Florin Pantilimon – Fruits of Despair

Art Yourself Gallery hosts ‘Fruits of Despair’ solo show by Florin Pantilimon from the 17th until the 29th of November, 2014 (88 Clucerului Street, Bucharest). According to the gallery, this series, which is another fresh perspective that the artist offers his audience, is a story with no beginning and no end, but which gradually unfolds on many levels, as a result of an introspective process, in search of sincerity. It is, indeed, an emotionally intense process, intimate and still with a powerful impact on the viewer, similar to the awakening moment, when understanding suddenly and for a very short time overcomes any possible barriers.

We’ve visited previous personal or group exhibitions featuring the works of Florin Pantilimon, we even had the opportunity to talk to the artist in 2013, yet his artworks and projects never cease to surprise, to reward the public with variety, meaning and emotion. The current series, however, is hard to unravel outside the gallery space, where one can stand in front of the works. Florin uses ink once again, and we are happy to see him return to this medium after the Ink Game experiment.

We walk with him in different moments – of peace, of turmoil, of solitude, of fear or despair, as explorers and intruders of his atypical wild gardens and landscapes populated by fantastic creatures and dominated by dark representations of the self. There is a sort of continuous discovery and rediscovery, experienced in a meditative way, going back to the past, to the ancient forms of the soul, that simultaneously reflect the present and future, as all seems connected from the first man to the last one standing on Earth. The tiny human silhouettes wandering in the great wilderness towards home or a light in the horizon reveal an extraordinary contrast, while the details and patterns resemble a fractal structure that is the foundation of the artist’s extraordinary personal universe.