Carmen Nistor – “SIGN”
22. 02 – 12. 03, 2014
Gallery 76, Dubai International Art Centre, the oldest public gallery in Dubai, established in 1976.
Opening on 22nd February, ribbon cutting by His Excellency Ambassador of Romania in UAE, Mr. Adrian Macelaru and His Excellency Consul of Romania in UAE, Mr. Dan Parvulescu.
Works exhibited: 28 pieces, ink on paper, 1×0,7m and 2×1,5m
I started doodling, as probably most of us, at about 4. Recall asking my grandpa every day to
bring me new color markers, although black pencil drawing was more appealing to me at that
time. And it still is.
Actually my grandpa was the one believing I had some talent, so he tried to guide me somehow,
and, proud of the results, he kept collecting all my works for years to come. And he still does.
I grew up drawing, looking everywhere, learning to draw complicate things from the shadows
cast on a wall, from torn tree branches or from the patterns on the pavement. There were
different but familiar figures I discovered in all those common objects. And I still do.
But I chose a different path to follow for many years. I had a job not too related to art. I was daydreaming
about the moment I would be the artist, about my first exhibition, and it looked so far
away in time. Until one day, when I left my corporate job, jumped into the unknown and
reconnected with the artist hidden within for too long.
This is my story, what I have done forever. I kept my eyes open, I framed in my mind
conventional scenes in unconventional ways, all these years, searching for signs in every
mundane image. And I still do.
All I knew when I imagined this project was that I wanted to use ink, brushes and paper. Big
paper. That letters and signs would be involved, coordinated with human body. It was quite
complicated and I was thinking too much. The first attempts came out cluttered. Every single
thought was somehow there, in every piece of work.
I started to simplify, to see humans as letters, and letters as humans. But then…it was not about
letters. It was about signs. About thoughts. About breathing. About the mere moment when the
thought hits you, crosses you and leaves you serene within a beat and an exhale.
The brushstrokes became simpler. I harmonized a single idea with a continuous stroke and with
breathing. The thin paper helped me, making environment part of the game. I worked on vertical
surfaces or on the ground. Charged the brush heavily and made each sign in one movement,
without lifting the brush.
Tiny little human-signs appeared. Crowded papers with simple silhouettes, letters of an
unknown alphabet. Till one day. When I drew the first circle. And then another. And another. It
was a new search. There is sincerity in searching. There is perfection in searching more than in
what we find. Not a thought to be locked in the sign, but the essence of the feeling behind the
rational thought.
Circles are not perfect in my works. They are stages of searching those suspended fractions of
time. Each work has a feeling behind. Exhaled and pushed through my hand on the paper. And
still incomplete. Letting the viewer to take it forward, interpret it or just simply accept it.
Carmen Nistor
January 2014
Curriculum Vitae!
Bucharest, Romania
[email protected] / www.carmennistor.com /
Visual artist based in Bucharest, Romania. Activity covers graphics, photography, design,
calligraphy, bookbinding.
Education
University of Fine Arts, Bucharest, Romania
MA, 2012 – 2014 (expected)
University of Fine Arts, Saarbrücken, Germany
Erasmus scholarship, 2010 – 2011
University of Fine Arts, Bucharest, Romania
BA, 2009–2012
Academy of Economic Studies, Bucharest, Romania
MA, 1996–1997
Academy of Economic Studies, Bucharest, Romania
BA, 1991–1996
Exhibitions
XVII International Biennial of Graphic Arts
“Boris Georgiev” Gallery, Varna, Bulgaria, 2013
Graphic artists from Bucharest University of Fine Arts
National Arts Museum, Cluj-Napoca, Romania, 2013
Graphic artists from Bucharest University of Fine Arts
“Orizont” Gallery, Bucharest, Romania, 2012
Art Takes Times Square
Artists Wanted, New York, USA, 2012
40 Years of Francophonie
Student Culture House, Bucharest, Romania, 2010
Walls and people
Orange Business Centre, Bucharest, Romania, 2005
Women like
Dalles Popular University, Bucharest, Romania, 2005
Images from Romania
AISB American School Library, Bucharest, Romania, 2005
Underground
Dalles Popular University, Bucharest, Romania, 2004
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