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.
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RUBIN'S VASE: SORIN NEAMȚU & RADU COMȘA
16 Nov 2023 - 15 Jan 2024The exhibition 'Rubin's Vase' proposes a unique dialogue between two contemporary artists from the west of the country, with a completely different approach to painting and image issues, whose unexpected resonance occurs in anti-representation. For Sorin Neamțu, with an artistic education in Timișoara as Constantin Flondor’ student (2006), drawing and...Read more -
ABZIEHBILD UNAPPLIED ARTS
ARSMONITOR OPENING GROUP SHOW 14 Sep - 1 Nov 2023“Abziehbild. Unapplied Arts” is the first exhibition in the ARSMONITOR program, in which the visions of 10 artists are intertwined, each unique in their creative approach: Radu Comșa, Dumitru Gorzo, Maxim Liulca, Gili Mocanu, Sorin Neamțu, Radu Pandele, Carmen Rasovszky, Gheorghe Rasovszky, Victoria Zidaru, and Marian Zidaru. They cover 30...Read more
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Rubin‘s Vase featured in Artviewer.net
Radu Comșa and Sorin Neamțu at Arsmonitor December 7, 2023We are pleased to announce that the Rubin's Vase duo exhibition dedicated to Sorin Neamțu and Radu Comșa visual dialogue has been selected to be...Read more -
Rubin‘s Vase featured in Contemporary Art Issue
November 29, 2023We are pleased to announce that the Rubin's Vase duo exhibition dedicated to Sorin Neamțu and Radu Comșa visual dialogue has been selected to be...Read more -
Rubin‘s Vase press release in Adevărul
November 20, 2023The curatorial program of Arsmonitor Gallery continues with the dialogue exhibition titled 'Rubin's Vase,' which opened on November 16th and will be on view to...Read more -
Rubin's Vase press release in Feeder.ro
November 16, 2023The curatorial program of Arsmonitor Gallery continues with the dialogue exhibition titled Rubin's Vase, which will open on November 16th and will be on view...Read more -
Rubin's Vase press release in URBAN
November 15, 2023The curatorial program of Arsmonitor Gallery continues with the dialogue exhibition titled Rubin's Vase, which will open on November 16th and will be on view...Read more -
Rubin's Vase press release in Revista BIZ
November 13, 2023After a successful first exhibition, the curatorial program of Arsmonitor Gallery continues with the dialogue exhibition titled Rubin's Vase, which will open on November 16th...Read more -
Rubin's Vase press release in IGLOO
November 13, 2023The curatorial program of Arsmonitor Gallery continues with the dialogue exhibition titled Rubin's Vase, which will open on November 16th and will be on view...Read more -
Rubin's Vase press release in Modernism.ro
November 13, 2023The exhibition Rubin's Vase. Neamțu/Comșa presents a unique dialogue between two contemporary artists from western Romania, each with a completely different approach to painting and...Read more -
Rubin's Vase press release in iQads
November 13, 2023After a successful first exhibition, the curatorial program of Arsmonitor Gallery continues with the dialogue exhibition titled Rubin's Vase, which will open on November 16th...Read more -
Abziehbild Unapplied Arts Exhibition Featured in Artviewer
October 10, 2023We are happy to announce that our gallery‘s opening and the first exhibition Abziehbild Unapplied Arts is featured in Artviewer.net. 'Abziehbild. Unapplied Arts' is the...Read more -
The opening of Arsmonitor gallery's Press Release in Modernism.ro
September 8, 2023'Abziehbild. Unapplied Arts' is the first exhibition in the Arsmonitor program, weaving together the visions of 10 artists, each unique in their creative approach, whom...Read more
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e-flux: First Aniversary
Celebrating a year of artistic exploration and collaboratione-flux.com, September 11, 2024 -
Wall-Street: A new private art gallery, opened in Bucharest, in the House of the Free Press
Wall Street, October 13, 2023 -
Revista Biz: The new ARSMONITOR art gallery — a private initiative that places Casa Presei on the map for art enthusiasts
Revista BIZ, October 10, 2023 -
Igloo: Entrepreneurship and contemporary art are transforming the atmosphere at Casa Presei – the new ARSMONITOR art gallery
IGLOO, October 9, 2023
→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