|complexul saloanelor|
Translated as a complex towards the salons, the expression Complexul Saloanelor is inspired by Nikolai Gogol, who uses it to describe one of his character's relation with the influential Russian salons of that epoch.
The project seeks to dissect and shift in the digital space a personal selection of Romanian artworks. Reimagined through different programs (Photoshop, Illustrator, Processing, Cinema 4D), each artwork’s study is constrained by the graphic interchange format (.gif) to a few frames and, by the platform on which they were originally posted (tumblr), to a limited size.
With artists like Constantin Brâncuşi, Dimitrie Paciurea, Nicolae Tonitza, Nicolae Grigorescu, Ion Ţuculescu, Hedda Sterne, Gheorge Petraşcu, Ioana Nemeş, Adrian Ghenie or Andrei Cădere, Complexul Saloanelor becomes an online alternative collection, my own digital salon.
*Looking back at this project, on which I spent a lot of time (most on tutorials - since I had 0 knowledge of any program I used), these silly gifs still feel very personal to me, a lot of them being made frame by
frame. Lacking an art education, Complexul Saloanelor was my attempt to understand my local art scene through a personal and playful approach, but was also my desire to show that art can be owned by anyone,
even in the absence of the physical artwork.
**Constantin Brâncuși's Endless Column is my first ever digital manipulation, my first gif (because it had to start with a loading bar 😊); Spinning Hedda Sterne's Ballerina took me the most
time; Victor Brauner's Composition With Portrait was never included on the project's platforms (tumblr or
ello), but I felt the need to include it here, along the others.
***Though most of the gifs made for Complexul Saloanelor are funny, they were never intended to diminish in any way the artworks used.
Made 4
► tumblr
Moved on
► ello
Displayed @
► Art Safari, represented by the non-commercial
CAV Gallery @ The Space; Bucharest, 2015