The first exhibition of Romanian contemporary art in Northern California, Traces presents sixteen young Romanian artists who—sometimes straightforwardly and often ironically—explore issues of location, memory, and identity through a variety of work: photography, videos, hand sewn projects, small objets, and paintings. Unlike the previous generation that worked under the starkly repressive dictatorship of Nicolae Ceausescu, these artists have the freedom to express acidic commentaries on society, politics and the meaning of art in context. Representing this new generation are: Ana Banica, Gabriela Boiangiu, Rozalinda Borcila, Emanuel Borcescu, Care Cutare, Cozo, Suzana Dan, Gorzo, Mirela Ivanciu, Stela Lie, Ioana Marinescu, Aurelia Mihai, Gili Mocanu, Vlad Nanca, Lila Passima, and Delia Popa.

On September 11 at 7:30 pm two of the exhibiting artists and one of the curators will participate in a panel discussion, which is free and open to the public. Participants are artists Suzana Dan, Ana Banica, and curator Carmen Iovitu.

A screening of California Dreamin' (Endless) by Cristian Nemescu will also accompany the exhibition. Based on a true story of American soldiers in a small Romanian village in 1999, the film won the Prix Un Certain Regard at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival, among many other awards.

Traces: Contemporary Romanian Art is curated by Ann Albritton (Ringling College of Art and Design, FL), Elaine O’Brien (Sacramento State University, CA), Mirela Ivanciu (Bucharest University of Art), and Carmen Iovitu (National Museum of Contemporary Art, Bucharest), and is presented in the US in collaboration with the Romanian Cultural Institute in New York.

Conceived as an itinerant exhibition, this is Traces’ second exhibition after the Centre International d`Art Contemporain in Pont Aven, France earlier this summer. Its US presentation will continue at the Selby Gallery, Sarasota, FL Nov 14- Dec 12, and will close at the National University of Fine Arts Gallery in Bucharest Mar 10-24, 2009. Learn more about the development of this exhibition and its presentation at the Selby Gallery in Sarasota.

Exhibition catalogue available.

[Image (above): Artwork by Stela Lie. Below: Images from the exhibition, courtesy of Suzana Dan]

More about the exhibition featuring the Sacramento media available in the Press Dossier