“The playground, with all its fantastic possibilities, is a terrain of encounters. ”
Zoltán Béla
May 4 – May 21, 2022
Curated by Cristina Stoenescu
Anca Poterașu Gallery, Bucharest
Unwritten rules are being made and remade everyday, between children and adults meeting in a place of real purpose, albeit not taken too seriously least the magic evaporates.
In Zoltan Béla’s oil on canvas through transfer paintings and in-situ installations, there is a direct transfer of memories – from his very own, in his old neighborhood in Baia Mare, with a couple of metallic swings and slides, now replaced by many more plastic ones on soft surfaces where no knees can scrape anymore.
His childhood is now projected unto his young daughter’s memories in the making, whose playtime in the new, plastic and colorful public parks of Bucharest is just at its beginnings. The monotype technique used to transfer the shapes unto the canvas relates exactly to that – to the use, and re-use of materials, of recuperating and re-assimilating what once belonged on a surface of experiences unto another.
“The show ultimately connects to the places where we teach and learn how to be with one another – conflictual, generous, possessive, or patient.”
