Teo Modoi
My practice consists of painted compositions showing scenes from agrarian landscapes, wastelands and construction sites, most of them containing a subtle autobiographical element.
The artistic universe I create is dominated by a menacing and uncanny atmosphere, similar to the one created by Magical Realism in literature. I am interested in identifying the nightmarish potential of the everyday life object, in expressing the idea that any element from our surroundings could hide narratives of obstruction and entrapment. The particular images I settle for share a liminal aspect, suggesting an active past full of intensity but stripped of its ideological and nostalgic glory, as well as the sceptical perspective on the future. In doing so, I investigate subjects around the Post-communist legacy through elements related to memory, labour, diaspora, ruins, ethnical and national background.
My paintings have a dual aim: to create a moment of recollection and remembrance for the viewer, a moment that is catalysed by their monumentality, and to challenge myself as a painter. Oil paint forces me to investigate the world outside, learning about its material properties and submit to my own limitations as a human and maker. The theoretical knowledge I had about my subjects gains epistemological value through the process of painting. The idea of labour plays an important part in my practice, both from a thematic and a procedural perspective.
I see the process of going to the studio and creating work as a form of ritualistic labour, which I engage to honour my principles and to test myself against the challenge of it. I paint in an aggressive manner and every new painting represents a conflictual exchange in which ideas fight against the limits of the materials. Thus, it is impossible to talk about a specific creative process, as each attempt is marked by its uniqueness, and so are the results that follow it.
Tractors 1
Tractors is a series of paintings talking about labour and diasporic identity. Their large scale, the confident brushwork and the balanced alternation between coloured greys and bold colour gives them a callous monumentality, reminding the viewer of the Socialist Realism imagery. However, my intention with this series is the opposite of what the movement associated with the Soviet ideology is trying to achieve. I want these paintings to document a daily reality in Romania: peasants working to the limits of their power in order to make a living out of their lands. I feel a particular type of affectivity when I am confronted with this type of imagery, as I feel that I am meditating a little on my own agrarian roots.
The clever cropping techniques create the impression that the heavy machinery is coming towards the viewer, dragging them into a world of exhilarated production. However, after a second glance, the eye identifies the rustiness of the metal, the crushed fruits, the overload of the carts, the deplorable state of the cabin of the tractors. My paintings don’t celebrate the modern ideal of efficiency, but investigate the hidden narratives behind the contemporary realities in Eastern-Europe.
Trucks
The series Trucks represent some of my first works in which I tackled elements that have become central to my practice in the last 2 years. In a similar manner to the films of Emir Kusturica, the vehicles I paint represent key elements of a decorum speaking about the hidden narratives of daily realities in Eastern Europe. The images depicting the trucks share a liminal aspect, suggesting an active past full of intensity but stripped of its ideological and nostalgic glory, as well as the sceptical perspective on the future.
Motorcycle on Trailer
The painting Motorcycle on Trailer seemed like a natural progression from the Trucks series, revolving around my interest in mechanised elements and the stacking of structures with wheels. On a stylistic level I kept on going my investigation on how to translate my mundane, three-dimensional experience into the pictorial space through oil paint. The limits of what a picture means, the difference between photography and painting and a flirtatious relationship with the abstraction are newly found elements in my practice.
Vans
My most recent paintings, Vans, represent an ongoing project of working with imagery coming from my own atlas of photography. The images come from an abandoned junkyard outside of Cluj, where the vegetation is starting to enrobe the old bits of metal. Vans is the series in which I have explored the potential of oil paint the most so far, alternating between turpentine heavy mediums creating thin washes of paint mixed with charcoal and graphite and heavily textured brushstrokes. Furthermore, I have investigated elements like depth, dynamism and chromatic perspective. The images contain an uncanniness that highlights their liminal status of representations of objects that no longer fulfil their purpose.
