Romanian catalog for Webpage - Flipbook - Page 11
Contemporary
Romanian Art
LARA TAUBMAN
From the Collection of the Arthur Taubman Trust
International Art Critic and Curator
R
omania was an unexpected trove of
wonderfulness for me from the moment I arrived
there. My first visit was in 2006 to see my parents
and their new, albeit temporary, home.
It came at a time when I was seeking projects
with emerging visual artists. Fortuitously, the contemporary
artists I met in Bucharest on that visit were excited to
receive the benefits that the promise of democracy would
bring them. They were eager to have newfound freedom of
expression in their lives and their art practice.
When my parents told me they had been asked to write
this forward on behalf of the exhibit, I volunteered myself
immediately. I do not write about art or curate any longer,
but I think it is relevant to contribute some of the stories
of how it came to life. There are so many stories that
had to be lived in order for this collection to come into
existence. Most of them were fascinating, totally wild,
new experiences for me, with a group of people aching
to spread their wings. People who are funny, intelligent,
cool, and curious. The artists from the collection have
gone on to prove themselves among some of the best
contemporary and historical visual artists of our time.
Opposite: Mircea Suciu
Embroidery (detail), 2011, illustrated page 131
When visiting Bucharest in the mid-2000s, you were not
going to know anything about contemporary art in Romania
without coming across Mihai Pop and his gallery Plan B in
Cluj. In all truth, I don’t remember exactly how I met him. I
believe it was from meeting Jane Neal, guest curator of this
exhibit for the Taubman Museum. I met Jane for the first
time in Zurich at an exhibit she made there in 2006. Titled
Cluj Connection, it was the first group show outside of
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