Cristi Gaspar

Cristi Gaspar (b 1975) is a Romanian painter. His works are defined by an intensely figurative narative. He is mostly known for the series: A political animal, Losing Inocence and Hospital room nr5. Lives and works in Bucharest and ... . He is a member of the STUP artistic community.

Cristi Gaspar practices an intensely figurative, narrative expressionism, with a primitive, low (in the acceptation of the Art Brut aesthetics) imagery which is openly self-referential. He associates profoundly subjective elements with references and citations of the urban (sub)culture, in an often ironic and critical key. The narrative tension balances between the ironic and the dramatic; the emotional pressure is charging both his motivation and his artistic expression.

The inner and the outer realities he represents and relates to are lectured, and translated at the first hand – in a primary, unfiltered expression. The essentialization of form he practices lies in the realm of the
primary reaction, from before the exercise of abstraction. The violently primary visual expression and color are pertaining to the primitive art, or alternatively, to the simplified, colorful intensity of children’s drawings, often cited by the artist.

To the rich, subjective, often anecdotic narrative, born out of the association of images from his own, personal imagery, the artist often adds secondary filters of a dreamy, lyrical, symbolical dimension, which construct the
trajectory – and meanders – of a personal mythology.

His most relevant project include: Insectarium, Losing Innocence, Hospital room nr 5 ….. . Two contrasting projects define the two poles of his artistic vision, built between the critical comment and the introspective investigation: A political animal, with Critian Paraschiv, at the Museum of the Romanian peasant, and the First 30”, with Iuliana Vîlsan and Codruta Podin, curator Simona Vilau. Artist represented by Cygler Art Gallery.