The Romanian Cultural Institute in Lisbon, in partnership with WIN Gallery in Bucharest and the Doctoral School ”Space, Image, Text, Territory” - the Center of Excellence in Image Studeis at the University of Bucharest, presents the collective painting exhibition ”Nonlinear Dystopias Romanian Neo-Expressionism.” This selection of works brings together ten contemporary Romanian artists, including Marinela Măntescu-Isac, Laurențiu Midvichi, Marcel Lupșe, Liviu Șoptelea, Flora Răducan, Florin Mugur Popa, Corneliu Drăgan Târgoviște, Ștefan Pelmuș, Florin Mocanu and Daniela Grapă, each offering a visual journey beyond the conventional line of plastic expression.
The exhibition, curated by Marinela Măntescu-Isac, Miruna Barcan and Andrei Fășie, opens a space of contrasts where the apparent tranquility of creation is permeated by a profound inner tension. Here, dystopia does not manifest in the classical sense of an apocalyptic breakdown but rather as an expression of each artist's interitory, of anxieties and fragments of reality transformed into pictorial forms. The participating artists transpose their subjectivity into images that not only challenge the viewer but also invite an intense dialogue with their own inner space. Emotional becomes a tool of investigation, and each artwork proposes an incursion into an unsettled universe, constantly searching for its limits.
Romanian Neo-Expressionism, from its emergence in the 1980s to the present, has been more than an artistic movement-it has been a cry for liberation, a means of reclaiming the right to identity and memory. In the post-communist period, this artistic language solidified as a space of protest, of unrestrained pictorial gesture capable of expressing suffering, collective memory, and an intimate perspective on reality. The works in this exhibition stand as testimonies to this evolution, demostrating how neo-expressionism remains a fertile ground for exploring contemporary anxieties. In each canvas, we find an unstable balance between rational and instinctive, between control and spontancity.
Trogh this exhibition, WIN Gallery reaffirms its commitment to supporting Romanian contemporary art on the international stage, creating valuable connections between artists, collectors and the public. Its frequent exhibitions in galleries abroad and interdisciplinary collaborations demonstrate a curatorial vision that transcends the limits imposed by a single artistic movement, opting instead for a complex dialogue between past, present and future. "Nonlinear Dystopias" once again confirms that art is not merely a means of representation but also a tool for investigating reality - a window open to new possibilities of understanding the world.
