Graphics for a new world: Cluj graphics selection - 1960-1980

Sometimes a wet brush is the best tool one can use to break a chain. This way, the ideas expressed over the white fabric get rid of prejudices and try to transport the viewer to another place, one with different social values than those people used to hold in the capital of Transylvania before the sixties.

While a part of the world was dancing and whipping their long hair, surrounded by the power of flowers, “la liberté” tried to guide Romanian people just to show them an exit. Just to reveal the path to freedom. This relaxation of the rules led the artists from Cluj to establish their own atistic laws and lay the foundation for graphic arts in the region. Then, for decades, they drank from sources coming from all corners of the continent. Single black and white Picassian lines got mixed with creations in which painters poured their palletes over the paper. All this and more can be seen in an exhibition that carefully chooses the most representative originals to hang on the walls of the Quadro Gallery (Napoca Street, 2-4). A delicious pick to compose the “Graphic Works from Cluj Selection 1960-1980” exhibition.

A quick view appears to be enough to distinguish Livia Rusz's works. Her stroke and her subjects expose the richness of someone who grew up in a home where the Hungarian and Romanian traditions came together. As extracted from her speech, the respect for morals and for the cultural values of both countries manages to preserve and care for the national identity differences without offending anyone. It is clear that her style is intimately linked with a paternal inheritance. Her father was a railway employee in addition to an amateur artist and calligrapher, who received formal training from the Hungarian painter Sándor Szopad.

This way, Livia learned her passion for art and she started collaborating with several children magazines. Over time, her work in the comic genre became influenced by Jean Cézard, a French creator -“Arthur avenging phantom”, “Pif Gadget”-, and one of the few foreign cartoonists known in Romania.

She was among the few female comics artists in the country and has even been described as a leading contributor to almost all of the the genres she covered in her work. That way, the critics extolled her virtues throughout her long artistic career. In fact she was described as “the greatest creator of comic strips in Romania”. Then, later in time, her other projects included the comic book version of L. Frank Baum, “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz”, as well as the comic series “Kio Monkey”, which were also very well known all around the world.

Beside Livia's austere “Self portrait”, some works by Plugor Sándor are presented. These works narrate how the son of a farming couple from Kokos Székelyföld soon learned of his talent and after being taught at the art school in Targu Mures, arrived to Cluj at the age of 24. His skills were obvious for his teachers and appeared fast and solid. Then he continued fostering his talent in each of his travels. From Miami to New York, Firenze, Paris or Prague, every experience enriched his art step by step. Little by little, Sándor and his generation colleagues helped to break the shackles of socialist realism, by expressing their different point of view. The main purpose of this exhibition is to present a selection of works in which artists, in addition to experimenting with compositions, surfaces and techniques, were close to current problems and conceptual art graphics and also to the image analysis of the creative process.

Arkossy Istvan's trajectory describes a similar itinerary. This Hungarian painter and graphic artist graduated from the University of Fine Arts, became a member of the Association of Hungarian Creative Artists, the Federation of Societies of Hungarian Fine and Applied Arts and the Association of Graphic Artists in Hungary also. Klausenburg born creator was then an important part of the of the Hungarian artist community. The same things happened to László Sipos or Jutta Pallos, just a couple more of the names the viewer can see at Quadro Gallery. A free visit that may help each beholder to better understand the essence of a city where culture can still be found everywhere. In fact, a city where both the Romanian and Hungarian cultures are present. Definitely a collection of pictures that doesn't just speak about colours, or techniques, but about revolution, open-mindedness and of course, respect.