Șerban Savu
Mihai Nicodim Gallery is pleased to present „Unimportant Stories”, the second solo show in the gallery of the Romanian artist Serban Savu. Born in 1978, Serban Savu is part of a group of artists from Cluj, Transylvania, schooled in the tradition of Social Realism, who grew up during the fall of the Communist regime and lives and works in Romania as it transitions into a free-market economy.
“Unimportant stories” opens a window into the lives of present-day Romanians, depicting the day-to-day routine of men and women in a post-Communist era, where, despite the history’s lingering narrative, there is steadfast desire to survive and make the best of an existence perpetually at the brink.
Serban Savu decorates his quiet grassy landscapes with vestiges of the former Communist-era architecture – apartment buildings, cement fixtures, abandoned concrete blocks and railroad tracks. Curtains of grey or blue sky attempt to darken or lighten the scenes. In the middle ground, the artist places figures, who, given their small size in relation to the canvas, seem hemmed in by their surroundings. The painterly gesture of obscuring their faces communicates the anonymity of their existence and their marginalization and impotence within the gears of a larger sociopolitical machine.
Serban Savu has shown in “Cluj Connection” at Haunch of Venison, “Expanded Painting 2” at the Prague Biennale 3, 2007, Mihai Nicodim Gallery in 2007, at David Nolan, NY in 2009, “Staging the Grey” at Prague Biennale 4, 2009, Plan B, Berlin in 2009 and in “Size Matter: XS” at Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art NY (traveled to Knoxville Museum). In September 2010, he will be featured in “After the Fall” curated by Marc Straus for HVCCA, NY.