Maxim LIULCA, 2012 Ohne Titel Ohne Titel

Maxim Liulca’s “Untitled” was created in the early days of his artistic career, during an artist-in-residence stay at the STRABAG Artstudio in Vienna. At that period, he drew on motifs inspired by sources ranging from folkloristic Romanian fabrics to 1970s geometric wallpaper, all accorded equal status when combined within his artworks. Liulca was interested in their visual qualities rather than in deciphering these different pictorial sources. His works combine the ornamental styles found in pop culture and traditional patterns to generate something akin to collage. Liulca’s painting appears mysterious, with over-painted fragmentary elements in parts of the canvas, while other areas are executed with great precision. He simultaneously creates spatiality and calls it into question, by merely suggesting rather than reproducing it in his abstract works. Twelve years after painting “Untitled”, Liulca remains interested in forging links and combinations in his visual production. In the process, he transposes his ideas onto the canvas in evocations of encrypted symbols and codes. For Liulca, his work is ultimately a visual communication system, legible in its entirety only by the artist. For viewers, it remains an enigmatic visual game that conjures myriad associations.

Romanian artist Maxim Liulca (Tighina/MD 1987) studied painting at the University of Art and Design in Cluj-Napoca and was recognized with a STRABAG Artaward International Recognition Award in 2012.