Mihai CIPLEA, born in 1984 in Baia Mare, graduated from the University of Art and Design in Cluj-Napoca, specializing in Graphics (2003-2007), and completed a master’s degree in graphics at the Faculty of Art and Design in Timișoara (2007-2009). His works have been featured in exhibitions such as “About bodies / Despre corp” at the Jecza Gallery in Timișoara (2009), “Ecce Homo” at the Jecza Gallery in Timișoara (2011), and the International Pastel Biennale in Nowy Sącz, Poland (2013). His most significant award to date is the Grand Prize at the International Pastel Biennale in Nowy Sącz, Poland, in 2013.
“My concerns are related to the attempt to visually transpose the psychological state, to the permanent movement between two conditions: the impossibility of stopping, concretizing, and focusing. That state of uncertainty as a fundamental human condition. In my works, I aim to create frames and paradoxical situations in which light and darkness cannot be individually pinpointed and also play an uncertain role.
The series of works presented here is created using the dry pastel technique. I chose this method because, being very malleable, it allows me to record on the paper’s surface a transition process between images. I wanted to convey the feeling of change, of transfiguration, of inner movement, to capture that tension or calmness that is felt when you destroy and recreate.
The images are built from overlapping layers of pastel, which are then successively removed. The pastel is erased and recomposed on the surface of the paper countless times, resulting in a fusion effect that preserves the memory of a transitional process. The work takes shape through successive corrections and constantly swings between the two states – construction/deconstruction.” — Mihai Ciplea
