Interview
Mircea Cirtog
Born in 1981 in Craiova, Romania, Mircea studied at the Art high school painting department in Craiova. He studied at the University of Fine Art and Design Loan Andreescu in Cluj-Napoca where he received his BFA in 2005 and in 2016 he received an MA in fine art at the University of Sunderland UK. He predominantly works with traditional materials. Mircea is an artist and graphic designer and has been able to contribute on themes regarding sexuality, politics and society in a manner of pop and neo pop art. He is most known for his vivid colors and shocking subjects in a style of 1980 pop art. Mircea has occupied a number of physical spaces from around the world including Darlington library and Pristman building from University of Sunderland, leading to Art Uk the digital archive of art of United kingdom.
What is your background and how did you start your journey in the art world?
“I graduated art high school painting department, then I went to University of Fine Art and Design Loan Andreescu from Cluj-Napoca where I graduated the graphic department and later, I did my MA in fine arts at the University of Sunderland, UK. Since I was a child, my parents used to take in at art museums, theatre and all kinds of museums during the trips that we enterprise with whole family. I started to fall in love with art by visiting museums and my mother was the one who bought art books and now I inherit all of that books. Since childhood, I developed a passion for art and medicine witch later was very useful at the anatomy class in college. Being born in a small city like Craiova where art options were and still limited I had to travel overseas in order to enhance ad develop my art. Being born in a communist country behind the Iron curtain, I would say that my art training was an old school one; something that later I discover that most of the western countries somehow lost it and it was very helpful while I was studying my MA in England.”
What does your work aim to say? Does it comment on any current social or political issues?
“Through my work, I attempt to examine the phenomenon of Popular culture as a metaphorical interpretation of both Kitsch and Fashion. These artwork takes a critical view of social, political and cultural issues. By using popular themes such as sexuality, consumerism and violence, my artworks reference post-colonial theory as well as the avant-garde or the post-modern and the left-wing democratic movement as a form of resistance against the logic of the capitalist market system. I deconstruct the American dream, fairy tales, and memes. My artworks demonstrate how life extends beyond its own subjective limits and often tells a story about the effects of global cultural interaction over the latter half of the twenty first century. It challenges the binaries we continually reconstruct between Self and Other, between our own ‘cannibal’ and ‘civilized’ selves. By demonstrating the omnipresent lingering of a ‘corporate world’, I make works that can be seen as self-portraits. Sometimes they appear idiosyncratic and quirky, at other times, they seem typical by-products of American superabundance and marketing. My works are saturated with obviousness, mental inertia, clichés and bad jokes. They question the coerciveness that is derived from the more profound meaning and the superficial aesthetic appearance of an image. By parodying mass media by exaggerating certain formal aspects inherent to our contemporary society, I touch various overlapping themes and strategies. Several reoccurring subject matter can be recognised, such as the relation with popular culture and media, working with repetition, provocation and the investigation of the process of expectations. My works often refers to pop and mass culture. Using written and drawn symbols, a world where light-heartedness rules and where rules are undermined is created.”
Do you plan your work in advance, or is it improvisation?
“I always plan my work. At the beginning the idea starts to creep in then the whole concept start to get shape and then after everything become clear I’m thinking at the technical part. Once the technical part is established, I start to work. Sometimes, while I’m working other ideas comes in and from time to time the original idea gets changed or it develops into something else. Most of the time before I start to work, I’m thinking to all aspects of the work and trying to get a mental picture in my head of the final work.”
Are there any art world trends you are following?
“At the moment, I’m not following any trends, although I’m up to date with the art world trends. I like very much electronic art and I’m in love with video art and something that I’m doing as a side project. At the moment, I’m experimenting with sound and image as a synesthesia experience from the viewer side; mixing colours and sound to create an emotional response from viewer.”
What process, materials and techniques do you use to create your artwork?
“Most of the time,I use traditional materials such as oil colors or acrylics, but since I like to experiment, very often I go crazy and try new materials or different techniques such as casting in synthetic resin or reusing scrap objects. Video art is something I enjoy and do as a side project along with sound. When I was a student, because I didn’t have enough money, I started to manufacture my own colors or use industrial materials since they were cheaper and even now I’m using a lot of industrial paints or industrial processes in order to achieve my goal. I’m very open to technology and new ways of creating something as long as they serve my purpose and goal.”
“My works are saturated with obviousness, mental inertia, clichés and bad jokes. They question the coerciveness that is derived from the more profound meaning and the superficial aesthetic appearance of an image.”
What does your art mean to you?
“To me, my art represent a form of expression, a voice that can be expressed through images, a manifest, sometimes political statement or morality in an inequitable world. My art means joy, it’s something I enjoy doing it even sometimes is provocative and some people are disturbed by viewing it.”
What’s your favorite artwork and why?
“My favorite artwork is “The cross” from Kazimir Malevich. I like it because it represent freedom and has multiple meaning. That black cross represent religion, salvation, artist signature, folk art and many more. That black coss is a political statement and in the same time it represent forces that we can not understand. Black and white, light and darkness, evil and good it has so many meanings and is full of meaning.”
Have you had any noteworthy exhibitions you'd like to share?
“The exhibition that I would like to share and tell you about is my latest solo exhibition which took place last year, here in my home town Craiova at the Arta Gallery. This exhibition was a mixture between political statement, cultural jamming and documentation of the beginning of the 21st century all packed in the style of pop and neo pop art. All the artworks that were presented in that exhibition was the fruit of my last 6 years of labour. Every work that was presented was carefully chosen after many hours of rigorous selection. I got mixed review. Some people found it scandalous, other loved it, and others were happy that someone had the guts to exhibit something like that in a small town where people are quite conservatory.”
Website: mirceacirtog.wordpress.com
Instagram: @mirceacirtog
Other links: www.facebook.com/mircea.cirtog
