Ideologies of the present

Marius Burhan’s exhibition of paintings and installations, dedicated to the strikingly contemporary reality of violence as a fundamental dimension of war—in both its conventional forms and its metastasis into terrorism—is grounded in the conviction that modern and contemporary warfare is not spontaneous. Rather, it is the outcome of overarching strategic conflicts between different civilizations pursuing similar objectives, whose concrete brutality and reckless greed are disguised beneath sophisticated ideologies built upon antagonistic systems of principles.

On the level of representation, the works evoke an oppressive atmosphere of chaos and destruction through the violent movement of amorphous masses of color, interacting in forceful, fluid interpenetrations. Within this turbulent visual field emerge residual forms of buildings and soldiers, alongside aggressive remnants of military weaponry.

The present exhibition forms part of a broader cycle devoted to violence, its geography, and its underlying driving forces.

— Alexandra Titu, Art Critic