Tara (von Neudorf) (born 1974 in

Luduș Luduș (; Hungarian: ''Marosludas'' or ''Ludas''; Hungarian pronunciation: , German: ''Ludasch'') is a town in Transylvania, Romania in Mureș County, 44 km south-west from the county's capital Târgu Mureș. Six villages are administered ...

Transylvania Transylvania ( ro, Ardeal or ; hu, Erdély; german: Siebenbürgen) is a historical and cultural region in Central Europe, encompassing central Romania. To the east and south its natural border is the Carpathian Mountains, and to the west the Ap ...

) is a contemporary Romanian artist.

Life

He studied in the Faculty of Printmaking and then in the Faculty of Painting at the

Art and Design University of Cluj-Napoca The Art and Design University ( ro, italic=yes, Universitatea de Artă şi Design, UAD;) is an art university located in Cluj-Napoca, Romania. It was founded on November 15, 1925, as the ''Fine Arts School of Cluj''. Formerly known as Academy o ...

. Since 2005 he has been connected with Anaid Art Gallery in

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north of ...

, which has organised major exhibitions of his work: “Black Rumania” (2005), “Finis Mundi” (2007), “Generation Djihad” (2009), and “Raving History” (2012). He has also had shows abroad, in countries including the Netherlands, Germany, the USA and Hungary. In 2012 he was awarded the Strabag Artaward International and an exhibition of his works was held in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

. His first show in Poland, "Cartographer of Sinister History. Tara (von Neudorf)", was staged in 2013 by the Gallery of the International Cultural Centre in Krakow (4 September – 24 November 2013). Tara lives and works in

Sibiu Sibiu ( , , german: link=no, Hermannstadt , la, Cibinium, Transylvanian Saxon: ''Härmeschtat'', hu, Nagyszeben ) is a city in Romania, in the historical region of Transylvania. Located some north-west of Bucharest, the city straddles the Ci ...

i Bukareszcie. and Bucharest. He is currently in the process of creating a monumental installation about the history of the Transylvanian Saxons – "the end of the nation" – in the Lutheran church in the abandoned village of Mighindoala (''Engenthal'') in Transylvanian Saxony; he is also hoping to set himself up a studio there.

Work

Tara (von Neudorf) is one of a group of young Romanian artists who contest the traditional brand of art represented by the country's Union of Visual Artists. In the late 1990s they turned to non-public forums for the freedom of artistic expression they sought. The themes addressed by these artists are, in the words of Diana Dochia: Tara's favourite media are black

marker pen A marker pen, fine liner, marking pen, felt-tip pen, felt pen, flow marker, sign pen (in South Korea), vivid (in New Zealand), texta (in Australia), sketch pen (in South Asia) or koki (in South Africa), is a pen which has its own ink source ...

and red paint, and his best-known works are made on old communist-era schoolroom maps and educational posters. His creative space is the "periphery" of Europe, but he also references the geopolitics of art. His work is suffused with the context of the place where he comes from and works – Transylvania. The local context is his starting point for his artistic narratives about identity, difficult history, the co-existence of cultures, unhealed wounds, and the emptiness of now depopulated towns and villages.On the subject of Tara's art in the context of the history and identity of Transylvania, and especially the history and culture of the Transylvanian Saxons, see: Łukasz Galusek, Cartographer of the void. In: ''Kartograf złowrogiej historii. Tara (von Neudorf)'', ''Tara (von Neudorf). Cartographer of sinister history'', Kraków 2013, The keywords on which his artistic work focuses are enunciated in one of the works in his famous series “Black Rumania”: corruption, poverty, communism, stupidity,

racism Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one race over another. It may also mean prejudice, discrimination, or antagonis ...

, terror, lies, bureaucracy,

disability Disability is the experience of any condition that makes it more difficult for a person to do certain activities or have equitable access within a given society. Disabilities may be cognitive, developmental, intellectual, mental, physical, ...

, greed, and despair (RO, 2005). He comments on the relations between

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, and ...

and the European Union, teaches communist history, and lays bare the bloody pages of grand ideologies, using images such as maps, sacred books and religious symbols, flags, dates, places of torture and sites of martyrdom, tanks, media slogans, and blood. He talks about important, fundamental issues in strong strokes and decisive colours. Dr Monika Rydiger, one of the curators of Tara's exhibition in Krakow, Poland, says:

Exhibitions

* 1999: "Last International Dada Exhibition of the 20th. Century", Berlin, "Galerie Kai Hilgemann" * 2005: "Black Rumania", Anaid Art Gallery, Bucharest, curator: Diana Dochia * 2007: "Finis Mundi", Anaid Art Gallery, Bucharest, curator: Diana Dochia * 2009: “Generation Djihad”, Anaid Art Gallery, Bucharest, curator: Diana Dochia * 2011: “ Millennium”, MODEM Modern és Kortárs Művészeti Központ, Debrecen, curator: Diana Dochia * 2012: “Raving History”, Anaid Art Gallery, Bucharest, curator: Diana Dochia * 2012: “In the name of…”, STRABAG Artlounge, Vienna * 2013: "Cartographer of sinister history. Tara (von Neudorf)", Gallery of the International Cultural Centre in Krakow, curators: Monika Rydiger, Łukasz Galusek

References

Bibliography

* Łukasz Galusek, "Tara terrible", Herito 2012, no. 6 (www.herito.pl) * ''Kartograf złowrogiej historii. Tara (von Neudorf)'' / ''Tara (von Neudorf). Cartographer of sinister history'', exh. cat., Międzynarodowe Centrum Kultury, Kraków 2013

External links

International Cultural Centre
ADZ-Article: http://www.adz.ro/artikel/artikel/tara-von-neudorf-in-der-hauptstadt/ {{DEFAULTSORT:Tara 1974 births People from Luduș Romanian artists Living people