Gaep Gallery in Bucharest recently opened the exhibition “Gaep Presents: Vlad Albu and Roberta Curcă.”
Gaep Presents is an exhibition program focused on emerging artists and established collaborators of the gallery. Launched last summer, the program builds on the mentoring projects for emerging artists ACCELERATOR, in which Gaep has been a partner since 2022, and on various collaborations with artists developed by the gallery over its more than ten years of activity.
Vlad Albu’s new structures from the series Holders confront us with a tense situation. Various fragile objects are balanced precariously on other objects – caring yet imperfect systems of support. Something can go wrong at any moment. Things are literally on the edge. We become mindful of our own presence in the space, in the proximity of this delicate state of equilibrium. Will the objects continue to be held? Will we be able to hold on?
Holders embody the artist’s interest in matters related to the ontology of objects, the relational power that emerges in an assemblage, the human body’s relationship to the built environment, and the meaning of objects beyond their function. Integrating a subtly critical comment on the contemporary logic of usefulness and efficiency, the sculptural pieces re-route our attention to other imperatives: to hold and to care, the latter seen as a “political and ethical issue, even when it takes the form of a seemingly simple gesture of support” (María Puig de la Bellacasa).
At the heart of Roberta Curcă’s works in the exhibition is the question of how to picture the passage of time and make sense of one’s experience within it. The artist uses given, prefabricated, ready-made patterns and systems – such as calendars, samplers, stencils, and grids – to organize an abundance of thoughts, experiences, and emotions. The impersonal order of the original templates is neutralized by the deeply personal nature of the imagery and texts that make up the drawings. Often, these elements are devoid of any hierarchy. No one is more important than the other – a “leveling out” that can be read from an existential viewpoint: everything matters, every moment is special, every action or emotional state has significance.
If “types of order are forms of thoughts” (Mel Bochner), Roberta Curcă’s methodical organization of material into daily drawings, monthly calendars, seasonal notes, and yearly samplers amounts to a system for meditating on the time felt, lived and acted. (fragments from the curatorial text)
Vlad Albu (b. 1992, lives and works in Bucharest) has completed both his BA and MA studies in the Photography and Dynamic Image department at the National University of Arts in Bucharest. In his practice he often combines photography, publications, found materials, and designed structures/objects. The works revolve around exploring the intersection between public and private spaces, methods of understanding the future of objects and dwelling, with a deliberate blend of speculative elements and imaginative narratives. He has shown his work in solo exhibitions at SwitchLab, 2/3 Gallery and Galeria Posibilă in Bucharest and Aici Acolo Pop Up Gallery in Cluj-Napoca, as well as in group exhibitions at Leilei Gallery, Atelier 35, Salonul de Proiecte, Ivan Gallery and Cazul 101, all in Bucharest. Vlad participated in the mentorship project ACCELERATOR Câmpulung (2024).
Roberta Curcă (b. 1991) is a Bucharest-based artist working with drawing, photographic typologies, objects, and artist books. In her work she employs a systematic investigation into various types of structures, objects or the visuality of objects, often displayed as archives, technical drawings, notes, swatches, or other forms used to organize and display information. She often explores the dynamic between the rational and the arbitrary, two- and three-dimensional states, intent and impact, the human and the non-human. She has a BA and an MA in Drawing from the National University of Arts in Bucharest and has done research in cultural studies at CESI – Center of Excellence in Image Studies. Her work has been shown at Gaep, Sector 1, Ivan Gallery, and Atelier 35 in Bucharest; Zina Gallery and MATCA art space in Cluj-Napoca; Accademia di Romania in Rome; Kunsthalle Bega and the 2022 Beta Architecture Biennial in Timișoara. Roberta was one of the artists participating in ACCELERATOR. Mentoring and Production for Emerging Artists (2022–2023).
The exhibition will be open to the public until July 31, 2025. Admission is free.
