Florin Pantilimon: Missing

The recent exhibition Missing by Florin Pantilimon is about absence and longing, about existence and non-existence in an attempt to make sense of both. Most works show different human figures as if confronting their fears, suffering or rage alone in overwhelming situations of life and death. Some are caught in a state of continuous fall, are waiting for their belated healing or trying to appear in a certain way that may help hide the despair and incertitude, the incurable nostalgia or sorrow – as in the work Sari ca să pari / Jump to seem… maybe happy? Hiding who you are from yourself – to forget – or from others – to not upset? The environment responds to these feelings with darkness and storm, a metaphor to highlight the inner experience.

A sense of loss grows with each work – losing yourself, losing your way, losing the other, losing time, losing patience or hope. Two works reveal more clearly defined characters compared to the recurring dark or fading silhouettes. These are also the works where the artist focused on groups of people rather than isolated figures. Men and women of all ages are wandering in labyrinthine paths unable to find peace yet constantly seeking something beyond the daily routine suggested by all those material objects surrounding them as obstacles, amplifying their confusion. A need to escape, to detach from everything coexists with the need to overcome the solitude, to reconnect. In addition to several confessions of likes and dislikes, of recalls and observations, a question remains unanswered: Who am I?, in relation to what feels like a personal conclusion in a reality where few things brings us together: Nobody knows who I am.

A cross made from different framed works is on the wall with the text Non-stop as description and a chair in the middle of the gallery space. An ironic and dramatic display – questioning the existence of non-existence itself perhaps. I am here always but my body isn’t represents another perspective on reflecting these aspects.

The artist is missing, warns Florin. Only the image and its witness are present in the gallery – the absence of either one would make the other’s presence absurd.

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Follow Florin on his website, on Facebook and Behance.

The solo show was on view from September 22nd through October 14th, 2016 at Centrul Artelor Vizuale Multumedia in Bucharest. Exhibition visited during the 10th edition of the White Night of the Art Galleries – NAG#10.