Iulian Bisericaru

Artist Portfolio

Iulian Bisericaru b. 1987

Biography

Iulian Bisericaru(1987) lives and works in Sibiu and Cluj-Napoca, Romania. He

graduated from the Painting Department of the University of Arts and Design Cluj-

Napoca (RO), where he presently is a PhD candidate. His artworks offer a somehow

neglected or hidden perspective on aspects of contemporary society, that the

human eye willingly avoids. Ironic and playful at the same time, the artist demands the

beholder to take a critical position towards environmental issues, be it by depicting

the remains of industrial society or by approaching the controversial topic of city

planning.

The most recent painterly series of Iulian Bisericaru approach a scenery inspired by

Long Island-like first postwar modern housing projects. Situating his artworks

somewhere in-between Bay Area Figurative Movement and lyrical abstraction, Iulian

Bisericaru points out elements of absence, juxtapositions, natural and anthropic

paradoxes. Throughout his artistic practice, Iulian Bisericaru has been reflecting upon

the tensioned relationship between nature and the artificial, history and its potentiality

for the future. Alluding to revolutionary programs of pioneers such as Le Corbusier and

Frank Llyod Wright, series such as Usonia (Into the Wild) (2014-2015) pushes the viewer

into a secluded, almost surreal setting that is traversed by abrupt perspectives and

complex fictional housing structures, which ambiguously reinterpret the integration

with the natural surroundings and the emphasis placed on the harmony between man

and nature.

Pictorial series such as Original Imago (2011-2012), Just Nature (2012-2013) or The

Backyard (2013-2014) address the issue of the post-industrial landscape, where the

marginal scenery of the suburb, the toxicity of the environment and the decaying state

of the industry have a seminal position. As an ecologist, both by vision and through

action, Bisericaru recycled images, resuscitating them for the collective memory by

means of an intense aesthetic experience. By contrasting sharp lines and chromatics

with definite colour zones and loud, loose painting with expressive elements, the

paintings become - in some passages - autonomous, almost abstract patterns. Iulian

Bisericaru’s visual practice is essentially linked to a profound engagement within the

social realm, spanning from the critique of the utopian history, which invented the

productivity and sustainability of massive industrial expansion to the idealistic

alternative of architectural philosophies that reshaped the morphological connection

between the urban and natural environments involved.

Solo exhibitions

2016 Calina Gallery, curator Liviana Dan, Timișoara, Romania

2015 Influences, Anca Poterasu Gallery, Bucharest, Romania

Usonia Into The wild, Atelier Patru, Cluj Napoca, Romania

2014 The Backyard, Bucharest Biennale 6 paralel event and special event for the White Night of Galleries, Anca Poterasu Gallery, Bucharest, Romania

Meet the artist, The Ark, Bucharest, Romania

2012 Asphyxia, Casa Matei, Cluj, Romania

Group exhibitions

2018 [upcoming] Objectifs – Centre for Photography and Film, Singapore

2017 The Map is Not the Territory, The Romanian Cultural Institute, Lisbon, Portugal

Aschersleben Artistic Residency group exhibition

2016 Uncanny Landscapes, Artissima Art Fair, with Anca Poterasu Gallery, Torino, Italy

SpinnereiGalleries Leipzig, with Anca Poterasu Gallery, Leipzig, Germany

Expo Maraton RECALL, Presentation of winning artists from 2011-2015, University of Art and Design of Cluj-Napoca in collaboration with the Museum of Art of Cluj-Napoca

Re: Fresh, Paul Sima Gallery, event under the aegis of University of Fine Arts, Cluj Napoca, Romania

Extension.RO - Romanian painters, Triumph Gallery, Moscow, Russia

2015 System error, The National Museum of Art, Cluj-Napoca, Romania, curators Magda Grzybowska, Łukasz Huculak şi Karolina Szymanowska

Double Agency, Spatiul Cazarma, Timisoara, Romania - part of Art Encounters event curated Nathalie Hoyos and Rainald Schumacher

The Superheroes Beyond the Carpathians, Vienna Contemporary Fair, Austria

2012 Startpoint Prize Romania, Victoria Art Center, Bucharest, Romania

Expotransilvania, Cluj-Napoca, Romania, event under the aegis of

University of Fine Arts, Cluj Napoca

Girl Talk, Casa Matei Gallery, Cluj-Napoca, Romania

2009 Mirionima Gallery, Macerata, Marche, Italia, event in the Erasmus scholarship under the aegis of Accademia di Belle Arti Macerata

Del Fuorn Gallery, Macerata, Italia, event in the Erasmus scholarship under the aegis of Accademia di Belle Arti Macerata

2007 Omul, X-Future Gallery, Sibiu, Romania

Awards

2012 nominated at Startpoint Prize Romania

2012 Expomaraton at the University of Art and Design Cluj-Napoca, jury prize

Residencies

2017 International Summer Internship at Aschersleben, artist scholarship

2015 Roma, Italy, Erasmus scholarship under the aegis of Accademia di Romania

2013 San Martino, Intensive Program Crivelli Reading, Marche, Italy

2009 Macerata, Erasmus scholarship, Marche, Italy

Bibliography

Extension.ro exhibition catalogue (group exhibition), Triumph Gallery, Moscow, 2016

Blad Systemu/ System Error exhibition catalogue (group exhibition), The Eugeniusz

Geppert Academy of Art and Design in Wroclaw, 2016

Selected works and series

Inwood, oil on canvas, 100 x 134cm, 2017 Presented at VOLTA 13 Basel 2017

The Poet's Garden IV, 36 x 39 cm, oil on canvas, 2017

The Poet's Garden III, 46 x 35 cm, oil on canvas, 2017

The Poet's Garden II, 37.5 x 39.5 cm, oil on canvas, 2017

The Poet's Garden I, 35 x 37 cm, oil on canvas, 2017 Presented at VOLTA 13 Basel 2017

The Poet's Garden VI, 36 x 39 cm, oil on canvas, 2017

Eiger, oil on canvas, 166 x 116 cm, 2017 On show at the Romanian Cultural Institute Lisbon 2017

Unlucky Heritage House, 112 x 112 cm, oil on canvas, 2016

Untitled, oil on canvas, 140 x 180 cm, 2016 On show at the Romanian Cultural Institute Lisbon 2017

Cityscape, oil on canvas, 90 x132 cm, 2016

Diebenkorn's light, oil on canvas, 128 x 88 cm, 2016

I Believe In Forest, oil on canvas, 52 x70 cm, 2016 Presented at VOLTA 13 Basel 2017

Untitled, oil and acrylic on canvas, 70 x 60 cm, 2016 3650 euro -sold

Mixture, mixed media, 84 x 105 cm, mixed media, 2016

Psycho Forest, oil on canvas, 73 x 105 cm oil on canvas, 2016

Untitled, oil on canvas, 146 x 115 cm, 2015

Influences, oil on canvas, 103 x 70cm, 2015

Untitled, oil on canvas, 77 x 38 cm, 2015

Untitled, oil on canvas, 40 x 60 cm, 2014

Untitled, oil on canvas, 40 x 65 cm, 2014

Untitled, oil on canvas, 40 x 73 cm, 2014

Untitled, oil on canvas, 41 x 60 cm, 2014

Untitled, oil on canvas, 41 x 60,5 cm, 2014

Sky, oil on canvas, 41 x 71 cm, 2014

Usonian House, oil on canvas, 41,5 x 91 cm, 2014

Usonia Into the Wild, oil on canvas, 42 x 70 cm, 2014

Feeling November, oil on canvas, 42 x 74 cm, 2014

Untitled, oil on canvas, 43 x 72 cm, 2014

Untitled, oil on canvas, 44 x 79 cm, 2014

Untitled, oil on canvas, 42 x 74 cm, 2015

White Mountains, oil on canvas, 41 x 75 cm, 2015

Untitled, oil on canvas, 48 x 79 cm, 2015

Presented at the Romanian Cultural Institute Lisabona 2017

Untitled, oil on canvas, 38 x 68 cm, 2015

Untitled, oil on canvas, 40 x 60 cm, 2015

Untitled, oil on canvas, 44 x 57 cm, 2015

Untitled, 38 x 73 cm, oil on canvas, 2014

Untitled, 42 x 65 cm, oil on canvas, 2014

Untitled, 33 x 61cm, oil on canvas, 2014

Untitled, 35 x 63cm, oil on canvas, 2013

Untitled, 41,5 x 65 cm, oil on canvas, 2014

Untitled, 42 x 38 cm, oil on canvas, 2014

Untitled, 66,5 x 47 cm, oil on canvas, 2014

Ship Mirage, 150 x 170 cm, oil on canvas, 2012

The Boss, 200 x 200 cm, oil on canvas, 2012

Cruise Ship, 160 x 180 cm, oil on canvas, 2012