Mircea Cantor, Still, Deeparture, 2005, 2' 43", 16mm transfered to BETA digital, color, silent.
Mircea Cantor, Still, Deeparture, 2005, 2' 43", 16mm transfered to BETA digital, color, silent.
Mircea Cantor, Still, Deeparture, 2005, 2' 43", 16mm transfered to BETA digital, color, silent.
Mircea Cantor, Still, Deeparture, 2005, 2' 43", 16mm transfered to BETA digital, color, silent.
|
|
Camden Arts Centre
Arkwright Road
London
+44 (0)20 7472 5500
Mircea Cantor
February 20-April 19, 2009
Mircea Cantor's new sculptural installation elaborates on the theme of uncertainty. Cantor prompts reflections on worlds within worlds, and on freedom and its limitations. He uses objects such as a flying carpet woven with motifs of angels and aeroplanes.
Cantor's video and mixed media installations address the notion of displacement and co-existent worlds. He has achieved international status since he first began exhibiting in 1999. His video Deeparture (2005) was a highlight of the 2006 Berlin Biennial, it recorded the unsettling meeting of a deer and a wolf in a pristine white gallery space. Beyond the suspense, Cantor discreetly evokes the uneasy confrontation of ideology, people and culture.
"Cantor's poetic use of materials, images, animals and places offers an eloquent meditation on the contradictions of our contemporary world and the human condition. His work has a beauty and immediacy that resonates long after the encounter." says Suzanne Cotter, Curator
Cantor has received wide acclaim for his subtle commentary on issues of contemporary society. This includes, on a larger scale, the positives and negatives of globalization.
On a more specific scale, he includes characteristics of Romanian folk traditions such as in his photograph Hiatus (2008) which presents a visual puzzle. Mircea Cantor brings metaphors to life: the trunk of a Transylvanian tree seems to have been mysteriously sculpted into a starflower. This ornamental pattern, which is usually used to decorate weaving tools, provokes a sense of uncertainty in the viewer when it is reinserted into its “natural” forest environment. This pairing of elements is used by Cantor to encourage reflections about worlds within worlds, and about the limits of freedom. The magical tree is rooted in Eastern European fairytales, yet its deceptive presence directs the viewer straight towards modern reality.
His work follows in the tradition of Marcel Duchamp in that he employs Readymade objects or iconography to elicit the ambiguities of everyday life in this postmodern era of cultural overlap with the disintegration of cultural boundaries. Cantor's choice of media is diverse, in that his practice includes video, animation, sculpture, drawing, painting, and installation in his practice.
Cantor's work is included in the collections of The Museum of Modern Art, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, The Philadelphia Museum of Art, as well as in other collections worldwide.
Mircea Cantor was born in 1977 in Oradea, Romania. He lives and works in Paris and Cluj, Romania. |
