Roman Tolici
Roman Tolici is associated with a photographic realism infused by poetry and a surreal sense of everyday existence. His paintings seem to be details of a monumental story related to the general human questions and anxieties.
This narrative force turns the recurrent subjects into never-ending chapters and the reflections of everyday life into projections about time, memory and traces captured by the artist's tender perception.
His understanding of poetry, photographic realism and pursuit of mundane subjects made me think of the great Russian Non-Conformist Semyon Faibisovich. But, underpinned by a strong horizontal emphasis, Tolici panned out from Faibisovich close-up to reveal the bigger picture – eschewing Faibisovich’s attempts to coat mundanity in poetic blur.
It came as no surprise to learn that Tolici had graduated in Graphic Art. His technique is razor-sharp.
Many artists, after achieving success, stick to the style that has brought them it. Not Tolici. Although his brushwork retains its Ingresque precision, now with an even defter touch, his vision has morphed from photo-realist to surrealist.
Roman Tolici's works come in different sizes and formats – some large, some small; some vertical, some horizontal; one can even hang at a diagonal. There is humour, irony, hope, hopelessness, magnificent painting and neo-Vorticist spatial awareness. Some canvases are busy, others almost empty. The underlying message? You tell me. Each work creates a world of its own. These paintings exist to be absorbed.
I first saw his works in 2008 at Bucharest’s MNAC: a vast, Ceaușescian space where paintings can easily lose themselves. Tolici’s paintings (dominated by his Park series) occupied it and my mind. (Simion Hewitt, curator)
NEW HOPE
7 December 2024 - 31 January 2025ROMAN TOLICI / NEW HOPE 07.12.2024 - 31.01.2025 ‘History is filled with examples of hope proving vain—empires crumbled, disasters struck, and injustices went unanswered. Yet, despite it all, hope has stubbornly reappeared, time and time again. This new series explores that abstract and fragile feeling we call HOPE.’ - Roman...Read moreLOVE IN AMZEI
14 - 28 February 2024On Valentine's Day, LOVE takes centre stage at Piata Amzei through a group exhibition that brings together 11 contemporary artists and poets exploring the timeless theme of love. The event turns the heart of the city into a territory where communities are invited to participate in a tender conversation on...Read moreREALPOLITIK
Roman Tolici31 August - 24 September 2023Titlul expoziției se inspiră din conceptul eponim articulat de Ludwig von Rocheau, un scriitor și om politic german din secolul al XIX-lea. Cu toate acestea, în acest context, termenul este lipsit de conotația sa pozitivă. În interpretarea lui Tolici, realpolitik are de-a face cu strategii politice care sunt adesea intimidante,...Read morePURSUIT OF HAPPINESS
Roman Tolici 22 February - 18 April 2023Most included in private collections, previously shown in Rome and Madrid, the exhibited art works position the artist, and implicitly the viewer, as a detective of the ambiguities that define contemporary man in relation to neoliberal expectations, pressures or promises.Read moreMOBIUS at UVNT 2022
24 - 27 February 2022UVNT is a New Contemporary Art fair that offers unique points of view through a curated selection of national and international art galleries. With 5 editionsbehind us, we include some of the most avant-garde and out-of-the- ordinary trends, which from the beginning have been part of our DNA.Read moreArt in Motion
Andrei Gamarț & Roman Tolici 17 - 21 November 2020”Art in Motion” in partnership with Qreator by IQOS presents a selection of works by Roman Tolici and Andrei Gamart in two forms: - the original one, as created by the artist, and the other, a mirrored and animated version.Read moreRoman Tolici
14 October - 31 December 2018Tolici is fascinated by the relationship between individual and collective consciousness - by our personal choices and actions and the dynamics that result when we come together as families, communities, or simply strangers with a common interest.Read moreHomo Deus
Curated by Anton Svyatsky3 - 31 August 2018'Homo Deus' amalgamates the individual practices of the artists into a collective vision, thereby creating a comprehensive description of the precarious and precipitous landscape human civilization currently find itself in.Read moreOut of The Blue
Curated by Ioana Ciocan 8 - 30 April 2017-We are out of the blue. We open our eyes and here it is. -What? -E V E R Y T H I N G! Every moment, every day, over and over again, from the beginning till the end - which we call death, but it might as well be...Read moreSimvlacrvm
Roman Tolici 8 October - 14 November 2015The exhibition is curated by the Oxford-trained, Swiss-based art critic Simon Hewitt, a regular contributor to The Art Newspaper, Art + Auction and The Huffington Post. Many artists, after achieving success, stick to the style that has brought them it. Not Tolici. Although his brushwork retains its Ingresque precision, now...Read more