Marius Ritiu’s Works Question the Concepts of Nationhood & Borders

Mariu Ritiu is a sculptor, a storyteller and a painter questioning the concepts of nationalism, borders, and nationhood, reflecting on collective consciousness and global responsibility while suggesting the potential for immensely varied human experiences to united.

At the heart of Ritiu’s work, and inseparable from his quest, there’s an acknowledgment of the unity in all things, of a level of being that transcends polarities – stillness and movement, life and death, and perhaps most of all masculine and feminine.

Originally from Transylvania, the Romanian artist works a lot with copper. He reckons that “copper is the physical material that connects the world. Its incorporation into technology (communication, transport) has enabled and increased the mobility of ideas, goods, and people, impacting the nature and physicality of borders.

It has become important to my work for both its physical and philosophical characteristics. In the classical world, alchemy associated seven metals with the planets (silver/Moon, mercury/Mercury, copper/Venus, gold/Sun, iron/Mars, tin/Jupiter, lead/Saturn). As one of these materials, copper has a direct association both with human history and the cosmos. I am using a technique called Repoussé, which does not require a highly equipped studio; rather it is more of a nomadic technique that I can use wherever I go, well-suited to my nomadic lifestyle.”

I Am a Glitch in the System (Sisyphus Part V)

Highway to the Moon (Sisyphus Part III – 2019)

Marius Ritiu has a broad international body of work. He received the Socrates Sculpture Park Fellowship in New York in 2019, which led to his international recognition and the realization of several and exhibitions in Europe and the US as well as the completion of two residencies at the International Studio & Curatorial Program in New York. His works were commissioned by several institutions, including the Middelheim Museum (Antwerp) and De Warande (Turnhout).