Temporary Exhibitions
Between December 1st, 2025 and January 11th, 2026, the National Museum of Art of Moldova presents to the public four artists from Timișoara, all professors within the Faculty of Visual Arts and Design at the West University. Brought together in the exhibition Colors of the Earth II, they deliberately cultivate a balance between the visual arts (painting, represented by Dana Constantin and Dacian Andoni) and the decorative arts (ceramics, represented by Gloria Grati and Nicolae Moldovan), placed in an equal, dialogical relationship that dissolves the traditional hierarchy between “major” and “minor” arts. From another perspective—one shaped by gender equality—the exhibition also reveals a balanced configuration: two women artists, a painter and a ceramist (Dana Constantin and Gloria Grati), and two male artists, a painter and a ceramist (Dacian Andoni and Nicolae Moldovan). Under these favorable auspices, a visual project was created to highlight the formal concerns shared by the four artists—otherwise distinct in background and vision: an ongoing impulse to experiment with specific techniques and materials, and the cultivation of the visual-haptic dimension of the artworks and objects they create.
Dana Constantin presents works from the cycles F.L.O.T.E.s I and II (2017–2018, oil on canvas), in dialogue with three small compositions from the recent series Song of the Earth, executed in pastel on silk leaf. FLOTEs (a generic title inspired by the concept FLOTEs — Fundamental Laws of Temporal Evolution — by scientist and philosopher Tim Maudlin, reformulated as: Forms/Light/Opacity/Transparencies/Expression) marked a distinct stage in the artist’s creative trajectory. It first revealed an unexpected dialogue between line and color, in which line appeared to play the leading role, establishing compositional direction and temporarily eclipsing the dominance of color. In FLOTEs II, one can observe a subtle return to the sinuous, organic, natural line, to a richer chromatic diversity, and to the fine vertical line that traverses the works like a vital sap. Inspired by Gustav Mahler’s eponymous song cycle, the three small compositions dated 2025 carry a palpable sonic vibration, now shaping a synthesis of the artist’s formal concerns as she continues to look intently at reality, seeking the essence beyond appearance.
Dacian Andoni exhibits works from the cycles Multiple Stimuli and The Earth’s Breath, forming a visual journey in which drawing prevails over color in an exercise of artistic asceticism, embodied in a deliberate distancing from nature. In the large compositions—executed with great economy of means in pencil and oil on canvas—one senses a limit-experience: the artist’s eye has stretched its perception (in a tensioned dialogue between near and distant seeing) to such an extent that any natural or cultural reference becomes encrypted in images shaped by radical formal reduction. Color is gradually eluded, revealing the inner structure of forms, finally made visible. In the most recent works from The Earth’s Breath (2025), a subtle return of painterliness can be observed, intrinsic to the medium of oil paint, exploring spatial depth and haptic effects through dark obscured tones, from which luminous, warm hues emerge as signs of a color that refuses to be subdued.
Gloria Grati presents recent works (2025), created from patinated and glazed stoneware. Her artistic approach is characterized by freely modeled forms and a meticulous process of applying patina using metallic oxides or, conversely, natural pigments. The resulting materiality is striking, evoking the earthy atmosphere of a fantastic archaeological universe suggested by imprints and incisions (Terraspheres). In her recent cycles, the artist assembles objects through successive arrangements and montages; thus, Earthly Habitats forms an installation in which elements aligned in random geometric configurations induce a haptic-sonorous synesthesia, producing almost melodic sounds when they (intentionally) collide, subtly inviting interaction. In Atmospheres, sharp textured shapes cluster into an improvised construction reminiscent of a decomposing vegetal world awaiting a purifying fire. The formal universe of Gloria Grati embodies a surprising supremacy of vision, yet one expressed through the haptic dimension of the ceramic forms she models.
Nicolae Moldovan presents five monumental ceramic works created over the past two years, dominated by black matter as the sole chromatic possibility. This enhances the haptic dimension and exploits the expressive resources of complex ceramic mixtures designed to give new plastic expressions to the surfaces of his objects. Formally, the artist is drawn to a process of essentialization that—behind technical conventions—requires rigor and discipline as expressions of creative freedom. Simplification of form in his work aligns with the radical morphology of minimalist sculpture. In terms of materiality, an important aspect is the ordered sequence of working phases, generating a continuous growth of the ceramic mass. The haptic visuality, cultivated under the sign of “essential” black, carries profound spiritual meaning for the artist, only seemingly overshadowed by the spectacular epidermal effects of his ceramic objects (from matte opacity to metallic iridescence).
The group of four Timișoara-based artists formed spontaneously a few years ago from a desire to exhibit together. Over several curatorial experiences, their collaborative dynamic has revealed unexpected formal and conceptual affinities, exposing—beyond their individual concerns and experiments—a shared artistic intent.
This exhibition is organized in partnership with the Museum of Art / the National Complex “Moldova” Iași.
Ruxandra Demetrescu,
Exhibition Curator
