The program of the Arsmonitor gallery continues with an exceptional exhibition, dedicated to the artist Florin Mitroi (1938-2002) and curated by Erwin Kessler. “Florin Mitroi: Chap. 1, Winter” will be open from November 14, 2024 to January 8, 2025.
Arsmonitor Gallery is pleased to announce the beginning of the collaboration with Erwin Kessler, one of the most influential curators and art historians today, opening a series of exhibitions dedicated to Florin Mitroi, “the most discreet and decent Romanian artist, who left the most indiscreet and violent work“. Florin Mitroi was a teacher mentor to a whole generation of recent artists, from Dumitru Gorzo and Suzana Dan, to Alexandru Rădvan and Anca Benera.
The exhibition “Florin Mitroi: Chap. I: Winter”, offers a new perspective on Mitroi’s complexity, some of the works being shown for the first time in Romania, alongside a wide selection of his photographic work. The translation of the photos as slides is taken care of by Nicu Ilfoveanu and Radu Mitroi.
“22 years after his untimely death, Florin Mitroi is a permanent revelation. Solitary and enigmatic, a Stakhanovist of timed suicide, Florin Mitroi is the author of a work colossal in size and unfathomable in depth. In his thousands of works, two contrasting vectors converge: the unbearable experience of the pain of being, intertwined with a formal perfectionism unmatched in post-war Romanian art. Even after the personal exhibitions at the Schipper and Johnen galleries in Berlin and the collective ones at the Kunsthalle Wien or Lenbachhaus München, Florin Mitroi’s work remains a construction site in the abyss. The series of Florin Mitroi exhibitions, started with «Chap. I: Winter», maps the edge of this abyss. Works on wood, glass and canvas, in galvanized sheet or on paper, show the outline of the dubious Florin Mitroi, presented — for the first time in an exhibition — and with examples from his rich and relevant photographic production. Florin Mitroi’s art electrifies the soul and delights the eye.”, says Erwin Kessler.
The exhibition “Florin Mitroi: Chap. I: Winter” represents an important point in the evolution of the Arsmonitor gallery, which in a very short time became a landmark on the map of private organizations dedicated to “recent art” in Romania. Since its opening, Arsmonitor has presented an ambitious curatorial program, by exhibiting some of the most representative contemporary artists, including Pavel Ilie, Victoria and Marian Zidaru, Carmen and Gheorghe Rasovszky, Teodor Graur, Mircea Suciu, Nicu Ilfoveanu, Dumitru Gorzo, Gili Mocanu, Magdalena and Bogdan Pelmus, Radu Pandele, Răzvan Neagoe or Ioana Gorzo.
