ISBN 978-606-8040-21-9
Mădălina Lazăr breakable structure
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I am a cerebral person. I choose to work in a rational and deliberate manner, waiting and enjoying the accidental moment when it occurs.
ISBN 978-606-8040-21-9
BREAKABLE STRUCTURE There’s a lot of painting being done. In Romania, painting is still perceived as a sort of equivalent of art and figurative painting is courted by most artists. Eyebrows are still raised in traditionalist art circles when a painting graduate goes in for photography, installation or video work. What are the limitations in a liberal profession? In cinematography we find the statement “Everything has already been done, we have already seen all there is to see”, in music and dance we have experienced everything, painting is dead, the human beings deplete resources and themselves too, yet everything goes on, perhaps from demonstrative stubbornness, perhaps from intertia. However, the power of art lies in the ability to say the same thing differently. Starting out from painting, Madalina Lazar reveals the valencies of collage as an alternative means of expression. This is not an abandonment of painting but a resolution of some mature and refined aesthetic and conceptual quests. Thus we emerge into a seemingly barren context with a well-controlled spaciousness, beyond ruptures and some specific elements of the human environment, since the author is interested in a kind of constructivist-suprematicist contextualization. A concern with the representation of absence remains a constant in this coherent route followed consistently in favor of three-dimensional geometry and composition. Whereas avant-garde debates were often rooted in political ideology of a fascist or Bolshevik dimension (depending on the cultural space concerned), Madalina Lazar leaves ideological discourse aside and instead touches upon nihilistic philosophies, contemporary with the Russian avant-garde. Her collages reveal traces or fragments of humanity, representing the absence which cuts subtly, yet extremely harshly across the situation of the contemporary individual. Blasé, in a constant routine, fallen within the limits of his helplessness, the individual leaves his/her traces that are obviously determined by the boundaries of the space in which she/he lives, only preoccupied with survival and not with living. People play out their conventional social roles and do not know how to be different. In their subjective memory they remain unchanged. We see the human being institutionalized, absurd, ridiculous. Executed in selected media, the collages signal violent aspects without employing an aggressive decor. Nothingness is more frightening than presence. In the absence of a saving revelation and religious consciousness the nihilist becomes lost in the maze built by her/himself. The contemporary individual is nothing but his/her own victim. In these collages one sees no solution, hence there is no exit, and death is an end of the line that completes nothingness.
Olivia Niţiş, curator, art critic
NEW ORDER III
mixed media I 65x50 cm I 2010
Mădălina Lazăr breakable structure
The project follows the human being and his daily routine. His indifference is shown by his complete subservience to the system. He takes refuge in Second Life and World of Warcraft – his only opportunities to socialize. He takes part in – or, better said, is a passive observer of – the repetitive and redundant absurdity of each passing day. In the absence of an explicit graphic representation, the human subject becomes present through the outcome of his actions.
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We therefore see him in almost heart-warming situations, systematically fighting for his green cause, planting a tree, recycling a book, covering patios and facades with true hanging gardens and woods, turning the lights off for one hour once every year at the same time as those around him, going on and on using the same plastic bag for groceries, etc. Firmly convinced of the importance of his actions and his role in society, he devotes himself to these green programs in the belief that these small achievements will actually bring about significant change and transform once and for all the way things are presently going.
UNTITLED mixed media I 21x28cm I 2010
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mixed media I 28 x 40cm I 2009
COLLAGE
mixed media I 50 x 50 cm I 2009
Mădălina Lazăr breakable structure
COLLAGE
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mixed media I 50 x 50 cm I 2009
COLLAGE
mixed media I 65x50 cm I 2010
He is in fact an absent witness of the passage of time, constantly inventing pretexts for avoiding authentic information and choosing instead the easier path of making himself useful in society, of being a good citizen.
NEW ORDER
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COLLAGE
It is him we find again in an equally absurd tragi-comical situation, that of trying to make the most of the space he lives or works in. Forced to adapt himself to unsuitable spaces in cramped and gloomy buildings, he works out strategies to reorganize the available space. The results of his quest for a fake personal comfort are as unusual as they are ridiculous.
mixed media I 50 x 50 cm I 2009
Mădălina Lazăr breakable structure
UNSTABLE STRUCTURE II mixed media I 50x50 cm I 2011
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Fear of an imminent natural disaster, a true psychological disturbance that is a fixation of modern society with its apocalyptic overtones, is one of the few things capable of making him snap out of his state of total passivity. It motivates him to become actively involved in countless ecological movements whose ultimate aim is the prevention of global warming.
UNSTABLE STRUCTURE III Martin Essl Collection, Austria
mixed media I 70x50 cm I 2011
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Mădălina Lazăr breakable structure
MORE GREEN IV mixed media I 63x50cm I 2011
As far as I’m concerned, it’s not my intention either to come closer to a figurative approach, or to distance myself from it, just as I don’t give shapes an abstract form just for the sake of the concept itself.
Lisa Zentner Collection, Austria
mixed media I 65x50 cm I 2010
MORE GREEN II
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I am looking to present a certain type of image that is surprising without being ostentatious and that is hard to locate in everyday reality. I am absolutely convinced that it is precisely this that has now brought me into a somewhat more constructivist area of expression. The arrival of geometrical structures and a perspective usage of space, and the possibility of employing them as constructive elements - these have nothing to do with chance.
mixed media I 65x50 cm I 2010
MORE GREEN
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It is an extremely provocative means I use to rethink the spatial connections between the human element and the general context. This is how I began to be interested in geometrical structures and in the portrayal or rather suggestion of the space a person lives and works in.
MORE GREEN III
mixed media I 65x50 cm I 2010
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Mădălina Lazăr breakable structure
mixed media, I 65x50cm I 2010
NEW ORDER II
mixed media I 70x51cm I 2011
NEW ORDER
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UNTITLED
mixed media I 55x45 cm I 2010
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mixed media I 60x50cm I 2011
UNTITLED
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Mădălina Lazăr breakable structure
UNTITLED
mixed media I 60x50cm I 2011
UNTITLED
mixed media I 50x50 cm I 2011
Lisa Zentner Collection, Austria
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Mădălina Lazăr breakable structure
mixed media I 64x50 cm I 2011
NEW ORDER
mixed media I 65x50 cm I 2011
UNSTABLE STRUCTURE
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Lisa Zentner Collection, Austria
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It is more like an intuitive form of geometry that has no clear rules of draughtsmanship. The layout of the resulting space is generally absurd, the unhappy outcome of a continual process of reorganizing and rearranging in search of a personal pseudo-comfort, an optimal solution to the task of finding the perfect place for every object. Even though the overwhelming majority of my works are the result of a thought-out and intentional action, the spontaneous element also has effects that differ from one work to another and from one period to another. The accidental factor – or call it the unforeseeable, whichever you prefer – also plays a role that is by no means to be neglected.
UNDER CONSTRUCTION II mixed media I 125x100 cm I 2011
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Mădălina Lazăr breakable structure
UNDER CONSTRUCTION mixed media I 200x200 cm I 2011
courtesy TRIADE Interart Foundation
UNDER CONSTRUCTION III Martin Essl Collection, Austria
mixed media I 125x100 cm I 2011
UNTITLED
mixed media I 65x50 cm I 2011
Mădălina Lazăr breakable structure
My goal is to construct and, at the same time, deconstruct space. My structures are sometimes complicated, busy or multistoried, while in other cases they are stripped of details right down to the bone and barely visible. But this does not matter at all, because, even if they do not give us this impression, they are extremely fragile. They may be made of concrete and steel, but their hardness and strength is only apparent, since they are erected in a sick, weak society which is wandering around aimlessly. These structures are doomed from the start, because they are based on a frail foundation, lack the human element and are out of sync with the harmony of nature and with real human needs. And although they seem to have a clear functionality, they suffer from a poor understanding of the basics of life in general and end up as the mere remains of good intentions.
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GOING NOWHERE I mixed media I 65x50 cm I 2010
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BI
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Mădălina Lazăr breakable structure
Born in Medgidia (Constanta), on 19th October 1982 Currently living and working in Bucharest, Romania Studies: PhD student at the National Art University, Bucharest, since 2009 Master’s degree in Visual Arts from the National Art University, Bucharest 2007 Graduate of the National Art University, Bucharest, 2005 Activity and Awards: 2011 Nominee for The Essl Art Award CEE 2011 2006 Award for Encouraging Young Creativity, awarded by the UAP (Visual Artists’ Union) Romania. Member of Young Emerging Artists, an international NonProfit Art Association (http://www.young-emerging-artists.net), since 2010 Founding member of Atelier 35 Association (www.atelier35.eu), since 2007 Solo exhibitions: 2011 “Breakable Structure”, 28th May – 25th June, Recycle Nest Gallery, Bucharest, Curator Olivia Niţiş 2007 “Aerial”, 23rd June – 4th July, Simeza Gallery, Bucharest 2006 Painting, August, Galateea Gallery, Bucharest 2005 Painting, August, Atelier 35 Gallery, Bucharest. Selected group exhibitions: 2011 Vienna ArtFair, represented by Jecza Gallery 2010 ”Un monde à part” (Laurent Jasmin vs Madalina Lazar), 10th – 25th July, 13Avril Gallery, Biarritz, France 2010 ”Contemporary Nightmare”, 11th June – 11th July, Atelier 030202 Contemporary Art Space, Bucharest, Curator Olivia Niţiş 2009 Exhibition at Agence Oko, Paris, organized by 13Avril Gallery 2009 “Studio Sequences”, 17th February - 2nd March, Center for Visual Arts, Bucharest 2008 Berliner Art Fair, October, Germany 2008 Copenhagen Art Ville, September, Denmark 2008 KunStart Art Fair, Bolzano, Italy 2008 ”Artensive” International Multimedia Festival, 22nd – 25th May, Constanta 2007 George Enescu National Contest and Festival, 1st – 23rd September, Bucharest 2007 “2+3” – painting, Apollo Gallery, 19th – 30th July, Bucharest
Mădălina Lazăr breakable structure
Editor:
TRIADE Interart Foundation
www.triade.ro
Exhibition and Catalogue:
www.jeczagallery.com
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Graphic concept: Ciprian Ciuclea
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Texts: Olivia Niţiş, Mădălina Lazăr
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Photo credits: Vlad Mitrache
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Translation: Dorothy Elford
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Production: Brumar Timişoara
This catalogue was printed in 500 copies on the occasion of the collaboration between Mădălina Lazăr and Jecza Gallery Timisoara/Romania. 22 catalogues + 3 EA, hors-commerce, numbered from 1 to 22 + from 1 to 3, are personalized by the artist.
Copyright: © Jecza Gallery, Mădălina Lazăr 2011 All right reserved to the copyright owners. No part of this book may be reproduced, in any form or any means, without written permission from the author and Jecza Gallery.
ISBN 978-606-8040-21-9