Răzvan Anton at MGML’s Match Gallery

16 April 2021

An exhibition presenting reflections of the working class in the Minerva Archive through the work of nine artists from Cluj and Bucharest is on view at Match Gallery, part of Museum and Galleries of Ljubljana (MGML), through May 16. The artists featured in the exhibition are: Dénes Miklósi, Szilárd Miklós, Răzvan Anton, Cornel Rus, István Fischer, Iulia Toma, Claudiu Cobilanschi, Csanád Kedves, Bálint Bolcsó.

Răzvan Anton’s recent practice, rooted in his exploration of archival imagery, fuses strategies from two different mediums: drawing and photography. In works such as Fading Study (Audience), he uses a blue ball pen to create a photographic emulsion, which in turn is exposed to the sun.

Minerva Achive, MGML, Double Part Time

Alongside the artworks themselves, the exhibition Double Part Time includes artefacts resulted from the process of inviting the audience – mostly retired factory workers from Cluj – to take into possession the pictures that featured them.

Minerva Press Photo Archive contains more than 30,000 photographs taken between 1960 and 1990 by the photojournalists of the two daily newspapers of Cluj, Făclia and Igazság. The archive was saved from the trash by the former editor of Igazság, Tibori Szabó Zoltán, and has been digitised under the coordination of visual artists from Cluj, including Răzvan Anton.

Images: Răzvan Anton, Fading Study (Audience), 2019, blue ball pen on perforated paper, 126 x 480 cm, © Răzvan Anton (1); © Minerva Archive (2)