Sorin Tara is today not only one of the best known young Romanian artists, but also the most controversial and one of the most original painters and graphic artists from the new generation. Purposely shocking, highly critical of the social and political realities of his country, strikingly violent in his graphic expression, Sorin Tara has made the headlines more with the scandals he caused than with his works. It is hard to say if this was meant as a manner of promoting his works or just a consequence of his personality, but so far he enjoyed his success and controversies. To the highest degree.
Born on January 17th 1975 in the village Nou, Sibiu, he enrolled in 1996 at the Popular Art School in Sibiu, where he would study painting until 1999, already causing a stir due to his unorthodox manner and ideas, which were far, very far from the classical subjects and style. After working for a while as a drawing and history substitute teacher, he continued his training at the Art and Design University in Cluj-Napoca, studying graphics, and ending his higher studies with a shocking project, titled "Endlosung", which already anounced his way of provoking everyone and everything. Despite the theme, the project was highly artistic and strange, with an originality which is hard to build. He further studied at the UAD, with a mastership, this time the project being called "About the Idea of Evil in Romania With Examples".
Due to his great talent and artistic courage, he had his first ever solo exhibition quite early, in 1997, " Monstrum humanum rarrisimum", in Sibiu, an event which would later be followed by a large number of solo shows, mostly in Sibiu, Cluj-Napoca and Bucharest. All of them had provokative and scandalous titles, distorted and blackened figures and frames, they challenged and broke all taboos and interdictions, mainly political ones, which would bring upon the artist the accusations of being an extreme-right sympathiser. Anno Domino, Black Rumania, Luna Amara, Ride Into the Dark, Apocalyptic for Everybody, Opium, all of these where major shows which did not go unnoticed by art collectors, critics and the press. Using mainly graphics and collages, Sorin Tara knows how to shock, how to ask questions which are better left unaswered, how to make people look at his works.
While many consider him an excentric and strange, but at the same time brilliant and original artist, there are also voices who see him as an impostor, a fraud, someone who just plays with art. Yet, despite the critics, Sorin Tara also proved to be successful abroad, exhibiting at several group shows in Germany and Austria. His works are already highly regarded by collectors, yet Sorin Tara surely has some more aces up his sleeve.
2008-07-09
www.artline.ro
