'Escape room', E T A J artist run space, Bucharest, 2023
Constantly reflecting on her own experiences, Adriana Florea Băloiu finds a way to express the ineffable, either through violent colors and compulsive gestures, saturating canvases with what she calls dynamism, or through a mysterious story that articulates her visual alphabet. In ESCAPE ROOM, the artist presents a finished product of recurring thoughts: '𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘴𝘮𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘨𝘯𝘪𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘸𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦, 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘪𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘸𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘦𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘰𝘸𝘯 '𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦,' 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘮𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘢𝘯𝘦 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘴 𝘴𝘦𝘦𝘮' – a chain of overwhelming instances, hanging from the ceiling like the hard pieces from the 𝘎𝘰𝘧𝘧𝘪 𝘚𝘢𝘺𝘴 garland – inquire!
The thinking, feeling, and awareness of the genuine, intimate relationship sprinkled with hope and amazement that she has developed with abstract painting in more than ten years of activity is perhaps the most well-trodden path in exploring the healing dimension of art. The overall image of the exhibition betrays emotional fragility, otherwise moving, visible in the smallest details – with which Adriana Băloiu embarks on creating raw landscapes visible through the window from her own studio – maybe the moon, maybe a branch, maybe the sky, maybe all, maybe none, the colors she uses will give you the hint.
Conditioned by her own artistic expression, Adriana manages to recreate the studio space with a serene joy, allowing those who have not encountered her in her own peaceful, creative sanctuary, to capture at least a part of the atmosphere where the magic happens. If expressionism truly has 'one longing,' then for this woman artist, it is:
'𝘔𝘺 𝘮𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘢𝘯𝘦, 𝘢 𝘱𝘰𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘤 𝘰𝘧 𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘦, 𝘢𝘯 𝘰𝘣𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘷𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯...'
Do not escape,
Inquire.
(Călina Coman)
The project describes a space that records the cyclicity of the search, the gesture of emotion, the landscapes of the daily self, the workshop of the mind. The game, the adventure of escaping from the block of limitations, being stuck in a room without a visible door like the players who solve puzzles to manage to escape, becomes the main subject of this project. The project includes both a painting and an installation that have as a common element the unfinished, fringed, chaotic threads, without precise directions that symbolize puzzles, attempts to escape. Other elements used in the installations, metal scaffolding, chains and straps amplify the idea of a fortified, hermetic, impenetrable space, suggesting the Sisyphean aspect of the human search.
(Adriana Florea Băloiu)
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'Rhinoceritis', Galerie Fantom, Berlin, December 2017 - January 2018
The visual stories of Adriana
On ne voit bien qu'avec le cœur. L'essentiel est invisible pour les yeux.
(Antoine de Saint Exupéry)
Adriana Florea Băloiu studied painting at the National University of Arts in Bucharest for five years, attending the two stages of current artistic training - the bachelor followed by the master of fine arts; although she has chosen what it’s (still) called the "queen of the visual arts" in the colloquial vocabulary of the Bucharest School of Arts, she has somehow separated from the traditional means of painting, by also practicing the digital image, as shown by the series of works exhibited at the Berlin gallery Fantom in December 2017, where digital prints and an impressive installation were on display. The natural question is: what is gone? and what is left?
While the artist preferred digital image, giving up the traditional craftsmanship of painting, in which the virtuosity of the drawing merges with the demands of the coloring, she kept the voluptuousness of color, which is the formal protagonist of the Rhinoceritis cycle, turning into an argument of persuasion that seduces the viewer. What viewer? to answer this second question, we need to think about the meaning and addressability of the works. Who is Adriana creating for? for adults, to become wiser, by revisiting childhood’s (lost) ghosts?
Rhinoceritis is a challenge, starting with the title itself, an allusion to the absurd universe of the famous theatre play Rhinoceros by Eugen Ionesco, in which "rhinoceritis" is, not to forget, an invented illness, symbolizing dehumanization. However, in this case, the literary example becomes nothing more than a suggestion, as a necessary, but never overwhelming background music. Reduced in the background, the text inspires but does not lead, and the painter's library turns into a reality other than the overwhelming, borgesian one: confronted with the inexhaustible wealth of images, it is designed as a bundle of pre-texts handled with a disrespectful politeness by the artist's knowing eye. The poetic license becomes a pictorial license, and the illustrator's obedience gives room to the interpreter's freedom in and through the images. Exploring the visual universe set up by Adriana, you can not help thinking about the Little Prince of Antoine de Saint Exupéry, a philosophical story that reaffirms not only childhood innocence but also - above all - its right to a lasting existence; while less explicit, Adriana's images share the same ideological essence and the same humanistic values; carefully recounting the titles of the works, I found surprising correspondences with fragments of the Little Prince. Here is for instance: Dreaming of a flowery dream and Don’t grow up, keep it green! rhymes with Va revoir les roses. Tu comprendras que la tienne est unique au monde.
Together, the words and images invented by Adriana propose, with the technical means of a visual environment that surpass the traditional constraints of painting, a unique journey, with an (im)predictable ludic dimension, that can begin with the title of the first work in Rhinoceritis cycle: What am I supposed to do?
Ruxandra Demetrescu
February 2018
translated from Romanian, text written on the occasion of 'Rhinoceritis' exhibtion at Galerie Fantom, Berlin, Dec 2017 - Jan 2018