A week ago I visited Codrin’s Gallery on Calea Victoriei, nr 101, where I met the artist himself, Codrin Mircea, who told us about him and the wonderful things he does. We invite you to find out more from the interview that follows:
Gallery1 opens. Who is Codrin Mircea? If we were to take a look at your CV, what would impress us? Probably what would impress you on my CV is the multitude of creative activities I carry out and the places in the world where I have worked: Paris, London, Dubai and now Bucharest. At my core, I am a visual artist, a graduate of the "G. Enescu" University of Arts in Iași.
Over time, I expanded my creative activity to the field of interior design, furniture and more recently fashion. 2. You recently opened Codrin’s Gallery and not just anywhere, but right on Calea Victoriei. A daring move, one might say, why did you choose Bucharest and not any other place? "Whoever doesn't take risks will live at best in a banal normality Jim Roth".
Indeed, it wasn't the easiest thing to achieve, but I succeeded. Bucharest has my rhythm and I have its rhythm, I have always liked it here.
It is a challenge that I have wanted for some time, and now the opportunity has arisen to put it into practice. After years of experience in London, Paris and Dubai, I believe the time has come to show what I can do in my country, and Bucharest is not much inferior to the metropolises mentioned above.
I believe that despite appearances or specialists, the market for art and design consumption in Romania is on the rise. People are eager for beauty and to make a difference, in the space where they live, in their clothes, in the gifts they offer. 3. We walked through your gallery and stopped to look at each painting.
Tell us a little about them, what materials do you work with, what don't you like to work with and why? I have always liked to experiment, so I have gone through several creative stages. I do painting but also graphic art. Graphics is inherently more delicate in its creative message, and mine tends towards an expressionism of the basic elements: line and form.
In painting, the approach is more direct and less sparing, the themes of the paintings, the colors and contrasts are sometimes harsher, but with a pleasant final message. I am very fond of portraiture and I believe this theme is quite evident in my work. 4.
We carefully sat down on a special armchair, and we also found its design on one of the T-shirts you made. Where does your passion for furniture objects come from? What furniture pieces have you created so far? The armchair is part of my personalized furniture line, essentially classic furniture pieces reinterpreted in my own way, contemporary, artistic and original.
I took themes from my graphic series or other more painterly paintings and transposed them onto the upholstery of the armchairs, other furniture pieces (chairs, sofas, dressers, etc.), but also on T-shirts. At first I started with furniture restoration and personalization of these pieces, but now I produce these pieces anew and modify them even from the initial sketching stage. 5.
