LOS ANGELES, CA.- albertz benda has opened Radu Oreian’s first solo presentation in Los Angeles, on view since July 14. Aptly titled The Wanderers, the exhibition refers to the various ways in which the works seem to wander through time and space. Literally, as they travel from the artist’s studio in France to the gallery in Los Angeles and figuratively, in their combination of multiple historical timelines, biological functions, and art images.
On this brand new exhibition, Oreian shares, “‘The Wanderers’ are collective portraits, figurative or abstract, of a humanity stuck in an idiosyncratic contemporary condition.”
This show presents a new body of work ranging in scale from abstract miniatures to large-scale figurative scenes. Within these pieces, elements drawn from the present collide with residues of historical imagery. Fragments of artworks, photographs, and other ephemera resurface within the space of the canvas to create these captivating pieces. The artist describes this as the “melt of archives,” a process in which visual material is equated causing meaning and interpretation to become relative. Works such as Thinker of Thoughts V, 2023, reference a wide range of source material including medieval bestiary, Roman portraiture, contemporary logos, self-portraits, and 1930’s cartoon noir characters.
Oreian’s intricate visual amalgamations draw from the vast stylings of religious frescoes and pre-Christian banquet scenes. At the same time, the artist’s forms appear like human cellular structures, fusing essential physical processes with the history and culture that humanity has created. In Basket with Carnivorous Fruits, 2023, the classical tenants of still-life painting are subverted by the strange, biomorphic forms suggestive of microscopic bacteria or organic interiority. In the background, a passage of inexplicable amber faces appears as if drawn from the velum of medieval illumination, further abstracting pictorial space.
Radu Oreian (b. 1984, Tarnaveni, Romania) currently lives and works in France. He was awarded his first degree in 2005 at the University of Art and Design of Cluj-Napoca and he continued his studies at National University of Art of Bucharest where he graduated in 2007. At its core, Radu Oreian’s practice is rooted in the classical mediums of drawing and painting as he explores the way history, ancient myths and archives shape our society and our understanding of humanity. His “Molecular Paintings” are a miniature-like format of works that pulsate with details and thus intend to draw the viewer's eye deeper and deeper into the fabric of the paint and hopefully deeper and deeper into the nature and meaning of painting. The red thread that runs through Radu Oreian’s works is creating a new, meditative visual imprint of a peculiar density that appears to exist in a pulsing state of tension and relaxation.
albertz benda
Radu Oreian: The Wanderers
July 14th, 2023 - August 12th, 2023
