Ioana Cristodorescu’s paintings from her personal exhibition “Catwalk Mood”, presented by Kulterra Gallery, bring to the fore characters who seem to have been cut out of the pages of fashion magazines and transform them into symbols of an atmosphere dominated by mystery. The works deal with topics from the fashion world and are inspired by Ioana’s experience as an international model.
Inspired by Helmut Newton but also by her own experience as an international model, Ioana captures opposite elements from the world of fashion, realizing a contrast between grandeur and fragility, between refinement and obscurity. This juxtaposition intriguingly and engagingly emphasizes the complexity of humans and the fashion industry.
Newton’s albums become the starting point for an artistic journey that explores the relationship between imaginary characters representing fear and insecurity, contrasting with the charming aura of Vogue characters.
Through this stylistic approach, Ioana wants to reflect the temperament of a world that seems fragile despite appearances. She captures a “cinematic” world on the verge of self-discovery through large canvases flooded with imaginary characters, lurking in vices and opulence. The linear style keeps the viewer on the surface, and the colors that dress the object serve a glamorous world bordering on vulgarity. The same style recalls the models sketched by designers in fashion or scenographies in the world of sets and props for theater and film.
Stylistically circumscribed by German expressionism, through the force of the line, broad cuts, broken lines and angular figures, Ioana Cristodorescu’s works express the reality observed from the surface: people posing and being posed.
Ioana Cristodorescu (b. 1999, Galați) is a graduate of the National University of Arts in Bucharest with a master’s degree in painting completed in 2023. While on the faculty, she studied with a scholarship at the Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera, Milan (2019-2020), where she discovered techniques such as tecnologia della carta and mosaic. In 2021, she arrived in Berlin, following 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 design and painting (2016-2018).
The exhibition “Catwalk Mood” closes with a finissage on February 15, at 19:00, at Kulterra Gallery in Strada Știrbei Vodă 104-106.
