Adrian Ghenie Romanian, b. 1977
Adrian Gheni graduated in 2001 from the University of Art and Design, Cluj, taught by Ioan Sbârciu. The works of this young Romanian painter are multi-layered, cinematic pieces that illustrate the effects of a dictatorship. These mnemonic images emerge from personal recollection as well as from historical archives, literature, social media and film. His findings are collaged and stencilled over; dripping and pouring the paint, scraping with palette knives. Drawing comparisons with the work of Francis Bacon, these figures reveal their suffering, rendered cruelly disfigured, distorted, decaying.
In 2005, Ghenie co-founded Galeria Plan B, a production and exhibition space for contemporary art. He has been the subject of solo exhibitions at museums including the Museum of Contemporary Art Denver (2012–2013); Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kuns (S.M.A.K.), Ghent (2010–2011); and National Museum of Contemporary Art, Bucharest (2009–2010). His work has been included in exhibitions at the Palazzo Grassi, François Pinault Foundation, Venice; Tate Liverpool; Prague Biennial; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; and Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi, Florence, among others.
He lives and works in Cluj and Berlin.
