Exhibition SENAT Gallery | 6 – 12 September 2022
Baiculești Street no. 29

The concept of the exhibition is part of the Bauhaus – Form and Reform project, initiated by Elite Art Club UNESCO and co-financed by the National Cultural Fund Association (AFCN) in collaboration with the artist Carmen Emanuela Popa.

The project aims at the interconnection between the artistic manifestations encountered at the beginning of the 20th century, respectively the years 1919 – 1933, when the spread of the Bauhaus current held a supremacy in terms of stylistics in the plastic / applied arts, and a contemporary-urban vision of the experimental clothing object.

The rigor of construction and geometry are put in a veto status by canceling the classic pattern, by deconstructivist cutting solutions, but also by multiplying the layers of the textile material. Thus the panorama of the created object exudes a visual dynamism and, at the same time, a controlled strictness of a post-Bauhaus aesthetic.

Starting from an introspective philosophy, namely that the man of the present time is in the middle of an urban that storms into his mind with an accumulation of information intended to build him a pedestal like a lego game, he dedicates himself as if to participate in a competition that awaits his performances, but, most of the time, they remain in an unexposed form, in the form of an inviolable truth.

Thus we appeal to history to assimilate the present in a continuous and rapid change. We are witnessing a transgenerational migration from one era to another, from one culture to another. The sports drapes, graphic elements in dissolution suggest a significant change to everything that had been imprinted in conventional recognition until now.

The metaphor is foreshadowed by the interpretation of materialities, generous matte / glossy sequined surfaces cadence with the neoprene suitable for a sports suite and contrast with the aesthetic premises of the current that revolutionized the beginning of the last century. Cutouts and (un)regular quilting, a 3D approach to the Bauhaus phenomenon impose a visual state of continuous transformation, of work in progress.

The Winner also refers to the current context in which we find ourselves. Heroism is needed on an individual and global scale, the disharmonious situations we have faced and still invade our emotional infrastructure are difficult to avoid, but through a coherent struggle with static ideologies, with the tendencies to unjustly usurp individual freedoms, identity and aspirational, the human being can overcome his vulnerable and manipulative condition and become a superior entity who has the right to a creative life, a term that substitutes peace, tolerance and some touch of elegance when we give a lot of respect, valorization and affective voluntariness, to those of near us.

(Carmen Emanuela Popa, designer)

Elite Art aims to promote the fundamental principles of UNESCO by organizing complex cultural projects that respond to the demands of the national civil society and contribute to the development of Romania from a cultural and educational point of view.
Romanian designer Carmen Emanuela Popa is an emerging artist, known for her conceptual works in the field of experimental fashion that are based on philosophical theories with a strong visual impact.

With impressive international reviews, the artist brings the human being to the fore, idealizing through contrasting stylistic dualities the vulnerable condition of the common man in the context of today's society and places the condition of women in modernity by calling on interdisciplinary artistic means, thus outlining an idealized, marked human profile of the prerogatives of an emotional civilization.

Carmen Emanuela Popa is a graduate of the Faculty of Decorative Arts and Design of the National University of Arts, Bucharest and a Master's Degree / Fashion and Costume Strategies / UNAB. In 2018 he was awarded a Scholarship (6 months) at the IUAV University in Venice, Italy. He is currently a PhD student at UNArte, Bucharest, in the field of Visual Arts/Fashion Design with a theme that addresses the migration of the symbolism of the clothing object to the contemporary art object.  

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Thank you for this challenging Project that would not have been possible without the initiator Elite Art Gallery through the co-financing of the AFCN - National Cultural Fund, but also through the immersive involvement of the Elite Art team Mihaela Dragomir, Alexandra Mirica, Anca Pricop, Victoria Popescu, Miruna Barcan, Marian Dumitrascu, the Alumnus Club for UNESCO through Daniela Popescu for auxiliary support but also thanks to the child Teodora Mihaela Dasca for the interpretation of the poem dedicated to the children affected by the war in Ukraine. 

Also many thanks to the partners Trinitas TV, Radio Romania Cultural, Modernism. Ro, Woman and all the others mentioned in the promotional materials of the Event.     

https://www.modernism.ro/2022/08/31/expozitie-carmen-emanuela-popa-the-winner-post-bauhaus-experimental-fashion-galeria-senat-bucuresti/

https://curatorial.ro/arta/the-winner-post-bauhaus-experimental-fashion-expozitie-de-design-vestimentar-conceptual-la-galeria-senat/

https://dilemaveche.ro/sectiune/dileme-on-line/bauhaus-form-and-reform-un-proiect-care-ofera-2203844.html

https://combinat.ro/articol_program.php?id=6316fc7f65643355fb0002e3