ART ENCOUNTERS | Appearance & Essence | 3-31 OCTOBER 2015 TIMISOARA | ARAD
Marius Bercea
(1979, Cluj-Napoca, România - lives and works in Cluj-Napoca, România)
Bercea’s imagery often involves architecture. In Seasonal Capital of Itinerant Crowds (2013) various structures – ones that are seemingly permanent, provisional, or indeed mobile – conspire to construct a pictorial space that might at first appear to be rational, but that keeps fading in and out of definition, particularly along the painting’s central axis.
The works on paper constitute a body of work titled Thoughts Safari, these are a continuation of the artist’s interest in archiving moments and depicting memories. Imaginary landscapes and hybrid worlds proliferate as memories of Californian ideals are fused with Transylvanian traditions. Whether personal or second-hand recollections, fragments of his imagination or fictional scenes, the sources of Bercea’s stories remain ambiguous. Every piece is anecdotal; combining memories, thoughts and moods Bercea can articulate one moment whilst deconstructing another within the same work. His world is one of contrasts and contradictions. Amongst the utopian and dystopian dialogues, the wistful intensity and bold mark-making is immersive and convincing – culminating in paintings with their own unique truth and history.
Marius Bercea was born in 1979 in Cluj, Romania, where he still resides. Bercea received his MA from the University of Art and Design, in Cluj-Napoca in 2005, and currently works within Cluj’s Fabrica De Pensule (Paintbrush Factory), a multidisciplinary space with studios and exhibition galleries. In 2003 Marius Bercea was given an award by the Institute Superieur d’Architecture Saint-Luc, Belgium. Bercea has exhibited in solo exhibitions in London, Los Angeles, Ghent and Sibiu, alongside group exhibitions in India, Denmark, Hungary and Czech Republic, amongst others. Bercea’s work is in several public and private collections, including the Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art, Peekskill, US and the ARKEN Museum of Modern Art, Denmark.
