Andrei Mateescu was born in 1988 in Bucharest (Romania), where he also ended up studying in the frame of the Dynamic Image and Photography Department of the National University of Arts, getting his BFA and subsequent MFA in 2012. He grew up in a succession of communist apartment-block estates, first training his eye and imagination through early random photo experiments with a cheap key-chain digital camera. Given the environment, it’s easy to see how studying photography led organically towards formal investigations of the syncretism and delicate relationships articulating the fabric of present-day urban landscape. These preoccupations first materialised of the RO-Archive collaborative project, contributing with a series on the tourist Romanian seaside – Olympus (2009-2011). It did not take long for an underlying preoccupation to be felt in his series towards the photographic medium’s boundaries and its ability to adequately communicate contemporary society’s issues. One notable example being tackling the complexities of an eclectic and difficult East European urban landscape in his Multilateral, HYPER and Residential photographic series. Following these, he further expanded and approached similar concepts and themes with similar post-photographic approaches, resulting in projects as gray (Gy), CC, Index, AM AM or Like Water Under the Bridge. He currently lives and works in Bucharest, Romania.
2019
- Solo show Like Water Under the Bridge at Galeria Posibila, October-November
- Solo show AM AM at the Spațiul 2/2, Timișoara space, May-June
2018
- AM AM project present at Cazul 101 Bucharest, in the “Archive 101” show, July
- AM AM project present at Borderline Art Space Iași, in the “Archeology and post-archive” show, April-May
2017
- Like Water Under the Bridge featured at Borderline Art Space Iași, in the group show “On Water and Things”, December
- Like Water Under the Bridge featured at Victoria Art Center Bucharest, in the group show “DPlatform Season 2”, November
2016
- HYPER featured at ApARTE Gallery Iaşi, in the “Clinical Architectures for a Compositionist Future” show, part of the first edition of the “Contemporary Photography and Dynamic Image Biennial”, organised by the Contemporary Photography Center, May
- Present in the group show “D-Platform Preview”, hosted by Galeria Posibilă, December
2015
- Photography series and installation Index (in collaboration with Sabin Gârea) showed at Anca Poterașu Gallery, in the frame of the “What About Poor Gregor Samsa” event, February
- Photography series’ Residential and Under-Construction featured in the CAV – Multimedia Gallery, in the show “Concrete Paradise” (in collaboration with Sabin Gârea), February
2014
- Group show in the frame of the “Celeste Prize” 2014 award with the Residential project, in Italy – Milano, Assab One Gallery, November
- Multilateral Installation at the National Museum of Contemporary Art, in the group show “WHAT ABOUT Y[OUR] MEMORY” celebrating the 20th anniversary of the foundation of the Photo-Video department in UNArte Bucharest, November
- AnnArt Gallery Award 2014 for Young Artists
- Photographic series Re-Place featured at AnnArt Gallery, Bucharest, in the group show “TAA_2014”, October
2013
- gray (Gy) shown at apARTe Gallery, Iași, in “It will happen already”, November
- The gray (Gy) series shown at Victoria Art Center Bucharest in “Switched Over”, October
- Laureate of ESSL Nominees Night Romania 2013, event organized at The Victoria Art Center, in June.
2012
- Selected in the frame of the Start Point Prize 2012, representing Romania at the The DOX Gallery in Prague with the HYPER series, July
- Itinerary of E-Cites Bucharest at The Museum of Modern Art of Saint Etienne, France
- Itinerary of E-Cites Bucharest at The Walon Center of Contemporary Art of Flemelle, Belgium
- Multilateral showed at The Museum of Modern Art of Thessaloniki, Greece, September
2011
- Group show “Generațion TAA 2011”, at AnnArt Gallery Bucharest, September
2010
- Participant with the Multilateral project at The European Contemporary Art Fair of Strasbourg, in the show Transitions Urbaines, organized by the Apollonia Cultural Asociation together with The Romanian Cultural Institute, November
- Artist in the frame of the RoArchive photographic archive project, initiated by Iosif Kiraly and Raluca Oancea
Artist’s personal website: http://andreimateescu.ro/
In the framework of :
E.CITY – BUCHAREST : URBAN TRANSITIONS, Exhibition : 05 November 2010 – 30 November 2010