Ștefan Câlția: Impressions of a Lived Time

The exhibition “Impressions of a Lived Time” at the National Museum of Contemporary Art in Bucharest presents a series of works made up of drawings, graphics and paintings which cover from the beginning to the most recent paths of his carreer. The large drawings were created during the early years of transition amid a political atmosphere described as neo/post-communist and against a state of acute moral instability. The graphic works created by Ștefan Câlția in 1968 during the invasion of Czechoslovakia can be viewed in tandem with the drawings produced in 2022 in the context of the war in Ukraine.

His artistic practice carries a message beyond the historical event it was born of, given current concerns about illiberal governments, climate and economic crises, the lack of freedom and equality, the fake democracies and totalitarian systems still influencing geopolitics, and the breakdown in social connections.