Emotionally charged and formally enigmatic, surveying the oeuvre of Romanian artist Florin Mitroi (1938-2002) is no small task. Working across mediums and disciplines and teaching subsequent generations of artists during his more than 40-year career as a professor at the Nicolae Grigorescu Institute of Fine Arts in Bucharest, his influence both in the history of Modernism and Romanian art in the 20th century cannot be understated.
Bucharest-based gallery Arsmonitor has taken up the mantel of exploring the breadth of Mitroi's legacy through a monumental curatorial program. Comprised of four chapters based around the seasons of the year, the second installment currently on view, "Florin Mitroi: Ch.II: Autumn," is curated by Erwin Kessler-an art historian, philosopher, and curator who also serves as director of the National Museum of Art, and formerly as general director of Bucharest's Museum of Recent Art (MARe), and uses an unexpected discovery as a starting point.
"Ch.II: Autumn" is anchored by the recent recovery of materiala long thought dormant. Earlier this year, files, folders, and bundles of notebooks, drawings, and works on wood and metal-seemingly forgotten in storage for nearly two decades-were (re)discovered, yielding more than 600 previously unseen pieces. Rather than treat these works as supplementary, the exhibition frames them as foundational, expanding the available record of a practice that Mitroi himself often judged with extraordinary severity. (...)
