musée de Belfort, Belfort“Hotspot Cluj, New Romanian Art”, Arken Museum, Copenhagen

2012“Nightfall”, Center for Modern and Contemporary Arts, Debrecen“European Travellers. Art from Cluj Today”, Mucsarnok, Budapest“Referencing History”, Green Art Gallery, Dubai“Salonul de vara”, Plan B Gallery, Cluj

2011“ Anthem of People’s Love”, Nicodim Gallery, Los Angeles “Communism never

happened”, Charim Gallery, Vienna“Salonul de mai”, Plan B Gallery, Cluj“East Ex East”, Brand New Gallery, Milan

2010“Figurative Painting in Romania 1970-2010”, Club Electro Putere, Craiova“After the Fall”, Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art, Peekskill, NY “Berlin Show #2”, Plan B Gallery, Berlin“Romanian Cultural Resolution”, Spinnerei, Leipzig“Mircea Pinte Collection”, Museum of Art, Cluj“Route tournante en sous-bois”, Upload Art Project, Trento

2009 “I’ve Watered a Horseshoe as if It Were a Flower”, Nicodim Gallery, Los Angeles“Invisible Body, Conspicuous Mind”, Luckman Gallery, Los Angeles”Expanded Painting 3”, Prague Biennale 4, Prague“Show Me a Hero”, Calvert 22, London

2008 “Size Matters: XS - Recent Small-Scale Painting, Knoxville Museum

Biography

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of Art, Knoxville“Re-construction”, Biennial of Young Artists, Bucharest“Berlin show # 1”, Plan B Gallery, Berlin“Closer Still”, Mihai Nicodim Gallery, Los Angeles “Days Become Nights”, Galerie Hussenot, Paris

2007“Eastern European Painting Today”, Lora Reynolds Gallery, Austin“Across The Trees”, David Nolan Gallery, New York”Expanded Painting 2”, Prague Biennale 3, Prague

2006 “Cluj Connection”, Haunch of Venison Gallery, Zurich“Please Drive Slowly Through Our World”, Kontainer Gallery, Los Angeles

Biography

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Exhibition from 13|04|19 to 23|06|19

Opening on April 12, 2019 at 6.30 pm

Rendez-vous with Şerban Savu at the Pierre Amalric Library, 30 av. Général de Gaulle, Albi, Tuesday, April 9 avril at 18:15

Rendez-vous / practical information

Partners

Press Contact

murielle.edet@centredartlelait.com T. : +33 (0)9 63 03 98 98 M. : +33 (0)6 72 82 22 78

Information T. : +33 (0)9 63 03 98 84 centredart@centredartlelait.com www.centredartlelait.com facebook.com/centredartlelait instagram/centredartlelait

Exhibition place Le Lait centre d’art contemporain 28 rue Rochegude 81000 Albi

Opening from Wednesday to Sunday mercredi au dimanche from 2-7 pm Free entry, accessible to all

Administration Carré Public 6 rue Jules Rolland 81000 Albi

Institutional partners

The Art Centre is part of the DCA networks (French Association for the Development of Art Centres), the Air du midi network(Regional Associations of Midi Pyrénées Art Centres) and the LMAC (Midi-Pyrénées Laboratory of Contemporary Art Mediations)

Exhibition partners