Exhibition: Resignarum

Resignarum was my first solo art exhibition where I displayed the best paintings I had gathered up to that point, which were very reflective of my tendency to process negative emotions through art and drama.

Official curatorial text, written by Malina Moncea:
"This exhibition brings to the public foreground works representing the artist's escapism in timeless, fantastic worlds, at the same time with catharsis value vis-à-vis one's own experiences. It cultivates from personal affection, a mélange of mythical, pictorial and philosophical inspiration, Francis Bacon being a reference in this direction, together with the novels of Fyodor Dostoevsky, especially The Brothers Karamazov, ending with digital animations of the Dark Souls series. A leitmotif of the paintings are the hands, "the main allegory of the constant that the self represents" as she relates, and the parts of the physical being most often visualized by humans. The self-reflective paintings speak of inner conflicts and the need for a refuge from the overcrowded daily activity.

The works are distinguished by their bizarre character, grotesque in places, recalling the Freudian psychoanalysis of the unknown, an unusually familiar experience that nevertheless induces a feeling of inexplicable anxiety, locating the strange in the domestic. The generally accepted assumption that what is hidden from the public eye is of a frightening, dangerous or sexual nature and must be avoided, is accused by Sigmund Freud of being part of our identity, impulses rejected and repressed by the super-ego, by fear of social alienation and punishment, and which are further projected by the individual. Therefore, the elements and persons upon which the projection rests become menaces, strange monsters akin to fairy tales, evil beings, and victims of their own psychological abominations.

The dream is distinguished as a general theme, and Monica Ivan's characters are characterized by dignity and resignation, specificities with which she chooses to invest them. Portrayal through anthropomorphic chimeric appearances that seem to take three-dimensional form and claim their place in the real plane and fabulous spaces meet the artist's vision of suffering, alienation, and the psychological force that directs complex human activity.

The artist oscillates between the raw and unadulterated act of painting without reservation and the finesse of the almost compulsive detailing of her landscapes and characters. He uses diverse and unconventional, reclaimed surfaces (cardboard, old furniture boards, mdf) and combines acrylic painting with oil painting. Predominantly cold gradients prevail to meet a flamboyant aesthetic of the fantastic imaginary that speaks of the lures of the subconscious."