Anca Popa

Imagine flipping a coin that will spin endlessly, powerless to decide on which side to fall onto. Its trail modified by the smallest external and internal factors. Maybe leaning but never stopping. A long and exhausting journey fuelled by curiosity and lust for life. I am the coin and the marks I leave on the surface that I ceaselessly spin on are my work. A radiography of my own unique path in life. The act of putting myself out there for everybody to see, a brave and at the same time torturous gesture. My childhood constantly alluring me with its sweetness. My inner child always at play, incapable to commit. Longing for beauty but thriving in darkness. A testimony of my failure as a social human being. Contradiction and indecisiveness may perfectly describe my body of work but the freedom I get from this cataloguing is essential in order for me to create. Until quite recently it seemed that every piece was telling a different story, by a different person even, but now I see my work as groups of stories relating to each other, each playing an essential part to the final outcome. From sketches to large paintings, using a vast array of mediums, put together, they embody a whole person with past, present and future. My life began in 1985, in Focsani, Romania. My interest in art came at a very early age, interest that lead me to attend the Art School in my home town, and afterwards to choose architecture as my specialization studying it for 6 years at Ion Mincu University of Architecture and Urbanism in Bucharest. I have been a freelance artist ever since. With parts of my work belonging to private collections all over the world, I have also created works for a variety of client specifications and collaborated with people from different domains (architecture, design, music industry, live productions and publishing). After living for almost 15 years in Bucharest, in 2019 I moved to Cape Town. Shortly after my arrival I have begun to explore and grasp the South African culture as much as I could, immersing myself in its fascinating history and environment. A process of this complexity and depth that requires both time and availability, had slowly but surely started to make its mark on my artistic work. After the first three years I can honestly say that the most impactful aspect of the new environment that I found myself in was the South African flora and fauna and the breathtaking landscape. The body of work that I have created during this period of time represents a fusion between my Romanian roots and the South African natural environment, a dialogue between the past and the present, a mediation between two distinct parts which through art formed a new identity.