With this new exhibition, WIN Gallery invites you to muse about the „Blooming Mystery” of femininity
She is Eve and she is Mary: temptation and holiness, end of paradise and beginning of salvation. She reveals herself as Aphrodite or Medusa, with the glory of infinite beauty and the menace of endless ugliness. She is contemporary and legendary, familiar and fictional but always a blooming mystery, uncontainable by one name, one face, one destiny.
There is no unitary way that art can represent the woman, simply because the manifestations are so numerous and so fascinatingly diverse. This group exhibition proposed by WIN Gallery integrates portrayals of femininity, as seen by both women artists and their male counterparts. Rather than an attempt to explain, it is a quest to discover women – as they are, as they can become, as they remain imprinted in our individual and collective memories.
Perceptions of ourselves, our potential and our roles are often shaped by historical contexts and boundaries of knowledge. The more that can be learned from other cultures and inspired thinkers, the greater the opportunities we can materialize. This is the reason why we decided to include, in the current collections, not only works created by Romanian artists but also a selection authored by young Slovenian artists.
In this endeavor, the Slovenian Embassy in Bucharest, under the leadership of Mr. Ambassador Robert Kokalj, has been an invaluable support to WIN Gallery and a promoter of this cross-cultural examination. The emphasis that Slovenia is placing on gender equality, promoting competent women in diplomacy, business and art, is a source of inspiration and in our opinion, represents one of the premises for success in our increasingly dynamic and interconnected world.
In addition to the exhibitions we have organized abroad this year – one in Lisbon, Portugal and the other in Malaga, Spain, we are now marking an important step in the trajectory of our gallery, by launching the international section here, in Bucharest.
This new development has been made possible thanks to the support of the exhibition curator, Marinela Măntescu-Isac, who has been, throughout her career, a champion of women artists and has established a significant professional network across Europe. “Blooming Mystery” features an array of paintings, sculptures, textile art and works produced by using mixed techniques, approaching themes anchored in varied cultural spaces and artistic currents.
The scope is not limited to depicting facets of femininity. Rather, the selected artists challenge and redraw the boundaries of artistic expression and reaffirm their transformative role in society. To each of us, it is an opportunity to shed cliché and liberate ourselves so we, humanity, may fly toward the future with a broader set of wings.
Cristian Pascu – Patron of the Arts
Irina Stoenescu – Chairlady
Catalin Gurita-Manole – Director of Experience
