Ode to the Lake Sacalaia
Solo Exhibition by C Fodoreanu
Curated by Mika Cho
Ronald H. Silverman Fine Arts Gallery at Cal State LA, Los Angeles, CA
July 24 – August 30, 2023
Welcome to another LA Art Documents' video dedicated to the Contemporary Art Exhibitions, this time we are taking you to Cal State LA at Ronald H. Silverman Fine Arts Gallery to the solo exhibition by San Diego-based artist C Fodoreanu, curated by Mika Cho.
Ode to the Lake Sacalaia — The deepest freshwater lake in Transylvania inspired this Exhibition, Lake Sacalaia, a place steeped in legend and folklore, known as the Loch Ness of Transylvania. Legend has it that the lake formed when a salt mine under a small Roman village caved in about two thousand years ago, leading to the village’s flooding. When the water is clear, it is said, one can still see the spires of the basilica, the highest point of the submerged village. Over the years, many divers have tried reaching the basilica, but some, heartbreakingly, have not reemerged.
C Fodoreanu spent his childhood summers in a rowboat on this lake, looking down in hopes of catching a glimpse of the submerged basilica. Ode to the Lake Sacalaia is his remembrance of this place, its mysteries, and its role in his journey toward identity, from the lake’s surface to its inner depths, from the tension of self-discovery and identity to the in-between states of one’s self-awareness. C invites audiences to take part in this visual exploration paying homage to a younger self searching for faith and ideals and reconnecting to what holds one true to himself. His work pursues poetry of light and explores the human body as a metaphor for how humans relate to the surrounding nature, intimacy, personal boundaries, play, fragility of life, the fleetingness of time, faith, and divine intervention. As a physician who studied philosophy and art, he developed an intimate knowledge of the human anatomy and psyche and a keen psycho-social acumen. This affords him a unique position as an artist to relate, transcend, and personalize his understanding of humans and human nature into layered visual works.