Rodica Lomnasan
Critical References
RODICA LOMNASAN AND HER MEDITERRANEAN TALES
Somehow alienated from the artistic life of the Capital City of the last three years, this October I had the opportunity of enjoying a very special exhibition, the result of a life experience but also of an assumed artistic experience. This is the painting and engraving exhibition entitled "Mediterranean Tales", opened at the Romanian Cultural Institute and signed by graphic artist Rodica Lomnăşan.
I know the author since the early 90's, while both, being conspecifics, were looking for our place and purpose in an artistic world as little friendly as the Romanian post-communist society as a whole.
I had her invited to one of the editions of the famous "Serata muzicală TV" show of the late Iosif Sava as she was a young artist just starting out, and I enjoyed very much what she was doing. At the end of 1997, Iosif Sava had invented a special section in his talk show: live vernissage. Every Saturday we would set up the artworks of some exhibition by value in one of the mammoth studios of TVR and would invite the author to a dialogue about his or her creation, included in the unparalleled show by Iosif Sava. After we became friends at "Serata", our roads parted and then crossed again, after more than 17 years, on the occasion of Rodica Lomnăşan's personal exhibition at the Romanian Cultural Institute. It was a period when the artist fully crystallised her personality, as I ascertained upon seeing her latest works.
Rodica Lomnăşan was born in Alamor, Sibiu County, in 1965, and graduated the National University of Arts in 1994. She became a member of the Romanian Fine Artists' in 2010 and a member of EKATEK - Cyprus Chamber of Art. Rodica Lomnăşan has lived and worked over the past years on the island of Cyprus, the Greek side. There she opened several exhibitions at the Hambis Engraving Museum - Plataniskia, in 2009 and in Limassol the same year, in Nicosia in 2007 and in Kallepeia in 2006. In 2009, during the summer workshop at the Hambis Engraving Museum, Rodica Lomnăşan received the Award granted by Hellenic Bank for teaching engraving techniques. The rich artistic activity of the graphic artist is also reflected in numerous participations in group exhibitions, especially abroad, as well as in several personal openings in Belgium and the Netherlands. The "Mediterranean Tales" painting and engraving exhibition from October, opened at the Romanian Cultural Institute in Bucharest, was a summary and a crowning achievement of the experience lived on the island of Cyprus.
The series of artworks exhibited by Rodica Lomnăşan at the Romanian Cultural Institute, created between 2009 and 2015, could be defined as a levantine dream leeway in a miraculous space, bathed in the clear and strong light of the south, a space lying, as many of the Greek islands are, between a sea that constantly changes its colours and a range of rocky mountains with little vegetation but tempting to the eye of the artist in their surprising forms, through the unique aerial landscapes that the contemplative person perceives. Clearly, the art of Rodica Lomnăşan rose to a higher level due to direct contact with this generous nature. I could say that, in a certain way, her encounter with the Mediterranean Sea resembles the encounter of the Romanian inter-war painters with the already legendary Balchik space. Many of the inter-war painters radically changed their style and were defined plenarily as artists only by contact with the light of the south, with Balchik's maritime and rocky scenery, nowadays impressed by the lifestyle of the Turks and Tartars that inhabited it.
In direct contact with the Mediterranean nature, from which she snatched away the legends and stories and atmosphere, Rodica Lomnăşan began to paint, devoid of any inhibition, in the technique of oil and watercolour, continuing to work and engrave in aqua forte technique on copper plates. The engraving made by the overlapping of plates is also drawing to painting by polychromy.
A peculiarity of Rodica Lomnăşan's work is the separation of the "shell" of things, in favour of an increased interest for the "core" of the reasons she approaches. The artist introspects the inside of a fruit, for example the pomegranate, ascribing value to the surprising geometry of its seeds. Pomegranate, a symbol of Mediterranean space, appears projected, in a free game of imagination, on a marine background. The creatures of the sea are approached in a ludicrous spirit, transformed into characters of the story that Rodica Lomnăşean narrates with a wide variety of fine arts means. In the clear light of the south, architectures of the place stand out, handled in the watercolour technique, for which the artist shows genuine endowment. And above all this, the goddess of beauty, Aphrodite, is preening like a spirit of the place, who she incites by its mere plastic evocation to the foray into the ancient history of some cultural and civilization creation spaces in the Mediterranean basin.
More than just making us part of a personal experience, Rodica Lomnăşan's exhibition was a direct invitation to dreaming, detached from a depressing ordinary. The places where the artist was mesmerised became recognizable fine arts topos, impressing a delicate and refined creative personality.
Luiza BARCAN
Resume
Studies:
University of Art, Bucharest - Graphic Department 1994
Nicolae Tonitza Art High School - Bucharest 1983
Member of the Visual Artists’ Union of Romania since 1996
Member of EKATEK (Cyprus Chamber of Arts) since 2009
Workshops and Residencies:
1998 and 2000 - Workshop at the "Frans Masereel Graphics Center", Kasterlee, Belgium
2002 “Prograph Foundation” - Orvelte Workshop, The Netherlands - Project: object book with lithography illustrations - the poem “La Steaua” by Eminescu in collaboration with the Dutch poet Toon Peters and the graphic artist Toon Wegner - Professor at the University of Art, Groningen)
2009 - Workshop: Hambis Printmaking Museum, Plataniskia, Cyprus - guest professor
Personal exhibitions:
2015 “Mediterranean Stories” - Romanian Cultural Institute, Bucharest 2015 “Polychrome” - Chiaki Kamikawa Contemporary Art Gallery, Paphos, Cyprus (2 artists)
2014 Engraving Exhibition - Hambis Engraving Center, Plataniskia, Cyprus 2011 “Arthis” - Romanian-Belgian Cultural Center, Brussels
2007 “Reflections” - Opus 39 Gallery - Exhibition organized by the Romanian Embassy in Nicosia, Cyprus
2009 Hambis Engraving Center, Plataniskia, Cyprus
2009 Dino’s Art Cafe, Limassol, Cyprus
2006 “Inner Gateways” - Kallepeia Gallery, Cyprus - presented by the Romanian Ambassador in Nicosia
2004 Deel 2 Gallery, The Netherlands
2006 “Another possible World”, Ibsen Café, Limassol, Cyprus - on the occasion of the Ibsen celebration
2002 “Metamorphosis” ENZO Gallery, Antwerp, Belgium
2002 Brâncoveanu Palaces Cultural Center, Mogoşoaia - Foisor Gallery 2002 Lage Land Gallery, Groningen, The Netherlands
2002 Art Jazz Club Orizont, Bucharest
2001 Simeza Gallery (2 artists: graphics & sculpture)
2000 Brâncoveanu Palaces Cultural Center Mogoşoaia - Ground Floor Gallery
1998 "Omnia" Hall, Romanian Senate
1997 Home of Art Gallery, Bucharest
1996 Sibiu Art Gallery
Group exhibitions:
2016
"Mirroring and Transfiguration" wexhibition - Temeiuri Spring Salon, Constantin Brâncuşi Hall, Palace of the Parliament, Bucharest
BIAMT - International Biennial of Miniature Arts, Timisoara
Small salon “SMB10” - “Blur” exhibition, Home of Art Gallery Bucharest
Art Sfari, Bucharest
“Ex libris Brâncuşi 2016” on the occasion of the Brâncuşi symposium (Traveling exhibition)
The “Marina in Romanian painting” exhibition, Cotroceni National Museum
2015
Women and Art Exhibition - Technopolis Cultural Center, Paphos, Cyprus (March)
Romanian Graphics 2015 “Contemporary Art Ruhr”, Germany
Group Exhibition & Book Fair, “Famagusta Gate” Cultural Center - Nicosia, Cyprus
“The praise of beauty as an appearance of good” exhibition - Temeiuri Salon - Constantin Brâncusi Hall, Palace of the Parliament
Art Sfari, Bucharest
Salons of Moldova
"Autumn Salon" - Constantin Brâncuşi Hall, Palace of the Parliament
“A4” exhibition, Simeza Gallery, Bucharest
2014
Group exhibition - Strovolos Cultural Center, Nicosia, organized by EKATEK Cyprus on the occasion of the inauguration
Astra Salons - 2nd Edition, Sibiu (December 2014- February 2015)
Kypriaki Gonia Gallery - Group Exhibition, Larnaca, Cyprus (July 2014) "Romanian Graphics"
“Syntonistiko” Cultural Center, Limassol, Exhibition organized by EKATEK - Cyprus (July-August)
Ion Andreescu International Biennial, Buzau
The “Tree of Life” Exhibition - Temeiuri Hall, Constantin Brâncuşi Hall - Palace of the Parliament, Bucharest
2013
Engraving and Sculpture Salon, Simeza Gallery, Bucharest
“SMB7” Small Salon: “Seduction of the right angle”, Home of Art Gallery - Bucharest 2013
"Romanian Graphics"
Arts Bucharest (October)
Group exhibition "Structures, Line, Color", Elite Gallery, Bucharest
2012
Engraving and Sculpture Salon, Simeza Gallery, Bucharest
"Romanian Graphics"
2011
Group exhibition on the occasion of International Women's Day, "Arthis" Romanian-Belgian Cultural Center, Brussels, Belgium
“Casa” (The House) exhibition - Simeza Gallery, Bucharest
Group exhibition “Petra tou Romiou” (Stone of Aphrodite), Hellenic Bank Head quarter, Nicosia, Cyprus (with Cypriot artists)
“Grafica Romaneascã”, Bucharest - first edition
2010
Group exhibition organized by the Anoyra-Limassol Municipality, Cyprus
2008
"Dialogue" exhibition, Nicosia - Cyprus - Group exhibition organized by the Romanian Embassy in Nicosia and the Ministry of Culture from Cyprus (November-December)
2007
The “All Women 4 You” exhibition - organized by the Pegasus Art Foundation at “Art Studio 55” Limassol, Cyprus - on the occasion of International Women's Day
2004
“The House” - Group Exhibition, Lage Land Gallery - Groningen, The Netherlands
2003
International Triennial of Small Engraving - Chamalieres, France - Honorary Diploma
Jubilee exhibition of the "Frans Masereel" Engraving Center - Kasterlee, Belgium
Autumn Salon, Bucharest
2002
“Lilla Europa 2002” - Biennial of Painting and Small Engraving - Hallsberg and Orebro, Sweden
4th Lithography Symposium, Tidhaholm - Sweden
“G7” group exhibition - Hag Gallery
Group exhibition – Home of Art Gallery, Bucharest
Group exhibition - Otopeni Gallery
2001
“Contemporary Romanian Graphics”, Sao Paolo, Brazil (traveling exhibition)
Autumn Salon, Bucharest "Eclipse": Art Outside the Museum - Râmnicu Vâlcea
National Salon of Fine Arts, Romexpo
Apollo Gallery, Bucharest - Engraving Exhibition (traveling exhibition)
Engraving Exhibition - Central University Library, Bucharest
International Visual Arts Fair - Globus Circus, Bucharest
2000
"Art Dans la Ville" International Festival, Saint Etienne, France
"French-Romanian engraving" - cultural exchange Lyon - Bucharest (2000 and 1999)
"Contemporary Romanian Graphics" - Seoul, South Korea
Group exhibition, "22 Masks" – Iorga House, Venice, Italy
Municipal Salon, Bucharest
1999
"Mini Print International of Cadaqués" - competition organized by ADOGI, Spain
“3rd International Exhibition of Contemporary Graphics, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
National Engraving Salon, Art Museum, Tulcea
International Visual Arts Fair - Cotroceni Palace, Bucharest
"Iosif Iser" International Engraving Biennial, Art Museum, Ploieşti
Municipal Salon, Bucharest
Salons of Moldova, Bacău
1998
"Mini Print International of Cadaqués" - competition organized by ADOGI, Spain
"Kisgrafika 1998" - Ex Libris, Budapest, Hungary
National Engraving Salon, Art Museum, Tulcea
Municipal Salon, Bucharest
Art Fair - World Trade Center, Bucharest
Salons of Moldova, Bacău (traveling exhibition)
1997
International Triennial of Young Talents - Charleroi, Belgium
International Graphic Triennial Krakow'97, Poland
"Mini Print International of Cadaqués" - competition organized by ADOGI, Spain
“The 19th International Independent Exhibition of Prints”, Kanagawa, Japan
International Biennial of Small Engraving, Cluj
"Romanian Artists in England" - Durham, U.K.
"Iosif Iser" International Engraving Biennial, Art Museum, Ploiesti
National Graphics Salon, 3/4 T.N. Gallery, Bucharest
1996
International Triennial of Graphics - Bitola, Macedonia
National Graphics Salon, 3/4 T.N. Gallery, Bucharest
Municipal Salon, Bucharest
1995
“The 18th International Independent Exhibition of Prints”, Kanagawa, Japan
National Graphics Salon, 3/4 T.N. Gallery, Bucharest
"Iosif Iser" International Engraving Biennial, Art Museum, Ploiesti
Salons of Moldova, Bacău
1994
Third International Graphic Biennial - Belgrade
1993
Group exhibition organized on the occasion of the anniversary of Radio - Casa Radio (Radio House), Bucharest
Exhibition "From Object to Engraving" - Podul Gallery, Bucharest
National Graphic Salon, Bucharest - 1992 and 1993 editions
"Youth Salon" - Bucharest - 1990; 1992 and 1993 editions
Awards:
2009 Award offered by Hellenic Bank, Cyprus for Workshop at the Hambis Engraving Museum - Summer Courses
1999 Prize of the Foundation “St. Luca”, National Fine Arts Competition, Bârlad
1997 Curentul Newspaper Award - "Young Dominus" Contest, Dominus Gallery, Bucharest
1995 Prize for lithography in the "Young Dominus" contest, Bucharest - Dominus TN Gallery
2001-2002 Klara Tamas Foundation Scholarship - New York