A Full Rotation of the Moon

by Diana Rosca

It took twelve years for Marius Bercea to have an open exhibition in his native city, Cluj. Having
acquired his master’s degree in 2005 from the University of Arts and Design Cluj, Marius has
since been represented by several galleries. His works have been exposed in Western Europe,
the United States, Asia and even some other countries from Eastern Europe, being a pioneer for
Transylvanian art, along with his colleagues from The Cluj School.

The artist has once again showed the viewers how far his vision has come since the beginnings
of his career. Comprising works from 2015 to the present, A Full Rotation of the Moon comes
as a conclusion of the past decade, focusing on a paradoxical society, fictional or not. The
curator, Bogdan Iacob, sums up the essence of it in the exhibition text, stating that the paintings
are a perfect balance between visual pleasure and intellectual investigation1. His new approach
to painting has the subject and the surface appearing as different elements, which interrupt each
other in order to reach a common ground.2

1
Bogdan Iacob, Marius Bercea A Full Rotation of the Moon, https://www.macluj.ro/marius-bercea.html,
accessed on the 18th of May 2017.
2
Barry Schwabsky, Scenes from the Mirage, Marius Bercea, Blain|Southern, 2014.
Being such a milestone for Marius’ career, Blain|Southern gallery, which represents Bercea,
has chosen the Cluj Arts Museum as the exhibition space, filling four large baroque rooms with
the artist’s intense coloured paintings. Surprisingly, this comes quite refreshing for the frequent
visitor, used to the somewhat dull palette of Romanian modern art. On the other hand, the
baroque architecture and decorations of the Bánffy Palace give an elegant twist to the opening
night, in comparison to the current trend of lenient openings.

Going back to the works of art, Bercea’s pieces feel like a continuous try to expose and
underline the harsh effects of consequent communist and consumerist cycles on Eastern
countries, especially his native one. Combining them with his ‘second home’ - USA, the result
is what he calls this new style, Transylfornia. Walking into the first room of the museum, we
can see a big painting as it seems to shrink down the viewers. Set of Circumstances (2016) is
filled in its forefront with a multitude of flowers and plants, set as a flower shop. Behind, a girly
silhouette arises dressed for a summer day, whose face cannot be distinguished, leaving the
viewer the liberty of imagination. It seems like the viewer is playing the role of a walker-by
who stops for a moment to admire the flowery display. The third plan comes as a factor of
imbalance, embodying the interior of an industrial bar with a single seated client. We can also
vaguely see the television in the back, enforcing the light-motive of Marius’ works, the biding
of natural and artificial. The title itself suggests a succession of incidents which all lead to the
exact image the viewer sees.

The exhibition’s sightline leads us to another one of the paintings, Vernacular Oasis (2017),
with the same great dimensions, in which exuberant plants invade the canvas. We can also see
what appears as randomly chosen objects, such as a living Greek vase, two chairs – one is
standing while the other one is laid on the floor – and a few tools. It takes a minute for the
observer to realise that, while going deep into the space, we find ourselves in an exterior place,
almost savage and covered by vegetation. On the left there is a trace of what was once a building
with a laced platband. In the opposite side, and in an opposite style, rises the contour of a
modernist architecture, Bauhaus-alike, from where a small river starts. Once again, the nature
has taken power of the whole space, after it had been used and abandoned by people. In
agreement with the title, the plants are indeed the indigenous population of the place.
On a more personal note, Bercea gives the public an insight of his family life for the first time.
Through Lactiflora (2017), the artist represents an interior space with metal frames on which is
placed, almost as a stained glass, a self-portrait of him holding his son. In front of the left side
of the frame there is a shape of a woman who looks like a protective element of the large picture.
Even though there is no symmetry in the objects, the panoramic view offers the viewer a sense
of balance.
Placed exactly near Lactiflora, we find ourselves for the first time in the presence of an
installation by Marius Bercea. Thoughts Safari (2015) catches the artist’s memories from
California. The engaging factor is the humanly factor which influenced these works. Some
memories might be exact, while others can be half-forgotten or even completely false. Some of
them are part of his personal experience, while others are stories heard on his trips. The
installation is composed of drawings and paintings so different form one another and exactly
because of this, a chaos is somewhat created with all the themes, the colours and the
compositions. Once again, Bogdan Iacob sums up the main idea, that this work is Bercea’s
affirmation against the sensuous over-heating caused by technology and modern production
and image spreading agents3.

In 2014 Marius had an interview with artist Ciprian Mureșan, in which the first declares that,
along with Transylfornia, he has become less rigorous and has been trying to find a perfect
blend between scrutiny and spontaneity4. That’s how he started painting with his canvas laid
on the floor and what inspired him to create the only video art he has ever made, Virtue of
Mistakes (2014-2017), a contemporary metaphor of painting.5 While hitting a white canvas with

3
Bogdan Iacob, Marius Bercea A Full Rotation of the Moon, op.cit.
4
Conversation between Ciprian and Marius Bercea, op. cit., p.21.
5
Bogdan Iacob, Ibidem.
a painted football, Marius Bercea exposes the personal identity of his art works. Once again,
this is Transylfornia, a real and fantastic world, utopia and dystopia, where you can find your
childhood memories, the joys and frustrations of your present and small previsions from the
future.6

6
Bogdan Iacob, Marius Bercea A Full Rotation of the Moon, op.cit.