Anca Oroveanu, Ph.D.

Project

On Series in Contemporary Art

I propose to take as my starting point a number of instances in contemporary art when artists exhibit a marked tendency to conceive their singular works as part of an actual or potential series, whether repetitive or evolutive. I have in mind (to give only a few examples of a phenomenon whose presence in contemporary art is conspicuous enough to merit some thought) the oeuvre of such artists as Ad Reinhardt, Barnett Newman, Mark Rothko and, in an altogether different vein, Andy Warhol. The motive force behind such series may differ dramatically from one artist to another. Beyond these differences, the phenomenon itself suggests, however, at a more general level, a change in the status of the singular work, and in the attitude of artists towards "achievement". I have briefly discussed this question in one of the chapters of my book The European Theory of Art and Psychoanalysis. I would like to take advantage of my stay at the Wiko to continue this reflection, by investigating more fully the many aspects of artistic creation that need to be brought into play in discussing such occurrences in the work of a number of contemporary artists, and by looking closer at possible historical precedents that might prove illuminating.
This study will eventually expand to include a Romanian example I find particularly rich, that of the artist Horia Bernea.

Recommended Reading
Oroveanu, Anca. "Convention and Genuineness. Notes on Horia Bernea." Special issue on 20th-century Romanian art and architecture of the journal Plural 2 (1999).
-. "The History of Art Shaping Art?" In Memory and Oblivion. Proceedings of the XXIXth International Congress of the History of Art held in Amsterdam,
1-7 September 1995, edited by Reinink Wessel and Jeroen Stumpel. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1999.
-. Teoria european a artei si psihanaliza [The European Theory of Art and Psychoanalysis]. Bucharest: Meridiane Publishing House, 2000.

Publications from the Fellows' Library

Oroveanu, Anca (Bucarest, 2011)

L'Etat en France et en Roumanie aux XIXe et XXe siècles : actes du colloque organisé au New Europe College, Institut d'études avancées les 26 - 27 février 2010 CRIS

Oroveanu, Anca (București, 2005)

Rememorare și uitare : scrieri de istorie a artei

Oroveanu, Anca (Bucuresti, 2000)

Teoria europeanä a artei si psihanaliza Biblioteca de artä ; 593