| At the end of the 90s there was a tendency in the art education in Romania to reach the illustrated ideal in the catalogues, which one could find at the university library. In the local art schools the glossy Western model triumphed of course against the neo-orthodox oriented alternative in the years of freedom, which followed 1989. This alternative consisted of artistic voices which some art critics considered original—even “Romanian”—a sort of continuation of religious art in a new orthodox key, sometimes with nationalistic undertones. In 2004 when I made Leap into the Void—After 3 Seconds and The End of the Five-Year Plan I tried to imagine the dialogue between Western art and the local art context. |  |
Ciprian Muresan
At the end of the 90s there was a tendency in the art education in Romania to reach the illustrated ideal in the catalogues, which one could find at the university library. In the local art schools the glossy Western model triumphed of course against the neo-orthodox oriented alternative in the years of freedom, which followed 1989. This alternative consisted of artistic voices which some art critics considered original—even “Romanian”—a sort of continuation of religious art in a new orthodox key, sometimes with nationalistic undertones. In 2004 when I made Leap into the Void—After 3 Seconds and The End of the Five-Year Plan I tried to imagine the dialogue between Western art and the local art context.
Starting in 2005 I tried to get involved in the education of my son, and by making him a part of what I do, our communication has become more direct and sufficient. At the same time I started to see through his eyes the overstrain of the Romanian contemporary society to realize yet another utopia in, for instance, trying to fulfill a series of essential changes in the educational system. This is what I convey through works like Choose… and Rhinoceros.
