The most recent series of drawings by Ciprian Mureșan pursues the artist's palimpsest series – compositions made by superposing copies of art reproductions. The images copied are sourced from Artforum magazine advertisements and point to recent art exhibitions, drawing something of a mental map of the international art scene.
Through the meticulously copied advertisements, the series of 15 large-scale drawings reconstructs a history of contemporary art yet to be written, adding another layer of mediation between the viewer and the original artwork. This layer, making ‘artistic’ what was ‘commercial’ and hijacking a copy into the condition of an original, casts a new eye on the advertised events, linking them precisely to their place, and moment, of presentation.
Drawing extends in Mureșan’s work to its historical framework, as a means of learning art history and acquiring the skills of Old Masters. The monumental display of the 15 drawings could also point to the iconic work by Raphael, Preliminary Cartoon for the School of Athens. Palimpsest is similarly driven by an ambition to reflect upon today’s society on a large scale, both physically and conceptually.
