Delia Popa

b. 1980

The photographs give rise to a reflection based on a classic, academic pictorial genre: the landscape. Delia Popa takes landscape scenes from the village and transposes them into paintings on paper. To escape Western references and codes, the artist turns her gaze to the East, and more specifically to China. For her, it’s a question of displacing the Western sphere of influence to envisage other perspectives and other cultural circulations.

The artist’s voice tells us about her experience in the village, on the road to Bucharest and back. She draws us into her travels, her emotions, her criticisms and her love for Crețești. So, since 2020, Delia Popa’s ambition has been to fabricate a space of representation where cultures and practices sediment: architecture, vernacular techniques, traditions, landscapes, materials, gestures, crafts, etc.

Why? Delia Popa writes: “Why then is this rural world important? Because 46% of Romanians live there, we all come from there and it is a world (still) connected to nature, although that is rapidly disappearing. Because we need to look at what/who we are.” Crețești is thus an artistic, social and political subject in its own right. A subject that generates a de-hierarchization: all places have a value that artists can bring to the fore.

Exhibition view - Loc de acțiune - Crețești
The artist's voice tells us about her experience in the village →
The artist's voice tells us about her experience in the village →

Delia POPA (b. 1980, Bucharest, Romania) holds an MFA in Painting and Drawing from School of the Art Institute of Chicago, USA (2007), a Postgraduate Diploma in Fine Arts from Goldsmiths College, University of London (2005), as well as an MFA in Visual Arts and a Bachelor Diploma in Painting from the National University of Arts Bucharest (2004). She works in media such as painting, video, installation, performance and participatory projects. Delia POPA’s works have been presented in prestigious national and international group exhibitions, screenings and performance events, including at the National Museum of Contemporary Art/MNAC, Bucharest (2023/2020/2014/2005), Pragovka Gallery, Prague (2024), at Galeria Anca Poterașu, Bucharest (2024), at Toplocentrala, Sofia, Bulgaria (2022), at the Cologne Biennale, Germany (2022),at the Occupy Art Festival New York City, USA (2022), at Kunsthalle Bega, Timișoara, Romania (2021), at WASP Studios, Bucharest (2018). In 2020, some of Delia POPA’s works were included, through public acquisition, in the collection of the National Museum of Contemporary Art of Romania (MNAC).

Solo and Duo Exhibitions

2025 Loc de acțiune Crețești (Crețești- Place for Action), Anca Poterașu Gallery, curated by Julie Crenn, Bucharest, Romania

2024 The Portrait of the Artist as a Teacher (ART ROSA duo, with Nita Mocanu), Casa Artelor, Timișoara, Romania

2019 The Beach (An Erotic Fantasy), GrawBöckler Garage, curated by GrawBöckler, Berlin, Germany

2017 The Girl with Tentacles, Sandwich Gallery, Bucharest, Romania

2015 Growing Up and Staying Young – Stories about Heidi, curated by Anca Sînpălean, Haus zum Palmbaum/index Freiraum, Zürich, Switzerland

2014 Unfinished Sympathy – Vampire Diaries, Performance part of Chelen Amenca, with Ellen Rothenberg, UNA Galeria, Bucharest

2013 Anca Munteanu Rimnic and Delia Popa at Salonul de Proiecte, Salonul de Proiecte, MNAC Annex, Bucharest

2012 Chelen Amenca/Dance with Us, with Ellen Rothenberg, curated by Anca Mihulet, National Brukenthal Museum, Sibiu, Romania

Selected Group Exhibitions

2024 The Line of the Valley, Săcel Cultural Center, Maramureș and Anca Poterașu Gallery, Bucharest

2024 The Ecology of the After Life, curated by Rafaela Bîrlădeanu, Anca Poterașu Gallery, București

2024 A Spring of Hope, A Winter of Despair, curated by Olivia Nițiș, Asociația Contrasens | Faber, Timișoara, România; Pragovka, Praga, Czech Republic

2024 Symptomatic/Asymptomatic, curated by Luciana Tamaș, Magma Medium, Sfântul Gheorghe, Romania

2023 Puls 21, Acquisitions 2020–2022, Muzeul Național de Artă Contemporană, București, România

2023 Now the Impulse is to live! Timișoara Edition, curated by Adelina Luft, Pavilionul Riverside, Minitremu, Timișoara, România

2023 Virus Diary Biennial | Cryptic Lineages, curated by Alina Andrei, Magdalena Pelmuș, Luciana Tămaș, Silvia Trăistaru, SAC Malmaison/Dyptich Art Space, București, România

2022 Now the Impulse is to live! Sofia Edition, curated by Raluca Voinea, Adelina Luft, Toplocentrala, Sofia, Bulgaria

2022 Now the Impulse is to live!, curated by Raluca Voinea, Adelina Luft, Ordinul Arhitecților din România, București, România

2022 Virus Diary, Occupy Art Festival | Occupy #3 Networks, New York City, SUA; B5, Târgu Mureș; Institutul Cultural Român Viena, Austria; Cologne Biennial, Köln, Germania; Nuit Blanche, Heraklion, Greece

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