Gheorghe Ilea is a Romanian painter, conceptual artist, drawer, and frottage- and installation-maker who lives and works in Zalău. The artist's textured graphic rubbings focus on the physical properties of mural art and exteriors in churches, and the properties of their surface qualities when transferred to long rolls of paper.
Read MoreWhen using paint to copy very old murals, he likes to leave his artists' paint outdoors to the mercy of the elements—acting as an examination of the properties of time and a test of art.
Ilea attended the Academy of Visual Arts Ioan Andreescu in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, and graduated in 1984.
Gheorghe Ilea is consistently interested in patterned planar elements, the tactility of weathered paint when reproduced on a picture plane, and the textures of woven textiles. His activities involve tenacious historical research.
One major ongoing project examines the materiality of art found in the interior and exterior of a very old church in Gălpâia with its painting by Ioan Pop of Românași. It looked at the resilience of the paint-surface properties when copied onto canvas or made into frottage rubbings, and transferred to new supports. Examples include Ciucea-Galpaia and The Paper Church (both 2012).
For long spectacular painted reproductions, Ilea photographed the interiors of both the church and museum so he could refer to the weathered surface materiality of both buildings in detail, even though the original paintwork was barely detectable. This project reflects much earlier 'wall duplication' mixed-media projects like The Barn (1998).
Another painting project, the 'Tronicart 1300' series includes historic images of Christian mystics, workers, and family members on 56 metal automobile bonnets from Dacia, the car that was the proud showpiece of the Romanian communist party but here used for the artist's diaristic and philosophical purposes, not national flag-waving.
Gheorghe Ilea has been the subject of both solo and group exhibitions.
Solo exhibitions include Gheorghe Ilea: "Restoration process" 2015–2022. After "Exercise of humility" Tapestry of Ana Lupaș 1960–1962, Galeria SUPRAINFINIT, Bucharest (2021); The Relocation Story, Plan B, Cluj-Napoca (2014); Ciucea-Galpaia, on the façade of the Paintbrush Factory, Plan B, Cluj-Napoca (2012); Tronicart 1300, Dalles Hall / National Museum of Contemporary Art, Bucharest (2012); 10 Paintings, Plan B, Berlin (2010).
Group exhibitions include Dupa doisprezece ani. Productia artistica din Romania in 180 de lucrari, Expozitia Achizitiilor de Opere de Arta, MNAC – National Museum of Contemporary Art, Bucharest (2020); Double Heads Matches: A selection of contemporary artworks from four Romanian private collections, New Budapest Gallery (2018); Berlin Show #4: Inventory, Galeria Plan B, Berlin (2016); KM/H: Utopies automobiles et ferroviaires 1913–2013, Musée du Château des Ducs de Wurtemberg, Montbéliard, France (2013); Salonul de vară, Plan B, Cluj-Napoca (2012).
Ilea's work is held in the collection of the Plan B Foundation, Cluj-Napoca.
John Hurrell | Ocula | 2022
