SERBAN SAVU: The Edge of the Empire
Past exhibition
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Overview
New York, NY, January 10, 2009 – David Nolan Gallery is pleased to present the first major solo exhibition in the United States of Romanian artist Serban Savu. This will be the third exhibition at the gallery's new Chelsea location.
Savu is part of a group of artists from Cluj, schooled in the tradition of Social Realism, who grew up during the overturn of the Communist regime (1989). He is one of the few painters from this group who still lives and works in Romania as it transitions into a democratic, capitalist state. As the title suggests, "The Edge of The Empire" references Romania as a country that has always been on the margins of great civilizations- the Romans (27 B.C.- 476 A.D.), the Ottomans (1299–1923), the Austro-Hungarians (1867 -1918), and the Soviet Union (1922-1991). His paintings focus on the absurdity and uselessness of "The New Man," the Communist model of the ideal worker, who is ill equipped to perform in Savu's fallen utopias. His landscapes are not spectacular scenes, but daily ones in which the sociopolitical issues are hidden rather than visible.
Savu's thousands of delicate touches of the brush to the canvas evoke a knowingness, ambition and skepticism that distance him from the figures in his paintings. The paintings are not troubled or angry, but their patient straightforwardness suggests their being motivated by a calculated dissatisfaction and a history of defeat. The palette realistically represents the Romanian landscapes, imbuing the work with an air of nostalgia.
In 2007, David Nolan Gallery featured Savu's work in a Romanian group show Across the Trees (the English translation of Transylvannia). The response to their first showing in New York was outstanding, and they received reviews in The New York Times, ArtForum , Flash Art and The New Yorker. In 2002 Savu was awarded the Nicolae Lorga postgraduate research grant, and in 2007 he was short listed for the Sovereign European Art Prize.
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Installation Views
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Serban SavuConcrete Needs More Time to Harden, 2008oil on canvas43 1/4 x 63 in (110 x 160 cm)
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Serban SavuMountain of Nostalgia, 2008oil on canvas59 x 78 3/4 in (150 x 200 cm)
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Serban SavuGenre Scene, 2008oil on canvas48 3/4 x 63 1/2 in (124 x 161.5 cm)
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Serban SavuIn the Shadow of the Dam, 2008oil on canvas57 1/2 x 48 1/2 inches
146 x 123 cm -
Serban SavuYoung Father, 2008oil on canvas7 7/8 x 11 3/4 inches
20 x 30 cm -
Serban SavuThe Guardian of the Valley, 2008oil on canvas12 5/8 x 19 3/4 inches
32 x 50 cm -
Serban SavuHeavy Light, 2008oil on canvas28 x 39 3/8 in (71 x 100 cm)
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Serban SavuThe Traveler, 2008oil on canvas10 1/4 x 15 3/4 inches
26 x 40 cm -
Serban SavuThe Edge of the Empire, 2008oil on canvas49 5/8 x 74 3/4 inches
126 x 190 cm -
Serban SavuThe Great Landowner, 2008oil on canvas38 1/2 x 57 7/8 in (98 x 147 cm)
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Serban SavuPeripheral View, 2008oil on canvas13 x 13 inches
33 x 33 cm -
Serban SavuThey Cannot Hear Us, 2008oil on canvas11 3/4 x 16 1/2 inches
30 x 42 cm -
Serban SavuEarly Days of Summer, 2008oil on canvas7 7/8 x 11 3/4 inches
20 x 30 cm -
Serban SavuThe Trap Girl, 2008oil on canvas11 x 15 3/4 inches
28 x 40 cm
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Press
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Serban Savu at David Nolan
Nick Obourn · Art in America July 1, 2009Within Eastern Europe, Romania was one of the last Communist strongholds. On December 22, 1989, its dictatorial leader, Nicolae Ceausescu, fled protesting citizens at the Central Committee building by helicopter,... -
Serban Savu: The Edge of Empire at David Nolan Gallery
Greg Lindquist · artcritical March 23, 2009Serban Savu paints the Romanian landscape, a topography where man lounges in nature amid the remaining manifestations of the Communist era. In depicting what is stereotypically perceived in terms of... -
Art in Review; The Edge of the Empire
Holland Cotter · The New York Times March 6, 2009David Nolan 527 West 29th Street, Chelsea Through March 28 The Romanian artist Serban Savu, who was born in 1978 and lives in Cluj in Transylvania, made his New York... -
Critics' Pick: Serban Savu
Adina Popescu · Artforum March 1, 2009Based in Cluj, the painter Serban Savu is one of the most interesting artists to emerge from post-Communist Romania. His paintings depict vast postindustrial landscapes in which people walk around,...
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Artist
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SERBAN SAVU
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