PITARAI MASKS

“The Earth, as a territory, can change its identity with every century (or even more often); it can change its borders, its name, its form of social organization, and so on. Foucault noted that ‘it is very likely that every human group, whatever it may be, delineates within the space it occupies, in which it truly lives and works, certain utopian places […]’. In our country, an ancient custom is still preserved in some regions (dating back to the time of the Dacians, as even the locals believe) - 'pițăritul' on Christmas Eve. Mircea Modreanu explores this local tradition in his current solo show, through the lens of his closeness and belonging to the community of momârlani in Petroșani, the town where the artist grew up and where he went pițăratul as a child. The exhibition ‘Pițărăi Masks’ follows another self-referential project of his, the solo show at MNTRplusC ‘Of Self, Crosses and More’, an exhibition-installation of sculptural objects inspired by the 'momârlan' crosses from the Jiu Valley. Flower heads and other traditional Romanian motifs found on the ie or on artisanal ceramics are brought into the contemporary by Mircea Modreanu on the black-and-white pițărăi masks created after the physiognomies of his close ones. The visual and anthropological research the artist offers thus brings into discussion those utopian places mentioned by Foucault, highlighting individual or collective identities that become activated around the winter holidays.” - Ana Daniela Sultana, curator