Presecan's Soul Touch

Last January I wrote an article on Checkout[ART] about my personal point of view on the Romanian ante and post-revolutionary art scene. Scroll down and read it: The important point, for me, resumes at before and after 1989, a turning point in the Romanian history, a year which marked the official break down of communism in the country. CLAUDIU PRESECAN'S "REEDS III", 2009 For those who didn’t live the 80s in Romania, for those strangers to Romania who cannot imagine what “darkness” we lived in, I can say that even now, after more than 20 years, I still notice the same thing: the degree of ignorance and isolation the authorities kept us in. I do not refer to the material deprivations, but most of all to the spiritual and cultural ones. It was an ignorance of contemporaneousness, of information, of everything that happens in the free world. There is much to discuss about this subject and maybe it is well-known what the communist propaganda and politics meant, but

Sorin Campan: Pata Street, 2002, oil on cardboard, 31,5 x 36,5 cm Yesterday I visited Sorin Campan’s show at Plan B Gallery , here in Cluj. He belongs to an elder generation of Romanian artists, fully represented before 1989, while keeping a distance from the official art of the period. On the white walls of the gallery, under fluorescent light, I found his paintings to be very sensitive and warm. A kind of old moments, undefined times and petrified for eternity. There were mere landscape, but loaded with emotions. I was glad to discover these works in the gallery’s new agenda, among other renowned Transylvanian artists such as Gheorghe Ilea, who will be opening a show in Plan B’s space in Berlin next month. I found the atmosphere of Campan’s paintings resembling the paintings from the art school: full of life, mysterious and powerful. I would like to tell those of you who are in Cluj or have time to visit this show, it’s definitely worth it! I enjoyed it! Besides, when

Ground zero, the main and central square in Cluj-Napoca , take a look and for those who want to join this group on Facebook , you are welcome! Union Square Cluj from Laviniu Lazar on Vimeo .

I started this morning enjoying my coffee while reading some interesting articles in The Art Newspaper , good articles about some of the arts fairs from US, as well their trends this year. Articles signed by Jonathan Neil, Paco Barragan, Brook Mason are well informed and written, on the art market analysis. I recommend signing in for this newsletter. After posting this, I will return to paint in my studio and prepare afterwards for a nice weekend... At times of crisis, fairs should take a more “curated” approach. Why satellite art fairs are recession-proof? Could the art market be undergoing a fundamental restructuring? And others as well...