Beniamin Popescu (b. 1989) graduated from the National University of Arts in Bucharest, painting department in professor Petru Lucaci’s class. Over the years, he has won several awards offered by the Union of Fine Artists and has participated in numerous group exhibitions. He went from painting to sculpture, from studying the human body to sculptural objects reminiscent of the structures of constructions and using materials such as metal, plaster, or cement. Currently, he lives and works in Bucharest.

The most recent exhibitions are: “The Fallen City”, ETAJ artist-run space, Bucharest (2021), Art Biennale in Chisinau, Art Museum, Chisinau (2021), “Exploring art and nature”, Conacul Ion Ghica, Ghergani (2021), “Art in progress_1”, The Institute, Bucharest (2021), “Bistritz Blitzkrieg”, Etaj on Wheels, Bistrița (2022), “reUNIONS of Artists”, Sofia (2022), “Time Travel”, Annart Gallery, Bucharest (2022), “Nucleu 0010, Nocturne Encounters”, Bucharest (2022), National Salon of Contemporary Art 2022, MNAC, Bucharest.

You started to study painting in high school (Arts High School “Bălaşa Doamna”, Targoviste), and later you continued your studies at the National University of Arts in Bucharest, painting department in professor Petru Lucaci’s class. Have you been encouraged in this direction by your family?

In the family I was supported and encouraged all the time; they bought me materials and found in my way of spending my time, drawing, a kind of pride, they liked to show our neighbors or relatives with my work. The environment at school I think was the one that began to make me realize more that I did not draw as the other colleagues did, and that I had “Talent”, as my drawing teacher at that time, Lucica Popescu, said. She was the mentor who contributed the most to my training and decision to attend the high school of fine arts in Targoviste. In high school, I had a generation of highly trained teachers, with whom I participated in competitions and national Olympiads. After classes, I liked to spend time in the workshop with teachers and older colleagues, working on personal projects or drawing workshop topics. Also in high school, I grew up with the phrase “painting is hard to get into!”! :))) It motivated me, it was good in the end… I entered the class of Prof. univ. dr. Petru Lucaci, where I had Razvan Boar as a professor assistant. They coordinated my studio projects and first exhibitions.

What is your biggest challenge as an artist?

Working in the workshop surrounded by new materials, with which I experiment; I think that is also the answer to the question, the experiment! I like to look at my work environment as a research lab, to discover new directions in which to materialize my ideas. In the last projects I have used raw materials, which have a special expressive charge, and the experiment helps me to integrate them into the artistic discourse, it is a kind of negotiation between me and the material.

You are extremely active on the Romanian artistic scene. Only in September, you participated in at least 7 collective projects. How would you describe your relationship with the artistic environment, with your colleagues, but also with the public interested in art?

I would describe this relationship as a circular route, in which the support we showed ourselves on a relatively small art scene, such as the one in Bucharest, makes each of us, the main actors because we are all talking about active and intense involvement in a process that describes, rather, a state of mind.

You have won over time several awards offered by the Union of Fine Artists. How important were these nominations to your artistic journey?

Mmmmmmm… They have their charm, I am grateful for them!

Do you think an artist can make himself known on his own or only collaboration with an art gallery can guarantee his success?

The artist-gallery/gallery-artist relationship is indispensable, and the success is common, also related to the gallery’s profile: the Artist-run space galleries, which function as catalysts of the art scene, galleries that facilitate the artists’ career and their growth, etc. From my point of view, commercial galleries are the fundamental actors, and here the success is represented by artistic production, which has a central position, and sales, which are an essential core of the art market.

How important is it to convey a message through your art?

Art carries the message and meanings contained in its constituent layers, a kind of secret that calls on the viewer to interact with the image. Intellectual message, information related to technique, and language, specific to each artist, these components are responsible for transmitting the emotional message, which is most important for the audience. I think there is an interdependence between the art with content/message and the viewer, who can easily miss the understanding of these sets of information if he does not have the exercise of looking.

You have gone from painting to sculpture, from the study of the human body to sculptural objects, reminiscent of the structures of constructions and you use atypical materials such as metal, plaster, and cement. What caused the change?

I was drawn to the object and loved the process part, I felt much closer to myself experimenting with this type of image! I think that was also the reason, the pleasure of working and experimenting!

What are the stages of your creative process, from the idea or source of inspiration to the final work?

I grew up in a family of builders and spent most of my childhood on construction sites, where I visited or worked. In the studio, I rewrite a personal story in which I also interacted with the experience with the construction site and the materials encountered there. The source of inspiration is the city and its architectural layers, which confront us with various typologies of structures, up to the fragments contained in the archaeological sites. Objects on metal and cement support describe the process that naturally happens to architecture, from construction to deconstruction and reading it on layers.

When do you know you have finished the artwork? Tell us more about the whole experience until you are fully satisfied with the result.

A work is never ready! I can always revisit one or resume certain themes addressed in the past. I work on several objects in a work session, I do not insist on one until I complete it, and in this process of comebacks, at some point, I feel it is enough! It can be a texture that I do not want to lose, an unexpected dispersion of pigments in the material, or a ratio between full and empty that surprises me and gives me an unexpected feeling.

Very often when entering a contemporary art gallery, the audience is faced with the famous question is this art?; Why do you think art today is a challenge for the viewer?

It is a challenge because the viewer encounters his cultural baggage and visual experience, enters a kind of competition, and fails to identify with images that are not familiar to him. This kind of question is waiting for confirmation, he uses it to position himself regarding others and the images in front of him.

What projects are you working on now and what plans do you have?

I am currently preparing works for a group exhibition; along with them, I discover the future, which usually finds me in the workshop, among the works that are also waiting for their future, when they will be exhibited!

Cover photo: Andrei Mateescu