ICR Romanian Cultural Institute London

Paul Neagu exhibition (1938 - 2004)

'I never met Paul Neagu personally, had only the chance to see his home and studio in London weeks after he died in 2004. To see all these works from a lifetime, all together - finished sculptures mixed up with models, studies, paintings, drawings - was incredibly fascinating and did afford the visitor a view of Paul Neagu's Universe, a Universe he had in mind since he started to work as an artist. Briefly, he developed an approach to his work within which anything he did fitted into this overall scheme. This enabled him to produce objects, drawings, major sculpture, prints and performance: all inferential.
We will not be able to show, really, the whole artistic and mental world within and with which Paul was working. What we can do now is to present works, which will allow people with no previous knowledge of them to become interested, and which will revitalise for the others the memories they have of Paul as an artist and, very importantly, of Paul as a teacher. This show should be a little first step to bringing Paul Neagu's work back into a deeper discussion about art, ideas, creativity.'
Marianne Eigenheer

The exhibition at the Romanian Cultural Institute spans three decades of Neagu's work (1970 - 2000) and includes a selection of 25 - 30 sculptures, performance videos and films such as Neagu's Boxes (Romania, 1968), Hyphen Ramp (Serpentine performance, London, 1976), The Cake Man (London, 1971), Blind's Bite (London, 1975) and Going Tornado (Grampian TV).

Special event
Thursday 8 October 2009, 7 - 9 pm

Talk in the Gallery with Prof. Marianne Eigenheer, David Thorp and Stephen Foster & UK Premiere of Paul Neagu - a 2003 film by Ruxandra Garofeanu for Romanian TV 2.

Paul Neagu was born in Bucharest in 1938 and moved to the UK in 1970. His work ranged from performance, body art and installation, to sculpture, drawing, painting and printmaking. It has been exhibited at the Modern Art Oxford, the Paris/Venicia Biennale, the Serpentine Gallery, the Tate Gallery, the ICA London, the Rivolta Gallery Lausanne, the Kamakura Gallery Tokyo, among many venues. His work is represented in important public collections, such as the Tate Gallery, the National Museum of Art Bucharest, the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, the Tochigi Museum Japan, the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art Edinburgh, the Albertina Vienna, the Moderna Galerija Ljubljana.

The exhibition is organised by the Romanian Cultural Institute and the 'Paul Neagu' Estate in the UK. With support from: Mr. & Mrs. Sh. Cantacuzino, Mr. & Mrs. G. Iacobescu, Mr. & Mrs. M. Radoi, Princess Marina Sturdza and NTA Projects Limited, Chartered Architects, London.

When: 30 September - 18 October 2009, Mon-Sun: 10am - 5pm.
Where: Romanian Cultural Institute.
Admission: free.