“New Tenant”, from Ionesco to layered painting / photo gallery
“New Tenant | Sunshine Noir”, an exhibition by Marius Bercea, inaugurates the presence of the Timișoara gallery Jecza in Bucharest. The artist proposes twelve works, from charcoal on paper to oil on canvas, mixed media and installation.
Conceptually inspired by Eugen Ionesco’s play “The New Tenant”, the exhibition transforms the space into a scenic set, in which painting and objects play essential roles in a visual dramaturgy of alienation, accumulation and reflection on the human condition. Like Ionesco’s character – a tenant who is devoured by an apartment that becomes increasingly suffocating – with Marius Bercea the viewer is invited to step into a layered, theatricalized world where the works function as “stage panels” and the props contribute to the construction of an overwhelming visual composition in a generous space, the presentation states.
Marius Bercea’s artistic practice revolves around an active interaction with an ever-changing natural and urban setting. His paintings often depict imaginary cityscapes, out of the ordinary interiors and exteriors or hyperbolized lush natural settings – places where time either seems to have stood still or takes you back in time. These scenes evoke a certain nostalgia, but at the same time they refer to an uncertain future and reflect the complexities of societies in transition. The architectural elements in his works – at times grand and imposing, at others fragile and on the verge of crumbling – serve as metaphors for the broader social and historical changes that characterize the places where the artist has worked from the beginning.
„New Tenant | Sunshine Noir” can be visited at Scânteia+, from Thursday to Sunday, between 12:00 and 20:00, until July 13. Admission is free.
Photo credit: curatorial
