It was a distinct honor to be personally invited by the biennial’s curatorial board to contribute to this prestigious international dialogue.
Following this invitation, I proposed the 'Selenar Cats' series—a multi-dimensional project that was enthusiastically accepted and integrated into the exhibition's narrative.
I am profoundly grateful for this opportunity, as it allowed my research into the metamorphosis of form and the boundaries between 2D and 3D media to be validated at an elite level. Within this global forum, the 'Selenar Cats'—ranging from 'drawings in space' to dramatic photography—engaged with a sophisticated audience, challenging the triviality of modern consumerism and seeking the raw essence of a subject often overlooked. I am deeply thankful for the curators' trust in my vision and for the professional milestone that this invitation and the subsequent approval of my project represent.
”Selenar Cats” Concept - Artist Statement:
I am fascinated by the links between arts, by their boundaries and overlappings, and, even more important, by the way the same visual language can be translated from one medium to another, i.e. the line, the shape or texture, from 2D to 3D, then back to 2D. I like to pick a subject and take it deep, ripping it apart to the very core of it, visually, until it's just "a bunch" of lines and shapes and textures that happen to speak directly to the soul, in a profound, mysterious way, and then, to make it travel between different mediums.
My ”Selenar Cats” series it's a concept above all. It springs from the idea that in today's world, where the inauthenticity, consumerism and kitsch culture often gain ground without notice, something raw seems foreign and out of this world, as if it comes perhaps from another planet. It springs from my own feelings and direct observations of my experience and the world around me. Their final form, as presented here, consists of both the raw, unedited, photography and the wire objects showcased in it.
I chose an almost-cliche subject, over-consumed to saturation and yet insatiable, such as the cat, and sought the raw essence of it, through light and line, in order to showcase it to the viewer in a way it's not at all used to it. The over-stimulation and consumption of these creatures through every media mean and merchandise possible, in a fast-food-for-eyes manner, just for the "show", for the fun of it, for relaxation and leisure, trivialized it and made us almost numb to their deeper beauty. I tried to cut through the fuzziness, fluffiness, funniness, and all the superficial "ness-es" of the subject, and get to the core of it: fluidity, dynamicity, elegance, and mystery. With each new cat I created, "the cat" as we know it faded, substracted more and more from the mass production and mass understanding, and the idea of "the cat" emerged, in an abstracted, Platonian way. They all, together, encapsulate the metamorphosis of the understanding upon the subject.
Moreover, the project is a multi-dimensional search for expression. I started this series in 2D, with drawn sketches on paper, which resulted in an informally shaped, 50/70 cm, cardboard painting with a one-line "cat" inside. Then it traveled from a 2D form to a 3D, metal-wire, one-line "drawing in space" form. The challenge then was to translate that bidimensional interpretation of "the cat", into 3D objects, drifting further and farther from the initial work, giving them intrinsic autonomy and simply playing with the line into space. At last, I got back to 2D and used photography to accentuate the best angles and expression of the objects, in a dramatic way, emphasizing my view about them and the subject under discussion.
All in all, my "Selenar cats" project is both a metaphysical demarche as well as a scientific, plastic one.
Behind
the
scenes.
At the exhibition setup.