Ioana Nemes, „Ponytail”, końskie włosie, 25×25 cm, 2009. Wystawa „Beyond the Obvious – Contemporary Women Artists from CEE”, Inda Galéria, Budapeszt 2015
Alongside Christian rituals, the Romanian peasant preserved in time numerous pagan rites dating back from a sacred time when supernatural events and forces were part of daily life. Those who performed these rituals, usually young lads, would hide their identity under spectacular masks and costumes made by the village craftsmen. Embodying the bridge between human (earth) and supernatural (heaven), masks were bearers of supernatural forces and therefore an important part in the organization of village time. They appeared in the marking of events – births, marriages, burials or the passing of seasons. Devils were among the creatures that populated the rural mythological universe, as well as bear leaders, pigs, emperors, gypsies, shepherds, old men and hags. Nowadays, most of these traditions had gone. The Romanian village is no longer what it used to be 200 years ago. Masks are made for tourists in exotic and grating colors. Their primordial symbolism and functionality were almost completely lost. In my work I attempted to recuperate this lost magic, nevertheless not by going back, but by pushing things much further on, into the future. / Ioana Nemes /
„Piec” („Stove”) brąz, płatki złota, 107x90x30 cm,2009
The stove in the traditional Romanian houses used to have multiple functions: people cooked on it, dried clothes or cheese above it, slept on it during winters, etc. Its form made me think of Zaha Hadid’s organic living spaces, those one-piece furniture made out of single pieces of material molded so as to correspond to each object: chair, table, bed, ceiling. The wood plates are bought from an antiques fair in Bucharest. The two pieces of stamped cheese stamped with archaic motifs and signs are cast in bronze and gilded. For me, as a child during communist times, the golden corn ears will always remain part of the symbols on the coat of arms of the Socialist Republic of Romania. / Ioana Nemes /
Relics for the Afterfuture (Brown)
Beyond the Obvious – Contemporary Women Artists from CEE | INDA Galéria
W miasto 