Exhibition presented as part of “The Brâncuși Month in New York”
About the Event
Step into a world where the spirit of Constantin Brâncuși takes on new forms, as love and creativity intertwine to honor one of modern art’s most influential figures. Brâncuși Reimagined: A Legacy Alive brings together contemporary Romanian and American artists profoundly shaped by Brâncuși’s legacy. From sculpture to painting, this curated selection showcases how his minimalist, nature-inspired approach continues to ripple across artistic generations. A must-see for art lovers, the exhibition offers a unique opportunity to explore the lineage of Brâncuși’s genius in today’s creative landscape. The exhibition's opening on Valentine’s Day emphasizes the theme of love—a motif that deeply inspired Brâncuși’s artistic vision and is most famously embodied in his masterpiece, "The Kiss".
WHEN & WHERE
February 14, 2025 - February 28, 2025
Opening: February 14, 2025 @ 6 PM
BRÂNCUṢI GALLERY
Romanian Cultural Institute
200 East 38th Street, New York City, NY 10016
Gallery Hours: 9 AM - 5 PM, Monday-Friday
Meet the Artists
ELLEN CHUSE is a visual artist whose work has been deeply rooted in the organic forms of nature for over three decades. Her drawings and paintings explore the intricate relationships between the body and the landscape, moving fluidly between abstraction and representation while maintaining a deeply personal perspective. Chuse’s artistic journey spans a range of scales and mediums, from the evocative charcoal and chalk drawings of the 1980s and 1990s to her vibrant, color-saturated paintings of the new millennium. Regardless of medium, her work consistently reflects a fascination with the rhythms and forms of nature. Inspired by elements such as pine and shad trees from Block Island to Rome and plant forms from a variety of environments, Chuse’s art captures the interconnectedness of natural shapes, exploring how they echo and reflect one another across contexts and scales. With a practice that bridges the intimate and the expansive, Ellen Chuse’s work invites viewers to discover the profound beauty and complexity of the natural world through her unique artistic lens.
ROMAN COTOȘMAN (1935, Jimbolia – 2006, Philadelphia) significantly shaped Romanian art in the 1960s through his exploration of the spiritual interplay between the absolute and the void in visual expression. Strongly influenced by Orthodox theology, his artistic practice delves into the essence of perception and the journey from sensory experience to spiritual revelation. From 1963 onward, Cotoșman focused on geometric abstraction and kinetic art. His sculptures combine constructive and geometric elements, creating new spatial-temporal relationships, emphasizing the dynamic tension between order and chaos, and inviting viewers to engage with the visual space actively.
J.T. GIBSON is a contemporary sculptor and artist whose work delves into cultural symbols and motifs, exploring the intersection of abstraction and purpose. His practice rejects rigid agendas or dogmas, instead embracing an instinctual and pared-down aesthetic. Gibson’s sculptures evoke a sense of timelessness, referencing the human figure, signage, or fragments of tools and machinery. These forms, while familiar, remain elusive and unidentifiable, resonating with an ancient, almost primal memory. By focusing on singular, unadorned forms, Gibson creates self-sufficient objects that exude power and presence through their simplicity and clarity. His work invites viewers to engage with a unique visual language that is at once rooted in the past and profoundly contemporary, challenging perceptions and sparking dialogue about the essence of form and function in art.
CRISTIAN IANCULESCU is a sculptor and visual artist based in the Washington, D.C. region. His work is known for its evocative exploration of themes such as identity, femininity, and transformation, often reflecting a profound connection to both personal and cultural heritage. Ianculescu has held several solo exhibitions, including "Anticipation of Flight" (2022) and "Dialogues" (2019) at the Waverly Street Gallery in Bethesda, MD, as well as "In The Flow" (2017) at Artists & Makers Studios in Rockville, MD. His series "Archetypes of Femininity" (2017) demonstrated his ongoing interest in exploring the universal and symbolic aspects of the feminine experience. Through a practice that spans decades, Ianculescu has developed a distinctive voice that bridges the boundaries between traditional and contemporary art, creating pieces that invite viewers into a dialogue about form, meaning, and the human condition.
PATRICIU MATEESCU (b. 1927), a Romanian-born American ceramic sculptor, is a celebrated figure in the world of contemporary ceramics. He holds an MFA from the Academy of Fine Arts in Bucharest, Romania. Early in his career, Mateescu revolutionized the field of ceramics in Romania, elevating it to a major art form and inspiring an entire generation of artists. Known for his eclectic and unpredictable style, Mateescu’s body of work spans a wide spectrum—from intricate cast porcelain pieces to monumental stoneware sculptures in Romania, as well as abstract compositions that push the boundaries of the medium. In 1999, Mateescu received the prestigious NJ State Council on the Arts Fellowship and has earned numerous awards and gold medals on the international stage. He has been a sought-after participant at international ceramic symposiums and has exhibited his works in significant collections and renowned museums worldwide. Mateescu’s groundbreaking contributions to ceramic art have been extensively documented in publications, magazines, and books, cementing his legacy as a visionary artist whose work continues to influence and inspire.
ANNA PIETRZAK (b. 1987) is a New York City-based artist whose practice navigates the intersection of art and architecture. Drawing on her background in architecture, Pietrzak’s work delves into themes of weight, tension, and balance, creating pieces that challenge perceptions of structural and aesthetic harmony. Her art often reflects an exploration of materiality and form, blurring the boundaries between functional design and artistic expression. Through her innovative approach, Pietrzak invites viewers to reconsider the relationships between space, gravity, and the human experience within built and imagined environments. By merging architectural precision with an artist’s intuition, Anna Pietrzak creates work that is both thought-provoking and deeply resonant, offering a compelling dialogue between two distinct yet interconnected disciplines.
DEBRA PRIESTLY is a visual artist exploring themes of memory, ancestry, history, and cultural preservation. Her work has been widely exhibited and is represented by June Kelly Gallery in New York City. Collections include the Albany Institute of History and Art, Francis Greenburger Collection, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, The Sandor Family Collection, and Petrucci Family Collection Foundation. Awards include two New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowships in Painting, Art Omi Residency, The Marie Walsh Sharpe’s The Space Program Residency, and the Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts Robert Blackburn Printmaking Workshop Studio Immersion Project Fellowship. She holds an MFA from Pratt Institute and a BFA from The Ohio State University. Priestly lives and works in New York City and Upstate New York and is a Professor in the Art Department at Queens College, City University of New York.
MICHAEL WOLF is an artist in the NYC area whose work spans sculpture, installation, and drawing. His creations serve as metaphors for the human experience, reflecting the physical and psychological desire for shelter - whether experienced, remembered, or imagined. Wolf’s artistic practice engages in an ongoing dialogue with history, using materials like wood, stone, metal, and gold leaf to craft contemporary art that speaks to timeless human concerns. Notable achievements and exhibitions mark Wolf’s artistic journey. His large-scale installations have graced esteemed venues such as the Orlando Museum of Art, the Future of Cities Climate and Innovation Hub during Miami Art Week, and the Center for Contemporary Art. Wolf worked with the New York City Parks Department to create an installation on the Lower East Side’s Allen St. Mall during the summer of 2022. Wolf’s contributions to the art world extend beyond his creations. As an arts writer, he has penned articles for Whitehot Magazine, ArteFuse, and Art Zealous, and he has curated exhibitions for the Sculptors Guild and the web-based app Ask Arthur. His international presence was solidified with a project for The Bau Container of Contemporary Culture in Viareggio, Italy, where his work was included in the prestigious Palazzo Reale and Museo del Novecento in Milan.
LILIA ZIAMOU is a Greek and American interdisciplinary artist based in New York City. Her work investigates the intersections of body, materiality, and technology, reimagining anatomical structures through digital and physical transformations. Combining classical techniques such as stone carving, casting, and draping with digital fabrication, textile development, digital imaging, and medical imaging, Ziamou dissects and reconstructs the anatomy of bones. Through successive physical and digital transformations, her work questions how technological interventions blur the boundary between natural and engineered. Her work considers how the body is increasingly understood as both a physical entity and a virtual model, where biological structures are mirrored, predicted, and altered in digital space—creating a body that is neither fixed nor fully autonomous. At the core of her practice is a critical engagement with technology as both an enabler and disruptor—a force that simultaneously preserves, alters, and redefines the body. Her approach emerges from ongoing reflections on the fundamental questions of essence: What is essential to the body? Does its essence require permanence, or can it bend, morph, and adapt as it enters new contexts? Lilia Ziamou’s research and artistic practice materialize transformation, embedding personal and collective histories into form. Through successive layers of physical and digital intervention, her work traces the shifting relationship between the body and technology, revealing a continuum where biological structures, synthetic materials, and virtual models converge. Recent exhibitions include Contemporary Textile Art Biennial (Guimarães, Portugal, 2024), The American University of Paris (Paris, France, 2024), NIKA Project Space (Dubai, UAE, 2023), The Artist Workspace (London, UK, 2023), Whitebox (New York, NY 2022), Museo La Tertulia (Cali, Colombia, 2022), and Filter Space (Chicago, IL, 2021). She was a Fulbright / Stavros Niarchos Foundation Fellow (2017), and an artist in residence of the Sigg Foundation (2023) and the Museum of Arts and Design (2014).
CONSTANTIN ANTONOVICI (1911-2002) was born in Neamt, Romania on February 18, 1911, and graduated from the Fine Arts Academy in Iasi, Romania, in 1939. In 1945 and again in 1947, Antonovici studied woodcarving in Tirol, Germany. He then traveled to Italy and finally to Paris where he met Constantin Brancusi, with whom he worked until 1951. Antonovici was the recipient of the only certificate Brancusi ever offered to a fellow sculptor. Even though artists more famous, such as Isamu Noguchi, Henry Moore, Jean Arp and Modigliani, collaborated with Brancusi, no one worked closer with the master than Antonovici. Although Brancusi is often said to have given up on famous sculptors whom he did not consider worthy, Antonovici, thirty-five years his junior, captured his master's respect. He impressed by using a variety of materials, including wood, bronze, aluminum, marble, stone, and plastic. Antonovici moved to the United States in 1953, where he was given a studio and commissioned by the Cathedral St. John the Divine in New York City. During this period he created mostly ecumenical works, such as the marble lid of the coffin of Bishop William Manning, a stone cross on the Amsterdam Avenue side of the cathedral, 90 ft. from the street level, and portraits. Antonovici was highly prolific and widely recognized throughout his career.
COLIN CHASE (1954 – 2022) is a sculptor who uses a variety of materials and devices. Ideas, forms, and textures are synergistically juxtaposed and nestled in incongruent combinations that often challenge formal spatial logic, as well as quick intellectual responses. His work has been included in one-person and group exhibitions in several galleries including the University of the Arts, Philadelphia; Antenna Gallery in New Orleans; Smack Mellon Gallery, Jamaica Arts Center, Socrates Sculpture Park, The Studio Museum in Harlem, and the Neuberger Museum of Art, all in New York. He is a former resident of the Institute for Contemporary Art, PS1 Museum, and Longwood Studios. He received public commissions for the Queens Hospital Center and the Malcolm X Memorial. Chase is represented by June Kelly Gallery in New York.
