Cover
Softcover
Edition
2020, 23 x 22 cm, 168 pp., 152 ill., Romanian/English
Collection
Architecture Book Series
ISBN 978-973-0-33043-4
Book concept, editor
Alina Șerban
Assistant editor
Ștefania Ferchedău
Authors
Ion Grigorescu, Juliana Maxim, Carmen Popescu, Alina Șerban
Design
Mihai Șovăială
Ion Grigorescu (born 1945, Bucharest) is one of the most significant representatives of Romanian Neo-avant-garde art. His practice, ranging from painting to photography, from film and photo-performance to diary writing, does not necessarily comply with the historical canons of art, in exchange providing an extraordinary unsettled journey towards the disturbing lineage between life and art. Bucharest provides insight into the artist’s experimental photographic and filmic practice seen from the perspective of a recurrent subject he investigates, the city of Bucharest and its surroundings, during the years 1964–1994. Although Bucharest is not necessarily assumed by the artist as a subject clearly defined by a normative way of working, it remains subliminally present in his corpus of works, crossing the extremely varied periods of his activity. Thus, the publication reveals, in retrospect, the artist’s commitment to a practice associated with the phenomenon of “amateur politics.” His flâneur-like walks and unpredictable encounters through the city bring forward under-represented themes of a less-visible city, one affected by the impetus of progress, marked by the imprecise mixtures of urban and rural traits, by poverty, and architectures of ruins.
Publication supported by: AFCN, Expo Arte, Gregor Podnar