VERMILLION, S.D. – The Main Gallery of The University of South Dakota, Warren M. Lee Center for the Fine Arts, will exhibit the MFA thesis exhibition titled “Introspections” by Ioan Florea from November18 through December 4. A reception is scheduled for Monday, November 26 from 7-9 p.m.
Florea, a native of Romania, Transylvania, is pursuing his terminal degree in painting at USD. He earned a bachelor of Fine Arts diploma in painting from the Bucharest (Romania) Academy of Fine Arts in 1996. In addition to several exhibits and honors in Bucharest and Augsburg, Germany, Florea received the Soros Foundation for an Open Society Romania Grant for travel to the USA.
Florea’s exhibition consists of a mixture of paintings ranging from abstract expressionism to the color field style. The paintings are executed exclusively in handmade paint employing an original formulation that increases the luminosity and brilliancy of the medium. The paintings are about the plasticity, stratification, and the thickness of paint – a dialog between lines and color, an alchemical combination of primitive marks reflecting the unconscious level of universal archetypes and memory. The tactile quality of the surface creates an overwhelming seductive attraction inviting the viewer to interact unconditionally with the emotion of the painting, free of expectations of finding a narration or explanation within them.
The Main Gallery is open Monday-Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. The gallery is located in the Warren M. Lee Center for the Fine Arts on The University of South Dakota campus.
For additional information, contact John A. Day, University Art Galleries, at (605) 677-5713 or jday@usd.edu.