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Biography

Radu Comșa (b. 1975, Sibiu, Romania) lives and works in Cluj-Napoca, Romania. He graduated from the University of Art and Design in Cluj, earning a bachelor's degree in painting in 1999 and a master's degree in painting in 2001.

 

As a prominent figure in Cluj's contemporary art scene, Comșa played a key role in establishing the Paintbrush Factory (Fabrica de Pensule) in Cluj. In his artistic practice, Comșa explores playful and critical new forms, engaging painting, sculpture, print, and installation in a post-conceptual and abstract approach that he describes as transcribing ideas into objects. With a particular focus on primary colors, basic geometric shapes, and abstract compositions, Comșa examines the tangible dimensions of painting and sculpture in a manner both radical and poetic.

 

His diagrammatic transcriptions, including plates of cast concrete and mixed-media painting-objects, are influenced by his fascination with modernist architecture, concrete poetry, and atonal music. These works function as visual morphemes, designed to intersect and generate additional layers of meaning.

 

Comșa is currently represented by the Sabot Gallery in Cluj. He has exhibited at major institutions such as the Arken Museum in Copenhagen, Denmark; the Center for Contemporary Art Ujazdowski Castle in Warsaw, Poland; the Mucsarnok Kunsthalle in Budapest, Hungary; and the National Museum of Contemporary Art (MNAC) in Bucharest, Romania. He has also participated in the Prague Biennale (3 and 4) in the Czech Republic, the ArtEncounters Biennial in Timisoara, Romania, and Documenta in Regensburg, Germany. His work is featured in significant private and public collections, including the FRAC in Limoges, France, and the National Museum of Contemporary Art (MNAC) in Bucharest, Romania.

Exhibitions
Videoworks
News
Press
Bibliography

→ARFIERO, Michela, Questionnaire to the Romanian artist Radu Comșa, Fruit of the Forest (online), 2017

→HUDSON, Suzanne, Painting Now, published by Thames & Hudson, pp. 44-45, 2015

→GOLDSTEIN, Andrew M, "Whither the Avant-Garde? A Survey of Emerging Art Trends at Liste", Artspace magazine, 2014

→DAZED Digital, "Best of Art Basel", 2013

→IACOB, Bogdan, Radu Comșa: about the Artist and His Recent Show at Sabot (online), 2012

→MIRCAN, Mihnea, preface to "Six Lines of Flight: Shifting Geographies in Contemporary Art",

exhibition catalogue, published by by SF MOMA in association with University of California Press, 2012

→DEJEAN, Gallien, Visit [Play dice would be nice/ Sabot at Gaudel de Stampa], Kaleidoscope blog

(May 28), 2012

→MUREȘAN, Ciprian, "The Paintbrush Factory: Snapshot (Diapositives from One Year of Existence)", IDEA arts+society, #36-37, pp. 51-69, 2011
Calling all the stations, exhibition catalogue, published by National Gallery in Pristina, Kosovo (texts by Gazmed Ejupi, Visar Geci, Hans Ulrich Obrist, Michele Robecchi, Anri Sala, Evis Sala, Kai Vöckler) , 2010

→COTTER, Holland, "An Abundance of Room, an Absence of V.I.P. Gloss", The New York Times, March 4, 2010

→MAERTENS, Marie, "L'ecole de Cluj", Art Press, March, pp. 58-64, 2010

→Giancarlo Politi Editore, PRAGUE BIENNALE 4 catalogue, p. 63, 2009

→COSTA, Valentina, "Radu Comsa. Essential Fragments", interview, ARTE E CRITICA, no. 54, p. 118, 2008 

→MONTINI, Fabrizio, "Radu Comsa", EXIBART, February 27, 2008

→NASTAC, Simona, "How to Build a Universe That Does Not Fall apart Two Days Later", Donumenta (ars danubiana), exhibition catalogue, pp. 92-129, 2007
→CASAVECCHIA, Barbara, "Prague Biennale 3", FLASH ART, No. 255, July - September, pp. 68-69, 2007

→GHEORGHE, Catalin, "Bienala de la Praga 3: un cocktail savurat la rece", Observator Cultural, No. 377, June 21 - June 27, 2007
→Giancarlo Politi Editore, PRAGUE BIENNALE 3 catalogue, pp. 68-69, 2007 

 
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