Scemtovici & Benowitz Gallery recently opened the group exhibition “Colors, Underwater Love”, curated by Raluca Ilaria Demetrescu.
The artistic event aims to recover the painting technique in watercolor and re-establish it in the top Romanian arts.
“Watercolor could be considered an archaic technique, if we were to consider the first human signs with artistic qualities that have reached us – the cave paintings – as creations obtained from a mixture of colored pigments diluted with water. It evolved technically and conceptually along with the history of art, today, being an artistic discipline according to all the rules. With the advent of industry, along with natural pigments, chemical compounds and various binders were invented to give the watercolor technique its specific aesthetic, namely fluidity and transparency.
Through the “Colors, Underwater Love” exhibition, we aim to bring this very old artistic process to the center of attention on the Romanian artistic scene. Let’s ask ourselves – in which position would watercolor fit: graphics, painting, major arts, minor arts? Considered for hundreds of years as a minor technique, within the so-called high art, with the establishment of the guild associations of watercolor painters, in England in the 19th century, it becomes an independent technique, taken seriously. […]
The exhibition does not propose a conceptual theme as is usually the case in contemporary art, but a fair placement in the top Romanian arts of this discipline and to offer greater visibility to artists who use watercolor in their creative practice. The list of participants in “Colors, Underwater Love” does not claim to be complete, but the ambition of the Scemtovici & Benowitz Gallery is to resume an annual exhibition related to the practice of watercolor, which has been so unjustified until now. It’s the first time that a contemporary art gallery in Romania, from the private area, produces an exhibition to recover and resettle the watercolor technique, which was disregarded until quite recently.”
Raluca Ilaria Demetrescu, visual artist and curator
The exhibition presents a selection of watercolors made by 16 Romanian artists whose artistic practice includes watercolor either as the main working technique or as an experiment: Olimpiu Bandalac, Liliana Basarab, Anca Boeriu, Gabriel Caloian, Onisim Colta, Cornelia Daneț, Raluca Ilaria Demetrescu, Paul Gherasim, Vasile Kazar, Sabina Legănaru, Ioana Nicoară, Carmen Nistorescu, Diana Oțet, Mariea Petcu, Adrian Sandu, Daniela Vîrlan.
The exhibition can be visited until June 20, 2023. Admission is free.
Visiting schedule: Thursday – Saturday, 2:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.
Address: Jean-Louis Calderon no. 34, sector 2, Bucharest.
