Decebal Scriba. ”There was undoubtedly and influence and contribution, albeit a belated one, of American art on the development of Romanian art and visual culture (and culture more generally) from the '60s to the '80s. ”
Decebal Scriba, b. 1944, artist
1. What American art exhibitions did you see between 1965 and 1989?
I have a faint recollection of two American art exhibitions in that period: The Disappearance and Reappearance of the Image - American painting after 1945, at Dalles Hall in 1969, and The Form and Process of Creation in 20th Century American Painting, also at Dalles Hall in 1972. I got the correct and complete names off the internet. After so many years, it's almost impossible to name specific works or artists. They were expositional formula meant for a wide audience, with famous works and artists of pop art, hyperrealism, abstract expressionism, and minimalism.
2. Between 1965 and 1989, did you see American art in Romania or abroad?
I found a few rare artist monographs at the American Library and occasional references in Synthesis magazine, also edited by the American Library. However, I did get the chance to frequent the Artists' Union Library as a student, where I discovered the Art in America, International Studio, Artforum, Art & Artists, and Avalanche magazines, which helped me understand it better and have a more coherent picture of the larger context of contemporary American art.
3. Which American artists and what American approaches/trends/styles interested you at the time?
Among the artists, I'll name a few of the more prominent ones: Walter De Maria, Carl André, Dennis Oppenheim, Robert Morris, Frank Stella, Bruce Nauman, Vito Acconci, Sol LeWitt, Robert Barry, Joseph Kosuth, Jan Dibbets, On Kawara... And as far as approaches and trends go, I was especially interested in land art, minimal art, Fluxus, Art & Language, and conceptual art...
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 '60s and '70s - my student years - the milieu I was in was mostly academic: professors, art school students and friends from other universities with an artistic bent. Information about American art (visual art, music, theatre, film, dance) circulated relatively quickly in the art scene and, despite all difficulties, we managed to keep up with the more important novelties.
All this influx of news was very stimulating, it was a subject of discussion and exchange of information, and of course it was very influential on our viewpoint on and understanding of contemporary art.
However, at the same time we were up to date with the main trends, events, and personalities of European art, and they contributed equally to our development as artists.
The influence of the arts from communist spaces was barely present. I remember an excellent Polish magazine, Projekt, which I also discovered at the Artists' Union library, that published interesting material on Polish graphic arts and design.
5. Retrospectively, do you think that American art and visual culture were a decisive factor in your development as an artist/theoretician?
Naturally, all those manifestations of freedom of expression, those trends and innovative experiments in American visual culture and art I came into contact with were very influential on my artistic development and largely defined my preoccupations more generally in the field of visual art going forward, especially around conceptual art, whose main theoreticians and exponents were American.
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?
The exhibitions which, again, I haven't got very clear memories of, weren't decisive for my understanding of the context or scale of the changes that would follow in the contemporary art of the time. However, the interviews and theoretical texts published in the magazines I mentioned were extremely important and useful.
7. Do you remember whether the presentation and reception of American art and visual culture were encouraged by the communist regime?
There was no way they would be encouraged, seeing as that would involve a freedom of expression and a stylistic and practical diversity that were prohibited in the limited socio-political framework of socialist realism.
8. Was being a sympathizer of American art esthetically/ideologically/politically risky?
Of course, all of this interest, documentation effort, and (occasional) exchange of information was done relatively discreetly, either ignoring or simply taking on the risks/obstacles that were always on the table. Frequenting the libraries around the American, French, or British embassies was surveilled and discouraged. Any expression of interest or sympathy for Western culture, and contacts with foreign students or tourists were also discouraged.
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?
There was undoubtedly and influence and contribution, albeit a belated one, of American art on the development of Romanian art and visual culture (and culture more generally) from the '60s to the '80s. The scale and nature of this influence is, I think, for the specialists in cultural sociology to determine.
Avon, 03.29.2023
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