Tour of the Temporary art galleries

The beginning of the year 2020 couldn’t have been worse, with cancelled art exhibitions and a pandemic that did not let us live in peace. But it was isolation, perhaps, that was the engine of creation, the artists being mostly more creative compared to the days when the pressure of the every day problems no longer leaves room for pleasures.

Bearing a positive thought in mind, we felt the importance of art when the museums were the first to be opened to the wide public, before any restaurant, or even the malls. Orașul Artiștilor (The City of Artists) hosted, on this occasion, several exhibitions, transferred entirely from the galleries of Brukenthal National Museum, which had not been seen by the public due to the lock-down.

It is probably why, out of our thirst for art, the organizers of NAG (White Night of Galleries) made the wise decision to extend the night into days, the event occurring in 2020 throughout three days, between October 2nd and 4th, from 18:00 to 24:00 hours.

We are suggesting a tour of the exhibitions, most of them being organized on the special occasion of the NAG.

We are beginning our artistic tour from the Frameshop workshop, on 9 mai Street. No wonder that this place sunken in art in enrolled in the NAG event, because the curator Sergiu Pavălă has wanted for a long time to become a nucleus for several artist. It is a good reason to promote once again the art prints and the solar prints revealed for a short time in this location, besides the latest works made by contemporary visual artist who had been invited. Frameshop is already a traditional partner of the City of Artists, so we can rest assured that it is an exhibition worth visiting.

Máthé László is the kind of artist you should hunt in order to see, his works being difficult to admire at Sibiu during the last few years. Born in Covasna, we must be proud that we adopted him and that we can be part of his exhibitions, even as mere spectators. 

“Tűzhely” is an exhibition starting from the symbol of fire, of the sacred element around which family came together at the end of the day, after a day of hard work. It is worth joining the family of the artist, transposed into painting, at least for a few minutes.

All these names are well known to us, so it's a must to stop for a few minutes and watch the progress of Claudia (who started painting again after a break of several years, being encouraged by a personal exhibition organized by The City of Artists), that of Oana (who attended a few years ago the Plastic Arts Summer School, annually organized at Rășinari, and then that of the winner of a scholarship offered by the Association for the Embellishment of the City of Sibiu - AIOS) and of Iulia (also attendant of the Summer School from Rășinari). 

After we enjoyed ourselves with a story, told through the language of light, we go back a little on str. Nouă, and we go all the way to str. Ocnei to reach Piața Dragoner (Dragoner Plaza).

Artists who are already famous, representative for the artistic movement from Sibiu, the curators of this exhibition have gathered several well-known names from Sibiu, Timișoara and Bucharest, in order to set up rapidly a location deserted for too many years, made available by Urbana. After last year’s experience from “La mielul alb”, the conceptual art seems to have taken a step forward and we are looking forward to discovering what the 7 artists will impress us with now.

This year’s theme: The quick fixes that have recently become the obsession that mirrors our way of life now - Quick fix.

After the exhibition from La mielul alb, we recommend that you take a short break for a few seconds to redraw in your mind what you have seen. The installations and the messages displayed have a significance which is worth assimilating. 

Ready? Ok, we continue climbing under The Bridge of Lies, discovering right in front of us The City of Artists.

What does matter feel on its way to becoming a work of art? This is the perspective the authors of this exhibition are revealing, taking the place of matter, shaping images which hide even from the creator until the moment the idea is exhausted. What does it take to transpose the feelings of a brush, of a canvas or of the color into conceptual exhibition? It takes an artist, a doctor in visual arts, an architect with analytical thinking and a talented videographer.

You can find more information about Sofian Albert on page 12. Article signed by Iulia Mesea.

More than 30 artists have sent almost 100 works to exhibit at the traveling exhibition from Rășinari, Cinsădioara, Copșa Mică and Sibiu. 20 works were accepted which can be associated with the current pandemics, or which were just made during the lock-down, and now we can see them at the Council Tower from Sibiu, daily, between October 1st and October 18th between 10:00-20:00 hours.

You can find more information about this exhibition on page 20. 

Alexandru Cînean and Raluca Elena Coșăreanu, contemporary artists, united by love, and also by art, urge to reflection on what normality actually means, exhibiting works showing life in its simplicity, but flooded by color, snobbery, fashion, passion, love, death.

Only 32 years old, Alexandru Cînean is an increasingly convincing presence on the local artistic scene, nationally and internationally, and as of this year he started collaborating with The City of Artists as well, offering the art lovers the possibility to purchase his works in Fine Art Prints variant in limited edition, with the signature in the original and authenticity certificate. 

The works signed by Alexandru Cînean can also be found on the website www.artpoint.ro

Curator Roxana Ionescu brings to Sibiu a public art project initiated together with the children from Hosman village. Her experience as visual artist (scenographer who has signed the scenography for more than 50 drama and animation theater performances, for which she obtained 6 awards for best scenography, originality and plastic and visual language awards) transformed the wall of the peer which borders the entrance into the village of Hârtibaci river. Together with Anca Stătică and Ariel Hadnagy, supported by the associations Restauration for the Soul and TLJM, they offered the children from the village the chance to intervene on the public spaces, allowing them to integrate art in the context of their space and social life. And now, we, art lovers, are offered too the chance to meet them.

Project: Portmoment 

Curator: Brukenthal von Studio

Artists: Adrian Luca, Ilie Mitrea, Ioan Muntean, Andrei Popa, Cătălin Precup, Albert Sofian, Robert Șimon, Diana Pantea, Florin Viorel, Daniel Bălțat, Dan Șușa, Vlad Dumitru, Alexandra Stoica, Cristina Fău, Celestina Albișor, Roxana Ionescu, Anca Stătică, David Cosmin, Cezar Stanciu, Ariel HadWNGy, Sergiu Pavălă, Ciprian Badiu

With an ongoing Contemporary Art Festival, Brukenthal von Studio have also found the strength to gather more than 20 artists in an exhibition which will be open for three days, during NAG (the White Night of Galleries Event). Can art be the antidote to ephemerality, without falling into the vice of digital beautification of post-truth manufactured post hoc and of the nihilistic Carpe diem? This is one of the questions the artists urge us to answer during the exhibition.

In a route of art galleries, it is self-understood that our walk must include the Contemporary Art Gallery on 6 Tribunei Street, especially because here, during this period, SCAF (the Sibiu Contemporary Art Festival) takes place, organized under the theme of “Palindrome”.

We know for sure that you are familiar with this store that has written the text “Mă gândesc la ea” (I am thinking about her) and the working hours is… non-stop. Or you have at least taken pictures in front of it. Having become a real tourist attraction during the past few years, few people know that the name of the location was given also by an artistic manifestation – it was painted during some film shooting there, an actual store by that name not existing at that location. In spite of this, all the people that came to this location, opening from audio cassettes stores to flower shops or souvenir shops, thought the idea was appropriate and borrowed it. The same way that now, a few beauty lovers borrow it and promise to open a location dedicated to art.

And we… we are actors and artists at the same time, helping paint the location which can become itself an art object, engulfing stories among buckets with washable paint.

After years during which the artist from Sibiu exhibited on the hall way of the City Hall of Sibiu, in front of Brukenthal National Museum or in his own car, in order to attract the attention on the lack of galleries from Sibiu, this time, Dan-Raul Pintea exhibits in his own art gallery. It is worth crossing its threshold even only to meet the one who is behind the NAG event from Sibiu, being the local partner of the Ephemair Association from Bucharest, the main organizer and of the regular sponsor, BRD. 

Artists: Laura Cândea-Burnete, Andreea Popa, Florin Popescu, Sorina Tomulețiu, Silvia Paizan, RaCOLAJ, Claudiu Nicodin

Being a coworking space, it was clearly understood that the NAG exhibition had to be made under the same concept. This is precisely the reason why the list of artists is kept open until the last hour of the White Night of Galleries (NAG) and, more importantly, the Nook space remains open to all the Artists even after this event. 

In partnership with Orasul Artistilor - a project co-financed by the City Hall of Sibiu and Sibiu County Council.