The Artep Gallery in Iași presents a double event on Thursday, December 15, from 6 p.m.: the opening of the personal exhibition Levant, signed by the master Sorin Ilfoveanu, and the launch of the volume 5×10 meetings in the Levant inspired by the artist’s drawings, a volume that brings together texts signed by representative writers of contemporary Romanian literature: Gabriela Adameșteanu, Mircea Cărtărescu, Filip Florian, Dan Lungu, Ioana Nicolaie, Ioana Pârvulescu, Marta Petreu, Lucian Dan Teodorovici, Tatiana Tîbuleac, Matei Vișniec.
“The story of the “LEVANT” exhibition begins more than a year ago, when, fascinated by the drawings of the artist Sorin Ilfoveanu from the series of the same name, we decided to develop two parallel projects, which would highlight them. We have imagined a visual approach, an editorial approach, and a lucrative approach around the series of drawings signed by Sorin Ilfoveanu, which we invite you to enjoy in the exhibition that will be open to the general public between December 15, 2022, and January 31, 2023, at Iasi.
The Levant is a universe of chiseling, of shading the contours to perfection, of the meeting of the pencil line with the paper patinated by the artist using his techniques, of the ink that tells a story known only to him – a universe of faces and mystery, of the search and the infinite, of the seen and the unseen. A selection of 50 original drawings, an event book, and a collection of serigraphs printed in a limited series – this is what we invite you to from December 15, from 6 p.m., at the Artep Gallery”, stated the representatives of the Artep Gallery.
“Through simple lines and few colors – black and rarely red – you can experience scenes of emotions that you carry inside you, in us, our past as humanity. The symbols are depicted through animals, expressions, and gestures of the characters and contribute to the realization of some substrates of the narrative of the scenes. Thus, the story behind each drawing is not completely revealed but invites you to discover it. Without strong colors or loaded textures, Sorin Ilfoveanu builds a discreet, sunset world, and carries in it intense contrasts”, says Cristiana Ursache, curator of the “LEVANT” exhibition.
“What matters here is the fact that literature and the visual arts have, indisputably, a solid, beautiful, and, at the same time, extremely profitable friendship on a cultural level on both sides. As for me, living in literature, but passionately loving art, I believe in this friendship and I greatly desire to cultivate it to the best of my ability. The volume we are in was born precisely from this desire and represents the meeting between a master of visual arts and a series of extraordinary writers, some of the most important names of contemporary literature in Romania”, details the writer Lucian Dan Teodorovici, who coordinated the volume 5×10 meetings in the Levant and which will be released on this occasion.
The opening will take place in the presence of the artist Sorin Ilfoveanu, the writer Lucian Dan Teodorovici and the curator of the exhibition Cristiana Ursache.
The exhibition can be visited until January 31, 2023. Admission is free.
Sorin ILFOVEANU (b. 1946, Câmpulung-Muscel) is one of Romania’s most important contemporary painters. He was a student of master Corneliu Baba and a professor and rector of the National University of Arts in Bucharest. Sorin Ilfoveanu’s art is recognizable by his already iconic characters through which he explores existential themes. He participated in the Venice Biennale in 1987. His works are part of important public and private collections, from Paris to Tokyo, from Bucharest to Oslo, and Perugia. He lives and works in Bucharest and Radesti.
ARTEP is a contemporary art gallery that opened in December 2018 in Iasi, in a completely redesigned space to highlight the important artists of these times. In the three years since its opening, Artep Gallery has proposed an impressive series of visual artists, such as Felix Aftene (2018, 2020) Ștefan Câltia (2019, 2020, 2021), Virgil Scripcariu (2019), Mark Verlan and Ghenadie Popescu (2020), Matei Bejenaru (2021), Nicu Ilfoveanu (2021), Miruna Radovici (2022).
