As part of the @praxis_ecd programme, Biju Gallery in Cluj-Napoca hosts the exhibition “Searching for something I lost”, curated by Diana Molnos, featuring works by artist Lavinia Maria Oniciuc. The exhibition is on view until the end of July.
The exhibition explores the relationship between memory, loss, and the desire to return to a familiar space associated with safety and hope. Lavinia Maria Oniciuc’s works investigate the impossibility of truly returning to the past and transform memory into an imaginary space where places, experiences, and emotional states can be reconstructed.
Nostalgia becomes the conceptual thread of the exhibition, not as a simple evocation of the past, but as an expression of the tension between what has been lost and what continues to be searched for. The artist’s paintings do not reconstruct a specific place, but rather create the atmosphere of an inner space, an ideal territory toward which the gaze constantly returns.
As Diana Molnos notes in the exhibition’s curatorial text:
“Rarely do we truly wish to return in time. To relive certain experiences, to see loved ones again, to change certain decisions, or to look more closely at the places that once surrounded us. Behind this desire lies, in fact, the need to return to a familiar space, to a place where we felt safe and full of hope. A place of balance, an ideal place. In reality, however, returning is not possible. We can only take refuge in memories or in an imaginary space.
Nostalgia thus becomes the leitmotif of the works created by the artist Lavinia Maria Oniciuc. Derived from the Greek terms nostos (return) and algos (longing, pain), the concept essentially describes a response to the awareness of impermanence, to the fear of change, and to the fear of the ephemeral. The atmosphere of her works does not evoke a specific place, but rather constructs the nostalgic feeling itself. The paintings bring to the forefront the ideal space to which we long to return or which we wish to find again.
The balance constructed within the artist’s compositions is outlined by the dominant presence of the colour green, a colour born from the tension between two chromatic extremes: yellow and blue. This symbolises, in fact, reality and the ideal, two opposing states explored by the artist.
The limited chromatic palette contributes to the emotional intensity of the works. Dark tones create a heavy, melancholic, and introspective atmosphere, while subtle transitions towards brighter areas or vibrant chromatic accents suggest the desire for transformation, change, grounding in reality, and fear of the unknown. The chromatic oscillation is not merely a formal choice, but reflects the process of searching.”
Through this exhibition, Lavinia Maria Oniciuc creates a visual space where memory, absence, and imagination meet. “Searching for something I lost” becomes an exploration of nostalgia as an inner experience, but also as a continuous process of searching for balance between the past, the present, and the possibility of a new beginning.
