TINCUȚA MARIN: “CHAPTER IV: WHEN WE ENTER THE LAIR OF BIGFOOT, GAGAFU AND DRACOVENIE. LET’S HOPE WE GET OUT ALIVE…”

As she herself acknowledges, Tincuţa has always been attracted to the ugly and the grotesque; to deformed and abnormal faces; to monsters, symbols, death, and the allure of dreams. Monsters and demons can be found in medieval cathedrals and manuscripts, but rather than being textbook examples of the sublime, the characters in Tincuţa’s bestiary are responses to the question posed by the German philosopher Lessing: “May painting make use of deformity in the attainment of the ridiculous and horrible?”

The painter’s favourite monster and demon is Bigfoot, who appears in most of her paintings and in the surroundings of her studio. For the title of her latest exhibition at Double Q Gallery, the artist has borrowed a quote from Iordan Chimet’s book Close Your Eyes and You Will See the City. Iordan Chimet was a Romanian poet, children’s author and essayist, whose work was inspired by surrealism and the Romanian surrealist literary school of Onirism.