“Path of water and stone” – painting exhibition by artist Roland Pangrati – oGuia

The Romanian Cultural Institute in Lisbon, in collaboration with the Embassies of Romania and Japan in the Portuguese Republic, presents, between May 10th and June 20th, 2024, the painting exhibition “Path of water and stone”specially designed and created by the Romanian artist Roland Pangrati for the ICR gallery in Lisbon (Alfama, Rua do Barão 10).

Curated by Cristina Simion, the exhibition “Water and Stone Path” includes a set of works created using the Japanese Nihonga painting technique, inspired by some of the most representative rocky landscapes in Portugal. The exhibition, organized in the context of the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Carnation Revolution and the 35th anniversary of the fall of the Iron Curtain, is dedicated to the promotion of inter-human relations and Romanian-Portuguese cultural values ​​through the contemporary adaptation of traditional artistic means Japanese.

“Path of water and stone“ is a creative cycle in which the Romanian artist uses his favorite themes, rocks – a static element, and water – a dynamic element, in a series of works made using the Japanese Nihonga technique, inspired by the landscapes of the Portuguese Atlantic coast, which Roland Pangrati transforms into compositions conceptual, almost abstract. The artist brings together fragments of reality – sometimes recognizable, with elaborate, poetic and mystical imaginary perspectives, presenting the coexistence of rocks and ocean water in moments of harmonious calm.

The power of the images is greatly amplified thanks to the collaboration between Roland Pangrati and composer, conductor and sound designer Eugen Dan Dr?goi. Creating a unique concept in the world, the composer imagines a polyphony of the architecture of the exhibition space, enriching the visual aspect with temporal movement. In this way, the viewer has the opportunity to fully experience the imaginative world, complementing it with their own spiritual experience.

Between 2023 and 2024, Pangrati visits Portugal and photographically and cinematically documents the series of works, impressed by the landscapes of Praia dos Três Irmãos, São Gonçalo de Lagos, Colares, Ericeira, Almancil, Praia do Senhor da Pedra, Praia de Valadares, Praia do Beliche, Sagres, São João das Lampas, Cabo da Roca. The transgression of the spectacular Portuguese coast in works that describe an interior world of astonishing richness is influenced both by the Japanese philosopher Yasunari Kawabata and by the poems of Fernando Pessoa, who accompanied and inspired Pangrati on an almost initiatory journey.

The artist’s compositions present, in a very limited chromatic palette, the tumultuous coexistence of water and rocks, the path of stone and water that accompanies the entire Portuguese history, a parable of patience, transformation, evolution, the indescribable sensation of saudade, the most beautiful correspondent of the Romanian word pain. Traveling through Portugal from north to south, along the coast “at the edge of the continent“Pangrati redefines his artistic universe and manages to transform specific natural elements into universal symbols.

The curator of the exhibition is Doctor Cristina Simion, who also signed, in 2022, the curatorship of the series of exhibitions “The Moon Glows the Same“ by the same author.

After several internships at the University of Tokyo, Japan, to learn the traditional techniques of Japanese Nihonga painting, Roland Pangrati developed his own style, on the border between figurative and abstract, which brought him recognition in Europe, but also in Japan and in South Korea. Since 2020, several works from the “Rocks” series have been presented by Galerie Floraison Tokyo and Galerie 10 in Saint Moritz, in solo and group exhibitions. His works were selected at both the Seongnam Art Fair in South Korea and the Bra? International Visual Arts Biennial. In 2022, the exhibition “The Moon Glows the Same” was presented in Romania, in five prestigious exhibition spaces: Art Museum of the National Museum Complex of Moldova/ Ia Palace of Culture?i, National Museum of Bucovina – Art Section, Suceava, Multicultural Center of the Transylvanian University of Bra?ov (where the exhibition was also presented at the White Night of Museums and Galleries), National Museum of the Romanian Peasant and Japan Pavilion at the Fair International Bookfest 2022.

The exposure “Path of water and stone“ It can be visited at the Romanian Cultural Institute in Lisbon, from Monday to Thursday, between 10am and 2pm, and, on Friday, between 10am and 12pm.