Anca Bodea and Ioana Olăhuț (eds.), Cealaltă față a lumii / The Other Face of the World, Idea Design and Print, 2023, 184 p.

Abstract

The volume Cealaltă față a lumii / The Other Face of the World highlights a small group of Romanian contemporary female painters who have been formed professionally in Cluj-Napoca at the University of Art and Design, between 2002 and 2015. Published with the support of the Hassium Cultural Association, it is edited bilingually, in Romanian and English, by Anca Bodea and Ioana Olăhuț, both artists and professors at the aforementioned university. The structure of the volume allows the reader to get acquainted with the state of the Romanian contemporary art world and with the works of nine Romanian women artists who have stood out in recent years through their relevant and constant activity in the competitive field of contemporary painting: Ana Maria Micu (b. 1979), Ioana Olăhuț (b. 1979), Anca Bodea (b. 1982), Ioana Iacob (b. 1987), Mirela Moscu (b. 1986), Anca Brânzaș (b. 1986), Oana Năstăsache (b. 1991), Roxana Ajder (b. 1991), and Andrea Tivadar (b. 1991). The volume challenges and attempts to answer questions regarding the relevance of painting and how it asserts itself in the diverse mediums of expression of art today. It also raises the question of whether there is a women’s perspective or not on the painting produced in Cluj in the last twenty years. The analysis of these aspects of the Romanian art world has been emphasized by the inclusion in this book, in addition to a rich portfolio of the nine Romanian women artists, of an interview and three studies that attempt to provide a more meaningful response to the matter raised.