Sebastian Hosu was born in Satu Mare in 1988 and lives and works in Leipzig. He studied at the Art and Design University(UAD) in Cluj-Napoca and at the Albertina Academy of Fine Arts in Turin.
”The painting of Sebastian deals with reality – his reality. It also includes his idea of nature, which in turn is an expression of this reality.
He understands nature as a presence in painting, that is archetypal and not illustrative. But what is nature? Something that precedes us and that we belong to? Still? Or is it a long-lost experience, replaced by today’s virtual reality?” – From Antonio Pauciulo, painter
“…the technique of Sebastian Hosu’s images is a powerful presence: perhaps not so much the oil of the paintings as the coal of the drawings. There are nervous images, even a little hysterical, vibrating, pulsing with energy: a force that is seen not only in the representation of people, but especially in the representation of nature in the background and around them.” Adriana Oprea
”I get the impression that Sebastian Hosu would eschew such an attribution. You can already see in his paintings and drawings how everything seems to be in motion. He, too, has moved around a lot: he grew up in Satu Mare and studied in Cluj-Napoca, then in Turin and Liège, and finally in Leipzig where he currently lives. By his own account, he was more interested in different impulses and approaches than in seeking out particular professors, and this is what enabled him to develop an idiosyncratic artistic practice early on. Sebastian Hosu is also younger than artists such as Adrian Ghenie or Marius Bercea, and much younger than Neo Rauch, and he never experienced the “turnaround” in Romania, the radical transition from one system to another, and the subsequent post-communist era with all its contradictions. I can only give you my impression, of course, but I think that’s why Hosu focuses on different questions. In his case it’s less about failed utopias, as for him communism was already history. His artistic practice is possibly informed less by an existential “in between”, between an unprocessed past and uncertain future, and more by the search for new possibilities of expression in the painted image, and for counterbalance in a world that is increasingly influenced by artificial intelligence. The text for his latest joint exhibition with Antonio Pauciulo says that both artists see painting as a haptic language that is capable of fostering an ecological view. I also get the impression that there’s a renewed appreciation for painting in theoretical discourse, which is something I personally find interesting. Painting is also the focus of Sebastian Hosu’s artistic work, but drawing, too, and he succeeds in combining them in an impressive way. The image we used to announce the Leisure Life exhibition – On green floor III (2019) – is one of these charcoal-oil hybrids.” Lotte Laub in interview with Adriana Oprea for Revista Arta