THE COUNTER REALIST

In the The Counter Realist solo show project, Andrei Gamarţ presents his inner perspectives as an inverted reality, his inner thoughts as a collateral universe and his inner dreams as a never ending story about life and art: the images of this presentation are the storyboard of the unconscious mind of Andrei Gamarţ and display his counter realities in a bizarre and twilighted atmosphere, describing internal structures and states more than facts, alternative realities from beyond the realm of concrete, modifying personal experiences both from the past and from a self predicted future.

The surrealistic appearance of the graphical works and paintings of Andrei Gamarţ is further sustained by the interactive scenography installation that the artist conceived especially for Ştirbei Palace national monument, by which he forces the viewers to literally step into his onirical vision: thus, the big black plastic sheet covering the ground and indicating routes to be followed in the exhibiting space doubles the magical realism dimension of the whole project.

The body of works on display, their unusual alembicated epics and long lyrical titles and, also, the setup manner and location chosen by Prospekt gallery for this emerging artist’s presentation (a 19^th century old Romanian Palace), all link Andrei Gamarţ to the notion of counter reality, as this solo show constitutes a counter point or a counter position to the mainstream vogue in Romanian contemporary art which is that of either realistic observation or conceptual production wrapped in white cubes or post industrial locations.

Beyond the major theme of altered realities but in close relation to exploring the self, The Counter Realist project also presents the results of art as a method throughout which Andrei Gamarţ is searching for his identity inside human existence and in the end for a personal state of illumination: from this point of view, the exhibition represents the diary of a counter realist, a synopsis of crucial events that define and point towards the meaning of life of Andrei Gamarţ.

Adina Zorzini