91 91 Art commentary by GABRIELLA SONABEND 91 at THE GALLERY OF EVERYTHING Portrait by ALEXANDRU PAUL Tiny cowboys by CARMEN LIDIA VIDU from the series ION BARLADEANU, MY COWBOY

ION BÂRLĀDEANU

Words by LUCY NURNBERG with translations by FLAVIA YASIN 92 93 92 93 92 MAN, MYTH, LEGEND 93 Te story of how Ion Barladeanu, the Romanian collage artist and pseudo flm director, went from down-and-out to world famous. STARRING DAN POPESCU, CURATOR

and ION BARLADEANU, ARTIST

BUCHAREST, ROMANIA — Te frst thing to know about Ion Barladeanu’s collages is that they lm, which was directed by Sergiu Nicolaescu are flm stills. Assembled in widescreen, his scenes of spaghetti westerns, spy thrillers and war epics e f feature legends of the silver screen — Roger Moore, , Jean-Paul Belmondo and Brigitte . T Bardot among them — alongside the corrupt politicians of communist-era Romania. Ion began cutting and pasting his cinema-inspired collages in the , when Romania was under the oppressive rule of Nicolae Ceaușescu. He worked on them in secret; the satirical content lm-makers, including Steven Spielberg, referenced who in it was so radically subversive that their discovery could have landed him in prison. Later, following the overthrow of Ceaușescu in 1989 and the dawn of a new capitalist era, Ion ended up homeless. Only in 2007, after Ion was discovered by the gallery owner Dan Popescu, did his surrealist artworks fnally see Michael Brave the the light of day. Ion grew up in Zapodeni, a rural region of Romania close to Moldova — “He has a very strong, very Moldovan, sense of humour. Tat’s where the dada in his work comes from,” Dan explains. Ion’s

uenced numerous f father was a member of the agricultura nomenklatura in the region, overseeing the production on the f state-owned land. But Ion didn’t like his father, and he left home for Bucharest at 18, making a living doing the jobs no one else wanted. “He had a lifestyle like Charles Bukowski,” says Dan. Ion worked in turn as a dockworker, a lm and in stonecutter and a gravedigger — “he did all the work in the world” — refusing to take part in the socialist workforce. He sometimes worked illegally on the black market; at one point in the early 1980s he was caught working as an undertaker with no papers, and spent three months in jail. In the late 1970s, Ion began making collages, without any understanding of the history of the medium. For many years he had been developing his drawing technique, and eventually he began

corruption and oppression. supplementing these illustrations with photomontages created from magazine cuttings. “I’d cut out Florin Piersic, Alain Delon and Sophia Loren,” Ion remembers. “Having so many issues of Cinéma magazine, I frst made a caricature, then started putting hats on the characters. Afterwards, I cut out [the Romanian actor] Mircea Albulescu’s head. I tried to see how he would look as president of Romania. It was too funny, the tricolor fag, with Nicolae Ceaușescu’s club…” Ion was obsessed with movies. During the communist era, cinema was a form of escape — a window on a free world. He went to the movies regularly, often two or three times a week. He dreamt of being a director and began creating cut-and-paste scenes, using magazine clippings to cast big-name actors alongside the country’s corrupt politicians. Ion sourced his materials from contraband magazines, mostly French, bought on the black market or found in rubbish dumps. “Tat’s how it was under socialism, when the comrade Nicolae Ceaușescu was the country’s prince. Ten he tore down buildings and I would fnd pictures in basements, underground. You can still fnd them lying around, even nowadays. Tey throw them away in those . Piersic was a working-class really Ion who hero admired, representing work and is he seen the in Ion’s everyday of lots man triumphing against huge bins that say paper, metal, iron, bottles.”

patriotic historical celebrates epic the story Prince of Michael uniting Romania against the Ottoman Empire. Te ephemeral nature of the medium was not lost on Ion: “I’ve already got 500 kg of waste material. When I’m dead, they will all end up in the landfll. I’m only sorry I couldn’t make a school for collage- makers. Teach them how to cut out. It’s very easy.” In his early works Ion pasted his actors and objects over hand-drawn backgrounds of living rooms,

lm produced under the communist regime and remains the country’s most ambitious production. Funded by the state, and with thousand unpaid of extras, this beaches or street scenes. His technique developed rapidly around 1985, when he began selecting backgrounds from magazine pages or calendars. Tis method enabled him to fully realise his cinematic scenes, but presented a new set of challenges. As Dan explains: “When you have a background that helps diferentiate the light, the chromatics and the shades… it’s much more difcult to integrate the persons or the objects than if you make the background yourself.” Where Ion’s early works

lm was released was it a national duty is the watch to It best-known it. Romanian f were grotesque, with a focus on the surreal characters and objects in the foreground, later works are conceived with a far greater sense of reality. One of the things that makes Ion unique in collage is his meticulous eye for lighting — in a single composition subjects are lit from a single angle, just as on an authentic flm set. And having never seen in 1970, wasin 1970, the largest f untitled, — In this 1982 still, Florin Piersic, the Romanian Brad Pitt the of 1980s, is pasted a battle into scene from

When this f work by other artists of the medium, Ion broke many of the accepted rules of collage. E.T. the Extra the Terrestrial the director’s cut E.T. of 95 94 “Tere is a specifc style Ion used,” Dan says. “Other artists work in a very modernist, fat 95 94 way. Tere’s no depth and only a single layer. Ion didn’t know about the history of collage or the 95 94 professional, academic way to make them. He needed layers to create his movies, so that’s why you see lm-maker, two or three layers and depth. It’s funny him not knowing it was taboo. He just did it, and something spectacular came out of it.”

c as a f As a pseudo director, Ion found the selecting of disparate parts was the biggest challenge in creating f a scene: “If you’re a director, you have to place your actors in the foreground, space them apart, throw in a helicopter here, a plane there, an Obama kissing his Obama-lass.” Side note: “He was an OK president.” In 1989, after the revolution, Ion had nowhere to go. Dan explains: “If you had been living in a fat in communist times, you were given the opportunity to buy it. But Ion was in and out of work, and he was drinking. It wasn’t possible for him. And the guys that were living in that block of fats, they took advantage of this and threw him out.” Without anywhere to live, Ion stopped making collages altogether. He was without a fxed address for more than a decade. He survived on the streets for six years, before taking refuge in a room (with electricity, but no heating) in the basement of a Bucharest apartment block, near the communal bins. Here, in 2007, he was discovered by Ovidiu Feneș, an artist represented by Dan Popescu’s H’art Gallery. “Tis artist made three-dimensional assemblages and he was always going to places where they discard objects to collect items for his work,” Dan says. “He found Ion there, living in the building courtyard, with his artwork hidden away in suitcases. “It was a Saturday on December 1, Romania’s national day, and Ovidiu came to me and said, ‘You have to come and see this guy, he’s amazing.’” Dan followed him and stayed for three hours. He knew he had discovered someone extraordinary. “I was like a patron. Te idea that he isn’t even self-aware of what he is doing, but everything is in place. It’s the perfect proof that art can exist anywhere, even without a very focused or rational intentionality. Sometimes it happens in a man — he just needs a little focus and a certain obsession. And it doesn’t need all sorts of means, just scissors and glue and some magazines.” Te next day, having made a discovery he knew would be the most signifcant of his career, Dan returned to his gallery to fnd there was a major problem with the plumbing. “I was sitting there and, all of a sudden, shit began coming out of the sink.” Something was blocking the pipes and the entire building’s waste was being diverted to his gallery on the ground foor. As it was a Sunday, the day after

tting him for be to spotlit in his underwear. Pavelescu, the on other hand, was a much of more a national holiday, no one was working. “I phoned the plumbers and they said, ‘OK, we are coming, but frst thing tomorrow.’ So I had to take buckets and buckets of the building’s waste out of the bathroom. And the only thing keeping me going was the thought that, OK, there’s a balance in the world — you discovered this guy, but to qualify, somehow, you have to pass through all the shit and piss and garbage that he passed in his whole life, in the course of a single day.” It took three weeks for Dan to convince Ion to sign with him, but eventually the artist agreed that they should put on an exhibition together. A flm-maker documented the process in the 2009 movie Te World According to Ion B. “Te frst exhibition was madness,” Dan recalls. “Te art scene in Romania at the time was very elitist. You couldn’t be an outsider. I had a hard time convincing people lms were government-funded and used as pro-communist propaganda. Nicolaescu was only not proli it would work, but it was very popular in the end. It’s because he’s very charismatic, he makes people laugh. And in Romania we think we are the world champions of humour.” lms. With a national f ego, it’s Within six months of the frst show, Ion had a new fat and a set of dentures. He has since held shows in galleries and art fairs across Europe — from London to Helsinki — and gained countless fans. Among them is the actress Angelina Jolie; they once had lunch together in Paris, an experience he described as disappointing. “She is not my favourite actress, as everyone says. I’ve gotten so fed up with that.”

In the background an and epic idyllic landscape forest and of mountains stretches the to horizon. Ion is present at every opening, wherever they are in the world. “Tat’s one of his biggest things,” Dan says. “If you look at his collages, almost every one has a plane in it. Te plane signifes freedom. In

is piece is all sex and repression. Sergiu Nicolaescu, is stage right in bright yellow underpants, seductively looking the at out viewer. communist times, it was the idea of getting away.” Ion’s art, and the incredible story of his rise to fame, has elevated him to a cult fgure in Romania. “Not a day passes I don’t get recognised in the street,” he says. “Even if I dress up as a hobo, people still know me. And I’m proud of it.” He has found his newfound celebrity a source of amusement, although it is not without its challenges: “I went from pauper to prince. I mean, in my own feld. Some things have changed, but I’ve also got plenty on my mind. It’s not good to be famous. I’m proud I don’t need a bodyguard, as the likes of Brad Pitt do. On the other hand, I could use a bodyguard, because there’s always some dumbass around.” untitled. — T 1983, For the most part, Ion enjoys the merits of fame. He recalls one of his proudest moments, at an exhibition opening in Slovakia: “I tell everyone this: when I was in Bratislava with Dan Popescu, I had the biggest fame, world fame almost. I had a show in the open and I didn’t get intimidated. I spoke to them in Slovak, I told them ‘hello’ in their mother tongue. And I was surprised that there were 50, 60 people taking photos of me at one time. Men and women. Everybody. It’s amazing I didn’t go blind repressed sex symbol. in the communist Women era be to wereable portrayed not as sexy; perhaps this locked she’s is in why the alligator’s with jaw, only a dismembered arm bear. to but wasbut often the writer, dancer producer, and actor in his f Perhaps thisPerhaps piece is ironically patriotic f — many Nicolaescu’s of from the cameras fashing.” Beside him Ioana Pavelescu, the actress and cinematographer, looks from up the jaws an of alligator, a dismembered arm hangs loose and a frog clings from on the the front of beast’s mouth. 97 97 97 e background is gures are arranged as if a stage. on T is piece comically presents him as the sexy and hero the strange perverse voyeur. ere is strong symmetry, and the f cant because references it a parallel era repression of with a vibrant underground creative scene. f e Dessert: Harmony Red in by Matisse. left right to From is the actor Mircea Albulescu, Liza Minelli, Ilarion es his early style. T T f Ciobanu, Liza Minelli and Ilarion again. Ciobanu lms; is so romantic, it dramatic and bold, and created with great attention lighting. truly to It’s left iconic. right, to From , which is particularly signi I’m fascinatedI’m the by how context this of piece has changed since making. its Cabaret is work remindsis work many of me great arthouse f lm stars Mircea Diaconu, Sophia Loren, a bottle wine of and an unknown model/actress. French When this piece was made, in 1980, Diaconu was a rising actor often who played Liza Minelli plays Sally double Bowles in Ciobanu wasCiobanu the archetypal strongman Romania, of macho with and a low commanding voice. T untitled, 1982 — For me this is one of Ion’s most iconic pieces, and this me untitled, exempli Ion’s of is — For one 1982 this f untitled, — T 1980 innocent is however, he a politician characters. and an representative EU Today, a fan. is — and not Ion If actors represent the everyday work, working politicians in hero Ion’s are the enemy! hand-drawn and painted and the window in the back left corner reminds of me 99 99 99 e Icelandair escu was absolutely ș ed and a Romanian policewoman. T f uence of Eastuence of and West. f escu) ironically sancti e halo around her head was painted with on a type that glue of was being ș e layers irony and of symbolism in this piece go deep. lm stars the of , playing the accordion and another actor French exclaiming something in a communist front of e theatre curtains framing the scene remind us the of illusion, rather or the stage, politics. of Elena Ceau escu (wife the of militant communist leader Ceau Nicolae ș ed the on streets Romania of the at time. T f is is another great piece referring the to drama and staging politics of and the surreal con sni gathering. T is is one of my favourite my of is is one humour encapsulates pieces it me and — for intelligence. Ion’s Set in an Eastern European alpine landscape, we see playing a plane is a symbol escape, of still the I’m owl… sure. not T untitled, — T 1982 Romanian policeman, Roger Elena as Ceau Moore 007, Here weHere see the Belmondo, of f one Jean-Paul great New French Wave despised in Romania. A Romanian recently I met said had probably she the any worst of politician PR in history. T