On Tuesday, March 7, Art Machine presents the latest collection of six talented female artists represented by two art galleries from Bucharest: Celula de Artă and Săfițicuminți.
Each artist shares a different perspective on femininity and explores diverse themes such as strength, beauty, or vulnerability.
The collection is called “Feminine,” and each artist contributed with 17 unique, hand-drawn cards.
The artists who sign the works are: Andrada-Cristina Gheorghe, Cristiana Bucureci, Ingrid Odette Maschek, Ioana Cristodorescu, Louis Kareem Jamal and Maria Bălan.
Art Machine is a vending machine that distributes original works of art in exchange for 10 lei. The Art Machine is located in Cărturești ParkLake.
About the artists
Andrada-Cristina Gheorghe is a master’s student at the National University of Arts Bucharest, graphic department. Over time she developed an interest in Irony, which can be an important tool in the relationship with the outside world and which cannot help to face more easily the difficulties that hit us at different times of life. She uses a variety of materials and techniques, from traditional to digital, often photography being the basis of her projects.
“To me, the word ‘feminine’ expresses a state of mind that is tied to emotion and can be redefined by anyone. Many people associate feminine energy with sensitivity, tenderness, vulnerability, etc., but we shouldn’t just stop at these notions. A person who feels strong can also feel feminine at the same time, even though the term is often associated with masculinity.”
Cristiana Bucureci debuted in the art of collage in 2015 and until now has had collective and individual exhibitions in Tel Aviv, Bucharest (four times at Romanian Design Week), Timișoara, Cluj, and Iași. Cristiana’s collages are a journey into a retro-futuristic dimension, being made through the mixed technique of analog and digital collages. Ten years ago she founded the advertising agency Creionetica with a focus on cultural and social campaigns.
“I live femininity through all the pores, for me, it is a mix of empathy, vulnerability, and strength. Just like a flower, its tenderness and beauty withstand an austere climate. And here I draw an analogy with the patriarchal-capitalist society in which we live.”
Born in Bucharest, Ingrid Odette Maschek started drawing at the age of 3. She attended Art School no. 3 in parallel with studies and then Art History at the University of Bucharest. She started her journey as an independent artist by publishing works on her personal blog inthegridd, and currently being part of the Săfițicuminți artist portfolio and team.
“Femininity evokes for me certain associations, behaviors, activities, and states. I grew up with a stereotypical notion of femininity that I want to examine through my narrative and add what I discovered to be feminine.”
Ioana Cristodorescu (b. 1999, Galați), follows the master’s program of the National University of Arts in Bucharest, in the class of Professor Petru Lucaci. During the faculty period, she studied for a semester with a scholarship at the Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera, Milan (2019-2020). In the summer of 2021, she arrives in Berlin, where she follows an internship program at the Plan B Gallery (Berlin, Germany).
Ioana Cristodorescu’s artistic training began early, at the “Dimitrie Cuclin” School of Fine Arts in Galaţi (2007-2016) where she studied painting and piano. Vocational studies followed at the Nicolae Tonitza High School in the departments: of fashion and painting (2016-2018).
“I choose to present the world exclusively through a subjective perspective and distort it to create emotion and evoke moods or ideas as varied as possible. I seek to express the meaning of emotional experience rather than physical reality. I consider expressionism to be a stylistic direction through which I can express my feelings about everything that art means “as a mirror of life”. The figurative is present in each of my compositions, and the characters made subjectively communicate with the abstract elements. Through the expressionist gesture, I want to separate the essence and discover the posture of anything subject to analysis.”
“Femininity as I see it represents – Attitude, style, grace, and confidence!”
“Feminism is not about making women strong. Women are already strong. It’s about changing the way the world perceives this power.”
(G.D. Anderson.)
Louis Kareem Jamal (b.1998, YEM) is currently studying at the National University of Arts, with a degree in Visual Arts. The source of artistic inspiration starts from the subconscious, where it experiences inner feelings in accordance with the outer space.
“In the femdom movement, femininity can play a complex and nuanced role. On the one hand, many femdom practitioners embrace and celebrate femininity as a source of power and dominance.
At the same time, femdom culture often adopts traditional gender roles and expectations, including those associated with femininity.
Therefore, the role of femininity in femdom culture is shaped by the individual preferences and experiences of those involved. Some may embrace traditional gender roles and expressions of femininity as a means of asserting their dominance, while others may reject these norms in favor of a more fluid and non-traditional approach to gender and power dynamics.”
Maria Bălan (b. 1987, Câmpina) is a graphic artist based in Bucharest where she studied graphics at the University of Arts and architecture at the “Ion Mincu” University of Architecture and Urbanism. She is involved in various artistic projects and has also participated in several national and international exhibitions. In 2013, she won the prize of the “International Poster and Book Illustration Biennial of Young Artists” from Timișoara. In 2015, she published a limited edition object book that became part of the “artist book” selection of the “The most beautiful books in Romania” contest. In 2019, she launched the book “Anomalica”, entirely handmade in the linocut technique, during the event “One Night Gallery. Love. Maria Balan”.
In the street art area, Maria is active in the public space, especially through small paste-up interventions made in various engraving techniques. You can find murals of Maria on the streets of Bucharest, Brașov, or Iași.
“For me, femininity can be defined in a few words mystery, inner strength, complexity, dreaming, magic.”
