Opening: 21 October | 16:00 – ODEON Theatre, Studio Hall lobby
The exhibition can be visited as following:
20-31 October 2023, only before the performances played at Studio Hall.
The exhibition includes over 200 works done between 2020-2023 and dedicated to the people of the theatre, being them actors, directors, stage designers, critics, composers or public figures.
By: Marius Damian
Producers: Odeon Theatre and Art Archive Gallery
With the help of: National Theatre Festival
”Before I encountered the theatre, I had my drawing notebook in my chest pocket, my first way of communicating artistically with the world, or representing it, or containing it within a few lines on a piece of paper. I was always interested in the faces and facial expression of other people. The spectacle the caricatures offer charmed me almost in an instant, becoming a way to essentialise behaviours in just a few moments.
Whilst becoming an actor, new doors opened up to me as well as another way of expressing myself. But most importantly, teamwork allowed me to see plenty of archetypes worth turning into a sketch.
During the pandemic, I put my creativity to work by focusing especially on portraits of friends, colleagues and theatre public figures, while trying to entertain my passion for the stage in doing so, as well as polishing my passion for drawing. I ended up making hundreds of sketches. This is how the exhibition concept was born.
If the human life is an accumulation of situations and encounters, the theatre is to me an accumulation of names I’ve learned throughout the years. Some shaped me, others used to be my role models, others were with me on stage, some I admire, some I’m fond of, some I love. They all have a place in the picture of my artist life.
This exhibition offers them a chair. To sit on it, to see themselves, even if for just a moment, to become their own spectators. I wish they will all feel well-drawn in Chairs.
The list is long, but the work continues…” (Marius Damian)
