Dan Maciuca

b. 1979, Romanian

Biography

Dan Maciuca is a contemporary painter living and working in Cluj, Romania. One could describe Maciuca as a contemporary neo-expressionist painter, balancing figuration and abstraction with expressive strokes of paint and strong impastos.

Born in 1979 in Craiova, Romania, the starting point of Maciuca’s paintings are geometric or figurative elements as backdrops. Doing so, the Romanian painter creates a space which is then filled with his characteristic and confident impasto strokes. The architectural space and its geometrical forms become the setting for his expressive painterly work. Doing so, Maciuca explores utopian urban landscapes as the organic textures of the paint to create a dialogue with the geometric backdrop and the figuration of the initial spaces which is juxtaposed with the abstract qualities of contemporary painting.

Dan Maciuca in his studio. Photo: Hassium.

Dan Maciuca achieved his MA in Painting at the University of Art and Design in Cluj, Romania, followed by a PhD research in cultural interferences at the same university. Maciuca is one of the main representatives of the contemporary art scene in Cluj, Romania.

Maciuca has been represented by Zorzini Gallery in Bucharest, Romania and Patrick Heide Contemporary Art in London, the United Kingdom. He has participated in exhibitions at institutions such as the Art Museum of Cluj-Napoca, Romania; the Modern Museum in Debrecen, Hungary; the Espace Christiane Peugeot in Paris, France; the Arken Museum in Copenhagen, Denmark and the Art Encounters Foundation in Timisoara, Romania.

Artworks

Dan Maciuca, Dark smoke, 2018. Oil on canvas – 150 × 130 cm. Courtesy Patrick Heide Contemporary Art, London.

Dan Maciuca, For a better chance, 2019. Oil on canvas – 120 × 140 cm. Courtesy Patrick Heide Contemporary Art, London.

Dan Maciuca, Shadow and light in Autumn, 2017. Oil on canvas – 150 × 130 cm. Courtesy Patrick Heide Contemporary Art, London.

Dan Maciuca, Peripheric landscape, 2015. Oil on canvas – 150 × 200 cm. Courtesy Zorzini F Gallery, Bucharest.

Dan Maciuca, Deserted Factory, 2017. Oil on canvas – 150 × 130 cm. Courtesy Zorzini F Gallery, Bucharest.

Dan Maciuca, Waiting for another train, 2014. Oil on canvas – 74.5 × 64.5 cm. Courtesy Zorzini F Gallery, Bucharest.

Last Updated on May 3, 2023

Julien Delagrange

Julien Delagrange (b. 1994, BE) is an art historian, contemporary artist, and the director of CAI and CAI Gallery. Previously, Delagrange has worked for the Centre for Fine Arts (BOZAR) in Brussels, the Jan Vercruysse Foundation, and the Ghent University Library. His artistic practice and written art criticism are strongly intertwined, examining contemporary art in search of new perspectives in the art world.