A visual on-going experiment in which I digitally cropped myself out of the selfies and pictures of me, and filled the empty content with deformed visual information from the surroundings. Content - awareness. The project is a reflection upon how we are shaped by our surroundings - and vice-versa. That could mean from physical body to emotions, thoughts, feelings, bodily sensations, habits, patterns of thinking and behaviours.
As a stone is shaped by the winds and waters, as the sand is shaped by the sea, or the flame by the wind, how does our surrounding shapes us - and the other way around? And more than that, when do we say stop: ’This is me, this is the air touching my skin’?
Where do we finish and where do our environment begins? Where does the ‘inside’ stops and the ‘outside’ ends? Where do I start and when do You finish?
A visual experimental study of what is not the self, I.
A visual study of what I am not, but I think I am.
A visual study of what I is.
A visual study of the fluctuations in the mind.
A visual experiment of melting in the chaos, (methodology of) denying all that mind identifies as itself, denying dogmas, ideas. Once it recognised by the mind - we deny it as the self. Peace in chaos.
-Inspired by J. Krishnamurti
Ms-selfie began as a project based on the photos made during the documentation of my diploma - Selfie Analugue.
As the process of making is very important phase in practice (personally I consider it the most valuable) the documentation pictures proved themselves to be flourishing and took the shape of this project.. Regarding the concept behind my diploma- that the selfie and the simple act of taking photos of yourself turned into a habbit- and not only - gives birth to a new image, a distorted one, which the individual identifies himself with - link: https://www.anaolar.com/#/selfie-analogue/ ) For this reason, I decided to erase myself from the documentation, and explore the options which the new visual experiment was offering.
Oborsete is a design project based on reinterpreting a common object - the fanny pack, by using a specific material with cultural value in Romania - mușama (a plastic material which usually covers the table cloth)
Obor=market and also a famous market in Bucharest, Romania, actually the biggest in East Europe
Borsete=fanny-pack
This material is found in every market, in every home (especially in our grandparent’s) and is very cheap. Still, it is waterproof, stainproof, and has the luxurious look.
The kitsch we grew up with had a chance of getting a new face.
Oborsete makes a statement about consumerism (in a fanny pack only the basics fit, ), about Romania’s communist times, (can even draw a parallel between how people were looking upon objects and their availability now and then), and it brings the possibility of recycling old materials
This cheap material which looks fancy brings a new perspective and can be brought back to life with a new purpose.
The selfie project started with an interplay between paint and my body. The module of expression was my face. I chose this part of the body because simply it is the most expressing and the temple of senses. With the organs of the face, one can smell, touch, taste, see and hear. All senses included. The face is a map of the entire body, the mind, and emotions.
I painted it and printed on various surfaces, experiment with textures and mediums until I reached a satisfactory result. For the Digital Selfie, I used intaglio techniques to print my face on metal. After the whole process was complete, I scanned it, translating it into a digital form - from traditional printing to a virtual environment. Then I started playing with it in various programs and it became like a brush: started multiplying, deforming, changing colors, nuances, just to see how volatile can it be.
Soon I was going to realize that this whole process seemed like the one forming an image, from pixels. An analogy in the process (and not only) of forming the seen reality, from particle to body, from micro to macro, from letter to the word, from word to sentence. From dot to the line, to 3D space, and so on. Just that in this situation, the dot was my face. I want to mention that in my works, one most important highlight is that observation itself is the purpose. The visual result is the form of the tool I’m handling during this process. Just as our bodies during this lifetime, or the hands for painting or writing.
The entire works, every one of them is generated from the reinterpretation, contextualization, and translation of the same core particle: my face, the reinterpreted Selfie.
Logos, business cards, flyers, posters
A collection of everyday shots
Cyanotype, or 'sun printing’, is a photographic technique directly harnessing natural light, inspired by the idea of 'drawing with light' from Man Ray's camera-less experiments.
The project seeks a dialogue between nature's timeless essence and the evolving course of history. Rocks, leaves, and branches blend with discovered plastic items, complemented by classic camera-captured photographs for added abstraction.
The project visually unfolds from plastic bags to rocks, sparking discourse between the enduring (nature) and the mutable (plastic items). Nature, a historical constant despite changes, symbolises constancy amid evolving flora.
This narrative extends to plastic items as totems of our era. The ubiquitous plastic bag becomes a potent symbol, representing the rapid pace of consumerism and our culture's immediacy—an artifact destined to await discovery by future archaeologists.
The camera-less photography process is a contemplative journey. The sun's movement during exposure, especially with three-dimensional objects, creates detailed imprints. Shadows and image accuracy reflect this contemplative process, contrasting with the rapidity of traditional photography. Prolonged exposure encourages deeper contemplation.
In our fast-paced culture, the project urges a pause to appreciate nature's intricacies. It highlights the fundamental role of light, primarily from the sun, in enabling sight—the lens through which we perceive the world. Amid the rush, it becomes a metaphorical lens, urging us to slow down and acknowledge the timeless dance between light, nature, and history.
Playing with Technology - Materials interacting is a series of digital prints - prinscreens taken with phone. The works are moments surprised during live interactions between elements like gunpowder, water, fire, ice, sand, air, etc. in digital environment (more precisely in “Sandbox” app). This projects opens a dialogue between “real” materials and how they interact when the reality is changed (from physical world to digital one). When the material is taken out of its original context and transposed in a different one, it acts according to the new environment - in this case, the virtual reality.
Fragments of my sketchbooks from the summer of ‘18.
//We’ve been to Godinesti, Romania, as we always do in summers. A small small tiny village and far far away from civilization. A place were you grow an antenna from your head and get the sixth, the seventh and the eleventh sense//
//Travelled back and forth from Birmingham to Bucharest. One night we travelled from Birmingham to Vama - Veche//
//Had our own garden and got Chilli the Cat//
//Ideas of experimental publications which have not a physical form yet. Yet.//
Fragments of more scketchbooks found from 2014 to 2017
//to many things happen and can’t remember them all//
I like to experiment different kinds of games and techniques during painting, so it can be always fun and entertaining during the process. Here, is a collection of paintings made during the summer of ‘16. That’s all folks!
P.S. I used beeswax, oil and acrylic paint.
Poems and songs of discovering devotion, learning about love, on the banks of Ganga, the islands of Greece and streets of Bucharest.
Selfie - Analogue was my B.A. diploma project. The work questions the identity of man nowadays, one confusing the image of himself with the advertised one on social media platforms. Due to this contradiction, the project has been approached traditionally and raw, adopting Ana Mendieta’s manner. The “Selfie” project contained six face-printed acrylic canvases and one video, as process documentation.
On the Heights of Yoga is a book I illustrated and edited for my friend and teacher, Hitesh Bhatt. This is the outcome of a fruitful collaboration.
I heartfully recommend reading it. You can order it by getting in contact with the author: yogawithhitesh@gmail.com
‘Only those people need happiness who are unhappy.’ - On the Heights of Yoga
Portraits of Străulești is a series of 3 works made for a Neighbourhood Portraits (RO/ Portrede de Cartier) project designed by a group of romanian artists called Antistatic.
Străulești is a quarter at the edge of Bucharest, Romania, where nothing much happens.
Lady Red, Warm composition, Blue house
-mixed media, 100/100 cm, 2019
The paintings show the Străulești vibe: they are fragments of shots from the neighbourhood, illustrated in a traditional manner, with static composistions, nothing disturbing, quiet and easy to understand or interact to.
The first show took place in Straulesti in Mobile Gallery (RO/ Galeria Mobilă) and the second in the downtown of Bucharest at the Street Delievery Festival, in Mobile Gallery as well, both in June 2019.
Obor is the most famous market in Bucharest with a rich full history and the biggest in the capital of Romania. Here you can see a series of painted stalls for the market symbolizing the necessities of the youth of being part of this cultural environment and exchange.
Those are few fragments of my sketchbook during my stay in Szczecin, Poland in 2016. Sketches, writings, collages, tiny instant paintings.
//My wallet was stolen, together with id, cards, but no money, so I travelled to Berlin without ID in a weekend before New Year’s Eve//
//I had two chinesse girls whom I and my boyfriend shared the bathroom with. I saw only one of them, twice, since September 2016, until February 2017//
//I spent the Christmas of 2016 with our assistent’s (from university)girlfriend’s parents. He told us `Nobody should spend their Cristmas alone`. Amazing painter him, Maciej Osmycki - google him. Amazing people//
//In Poland you can’t find long roll ocb papers (2m), only medium ones//
//I travelled to Warsaw in January (-17 degrees Celsius) in order to get a paper from the Romanian Embassy which would allow me to leave the country (legally)//
OZN 32 is a series of misprinted photographs taken in the mountains of the Transylvanian landscape in 2017. They are printed on reused papers of the studio, each A4 size.
Nothing is wasted, everything transforms. The series reflects the environment and surroundings in which I work and reflect - the nature and studio space, which don’t have to be necessarily two separate places.
The nature is my studio.
Clay Play Catch is a project which grew from a strong desire to get in touch with close friends and family from home, while I was living and in The UK, Birmingham.
Clay Play Catch represents a statement for the people who have to leave their home countries, home towns, to study or earn their living away. Because of various politics or social tough situations many people don’t see this transaction necessary as a pleasure, but more of a need. One could feel he’s cast off their home to find a better living for himself and/or for family.
This feeling of distance translated into a personal art project called Clay Play Catch, where I decided to send a wet ball of clay from Birmingham, the temporary place I was living, to my parents in Bucharest. It was my way of getting in touch with home. They have been sending the ball back to me (after they watered it in order to keep its softness) and I back to them, and so on for several times. Those were the instructions of the project. My purpose was to record this distance between me and them, which distance turned itself in a personal archive and lately, into a installation. The project was an experimental and progressive one, which had therapeutic effect as well.
First, the material I used was very important. Clay has its own properties of being soft, malleable and able to empathizes with its surroundings, on one hand (which reflects the way I interact with mine). On the other hand it can be very hard and stiff too. (For more details about the properties of the clay and experiments, I invite you to visit my Tumblr page: http://anaioanaolar.tumblr.com/)
Next, as I mentioned before, Clay Play Catch was an experiment so I wasn’t supposed to know what will happen next, or the consequences of this project might have been. This being said, at some point when I sent the parcel to Bucharest, my beloved ball of clay got lost somewhere in between Birmingham and Bucharest. It never arrived in Bucharest, nor was returned to Birmingham. At this point of the process i decided to take advantage of the situation and put up the exhibition called Clay Play Catch - In Memoriam, at IPS space in Birmingham School of Art, in the Spring of 2018.
So, I recalled all the object that surrounded the ball of clay in my last received parcel, as one does after someone’s lose (in Romanian tradition at least), exhibited them and gave away the objects afterwards.
Edit was a a part of a bigger project built together with a group of 4 other artists where all of us blended our works together. My bit was called Edit which had 2 elements: the edited walls and the edited book. Briefly, the purpose of those was to promote a visual language, understandable by everyone, without needing words.
‘By carefully editing the walls Olar has revealed a ‘meta-text'. Holes revealed, tape and paint layers peeled back, new marks excavated from past students in the studio. For Olar, this process explores her concern that art should be understood as expression and experience and not through the tools of written or coded, spoken language. In this space, Olar has created a language, in which traces, underlines, personal marks and symbols act unconsciously. As her title implies, Relational Aesthetics, from Bourriaud's text, she is concerned with encounter, proximity and resisting social formatting.’ - Esther Windsor, Curator, MA Fine Art Programme Leader
The show took part in Birimgham School of Arts, Birmingham UK, in September 2018
A series of printed T-shirts, sweatshirts, hoodies, and tote bags. The design is inspired by seasonal and local herbs and plants.
All the plants are scanned and afterward printed on textile.
The products are available for shipping. For any details and orders, please follow the Contact page.