Marilena Preda Sânc. ”Information about American art and culture was important to my/our artistic education because of the freedom of conceptual approaches and the diversity of artistic mediums.”

 Marilena Preda Sânc, b. 1955, artist

1. What American art exhibitions did you see between 1965 and 1989?

I remember a large American art exhibition at the Dalles Hall, I think sometime before 1980. I was struck by the thematic diversity of the works, from figurative to non-figurative, and by the striking chromatics. 

The major impact of American art or, rather, the "admirable encounter", took place in December 1985 when, after waiting many months, I was able to go to New York with an exhibition at the Romanian Cultural Institute, which was established in 1980 by Dan Grigorescu. I was invited to stay with my friend and colleague Ana Golici's parents, who had legally immigrated there before 1980. I had drawings and paintings from the Module-Reconfigurations of Lanscape and Bodyscape series on show.

Between 1980 and 1985, I had limited access to magazines like Artforum, Art in America, Flash Art. Once I was in New York, I thought I would see work on that level in every gallery, like what I'd seen in magazines, works I felt in dialogue with. Most galleries were commercial and I only got to see the new trends and the graffiti art that had permeated the galleries and fascinated me when I got to SoHo, which was a neighborhood full of homeless people back then.

2. Between 1965 and 1989, did you see American art in Romania or abroad?

3. Which American artists and what American approaches/trends/styles interested you at the time?

Frank Stela, Keith Haring, The Holography Museum which was gone by 1998, having been relocated to Boston.

4. What position did American art and visual culture have in the artistic milieu you frequented at the time; was it a topic of conversation, was it influential?

Please compare it with the influence of European art or art from communist spaces.

In the '80s, I used to read a lot of contemporary fiction, so I had access to a whole world of ideas, and I had catalogues from biennales and international exhibitions as a visual repertoire. There weren't that many, brought from abroad by colleagues. 

Personally, I always appreciated a good piece, no matter the technique or topic. I can't stand clichés, whether it's a cart drawn by oxen, a beloved head of state, an abstract piece, or an installation. 

5. Retrospectively, do you think that American art and visual culture were a decisive factor in your development as an artist/theoretician?

There's no doubt that American art influenced international/European art, especially in the latter half of the twentieth century. As far as I'm concerned, my major contact with American art came after a period of work and reflection (1979-1985) that helped me develop a few principal themes which marked my artistic output and which I explored further as the years went by, often focusing on what I knew to be the result of personal thoughts and experiences. I always thought encountering any culture's art was important because there are always things to learn and reflect on based on the images and words of a different people. 

6. Did the American art exhibitions organized in Romania during that period contribute decisively in this sense, or did the information you had about American art and visual culture in general contribute more to this impact?

Information about American art and culture was important to my/our artistic education because of the freedom of conceptual approaches and the diversity of artistic mediums.

7. Do you remember whether the presentation and reception of American art and visual culture were encouraged by the communist regime?

During the Ceaușescu regime, most schools taught English, there were a lot of American films being screened in town, jeans, the music in discotheques... so there was a certain American culture that was tolerated by the regime and was popular with people.

8. Was being a sympathizer of American art esthetically/ideologically/politically risky?

I didn't feel like it was. For example, in the '80s we used to have weekly meetings to watch American movies on our video players. It was a national sport. 

9. Retrospectively, do you think the influence of American art and visual culture on Romanian art and visual culture between 1965 and 1989 contributed to the transformation/development of Romanian culture and society? If so, in what way?

American culture, European culture, Oriental influences (especially Zen), sacred art (from the history of religions), and primitive art, folk art, scientific ideas (they could be ordered differently according to preference)... all of them influenced the development of Romanian culture and society.