Now representing: Vlad Albu
Gaep is delighted to announce the representation of Vlad Albu.
Working across sculpture, installation, and photography, Vlad Albu examines the subtle – and at times – uncanny relationships we form with objects, space, and architecture. His practice investigates what he calls “the quiet life of things”, focusing on their existence beyond mere utility. Rather than tools or resources whose meaning coincides with their function, the objects in his work become lenses through which contemporary conditions of fragility, uncertainty, and support can be understood.
Albu frequently begins by thinking about familiar objects or architectural elements (roofs, handrails, shelves, personal items, etc.) only to deconstruct their functional logic and stage new interactions between material presences. These configurations, often suspended between stability and collapse, generate situations of latent tension. In the ongoing series Holders, for example, certain objects appear arrested in a moment of stasis, before a presumable fall, while others operate as caring, albeit imperfect, systems of support. Together, they form ambivalent structures that suggest both the possibility of breakdown and the potential for protection.
Gaep presented works by Vlad Albu in Gaep Presents (duo exhibition with Roberta Curcă, 2025) and a public art project in Mapping the City from the Outside (part of ACCELERATOR Câmpulung, 2024). A selection of recent works will be included in the gallery’s presentation at miart – Milan’s international art fair (17-19 April 2026).
“We consider Vlad Albu to be one of the most distinctive voices among Romanian emerging artists,” says Andrei Breahnă, co-founder of Gaep. “His perspective on the vitality of matter, as well as the layered questions he raises about care and responsibility – at once personal and universal, ethical and political – lend depth to his work.”
“While my earlier works documented constructed spaces and the boundaries between public and private environments, my focus has gradually moved inward. I have shifted my attention toward the quiet life of things.” — Vlad Albu
Vlad Albu (b. 1992, lives and works in Bucharest) holds both a BA and an MA from the Photography and Dynamic Image department at the National University of Arts in Bucharest. His work has been presented in solo and duo exhibitions at Gaep, Switch Lab, 2/3 Gallery and Galeria Posibilă in Bucharest, and Aici Acolo Pop Up Gallery in Cluj-Napoca. He has also participated in group exhibitions at Sector 1, Atelier 35, Salonul de Proiecte, Ivan Gallery and Cazul 101, all in Bucharest, and HSBI in Bielefeld, Germany. In 2024, he took part in the mentoring project for emerging artists ACCELERATOR Câmpulung, for which Gaep was a partner.
