Borderline Art Space (est. 2015) is a gallery in Iași that promotes contemporary art produced in diverse social, political and borderline situations, fostering critical discourse on present problematics and poetics — a space whose very identity resonates with the thresholds explored in this work. In her pictorial project, Ioana Irimia proposes a fascinating combination, conceived and developed in the most authentic transdisciplinary spirit, of themes and areas seemingly irreconcilable in the mental space of today's humanity.
Borderline Art Space (est. 2015) is a gallery in Iași that promotes contemporary art produced in diverse social, political and borderline situations, fostering critical discourse on present problematics and poetics — a space whose very identity resonates with the thresholds explored in this work. In her pictorial project, Ioana Irimia proposes a fascinating combination, conceived and developed in the most authentic transdisciplinary spirit, of themes and areas seemingly irreconcilable in the mental space of today's humanity.
Her pictorial installation, composed of thirty-nine equal circular canvases of 50 cm in diameter, begins with a series of visual metaphors depicting "tomographic" instances of a human fetus across nine months of intrauterine life, continued with original pictorial transpositions of the thirty symbolic "steps" of moral and spiritual becoming, as described in the medieval theological treatise The Ladder of Divine Ascent by Saint John Climacus. Her circular compositions are inspired by the medieval artistic imaginary, filtered through the chromatic sensitivity specific to the spirit of contemporary painting. In accordance with an ancient idea, updated in a recent book by French contemporary authors (Daniel Meurois and Anne Givaudan — "The Nine Steps — a Spiritual View of the Genesis of the Human Being"), the human soul "descends" into matter through the experience of nine months of pregnancy, during which it is given to adapt and forget all previously accumulated experience, in order to begin a new stage of its spiritual "elevation", passing through the trials of the "sins" and "virtues" it will encounter in the arc of its current earthly journey.
Her pictorial installation, composed of thirty-nine equal circular canvases of 50 cm in diameter, begins with a series of visual metaphors depicting "tomographic" instances of a human fetus across nine months of intrauterine life, continued with original pictorial transpositions of the thirty symbolic "steps" of moral and spiritual becoming, as described in the medieval theological treatise The Ladder of Divine Ascent by Saint John Climacus. Her circular compositions are inspired by the medieval artistic imaginary, filtered through the chromatic sensitivity specific to the spirit of contemporary painting. In accordance with an ancient idea, updated in a recent book by French contemporary authors (Daniel Meurois and Anne Givaudan — "The Nine Steps — a Spiritual View of the Genesis of the Human Being"), the human soul "descends" into matter through the experience of nine months of pregnancy, during which it is given to adapt and forget all previously accumulated experience, in order to begin a new stage of its spiritual "elevation", passing through the trials of the "sins" and "virtues" it will encounter in the arc of its current earthly journey.
The installation is divided into two distinct visual and ideational registers, generating a strong "musical" dimension of the project, with direct reference to that "music of the spheres" which Pythagoras claimed was produced by the mechanisms of interaction of celestial bodies. The circular forms of the frames and figures, as well as the brilliant colors with sophisticated harmonies, confer this powerful note of immaterial musicality. If the first nine are quasi-faithful formal representations of fetal development, the other thirty are inspired by medieval artistic sources — bas-reliefs, miniatures and Byzantine icons — as well as pieces belonging to Western art from the time of the Byzantine theologian John Climacus, who inspired her. Her creative approach consists in generating configurations of chromatic scales and technologies of acute topicality, brilliance, beauty and complexity. Juxtapositions, overlaps, contrasts and subtle chords include saturated tones of acid colors, specific to current urban painting from the great centers of planetary visual arts. We are dealing with visible influences of digital art and the chromatic "tastes" resulting from the systematic action of the mass-media industry on the visual consciousness of the postmodern era.
The installation is divided into two distinct visual and ideational registers, generating a strong "musical" dimension of the project, with direct reference to that "music of the spheres" which Pythagoras claimed was produced by the mechanisms of interaction of celestial bodies. The circular forms of the frames and figures, as well as the brilliant colors with sophisticated harmonies, confer this powerful note of immaterial musicality. If the first nine are quasi-faithful formal representations of fetal development, the other thirty are inspired by medieval artistic sources — bas-reliefs, miniatures and Byzantine icons — as well as pieces belonging to Western art from the time of the Byzantine theologian John Climacus, who inspired her. Her creative approach consists in generating configurations of chromatic scales and technologies of acute topicality, brilliance, beauty and complexity. Juxtapositions, overlaps, contrasts and subtle chords include saturated tones of acid colors, specific to current urban painting from the great centers of planetary visual arts. We are dealing with visible influences of digital art and the chromatic "tastes" resulting from the systematic action of the mass-media industry on the visual consciousness of the postmodern era.
Ioana Irimia thus triggered the possibility of capturing the immediate attention of the public familiar with the phenomena of contemporary painting, introducing it — "by enveloping" — in the universe of her problems and concerns. She invests each formal sign and symbol with carefully chosen chromatic attributes, generating tensions and visual centers, dynamism and stability, within the circular compositions excellently managed in the economy of each canvas and of the ensemble she creates.
Ioana Irimia thus triggered the possibility of capturing the immediate attention of the public familiar with the phenomena of contemporary painting, introducing it — "by enveloping" — in the universe of her problems and concerns. She invests each formal sign and symbol with carefully chosen chromatic attributes, generating tensions and visual centers, dynamism and stability, within the circular compositions excellently managed in the economy of each canvas and of the ensemble she creates.
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