In winter, this year, Vladimir Setran, a major artist of Romanian contemporary art, passed away, in quiet glory, in his Bucharest home.  

At the onset of spring, the gallery invited ceramist Ioana Setran, the artist’s wife, to curate a first public exhibition of Setran’s work since his departure.

I’ll Come Running, the title of the exhibition, is taken from a note which Setran used to often leave pinned onto the door of his Pangratti studio in Bucharest (“Wait for me, I’ll come running’). 

The highly personal selection of works looks back with emotional intensity at the whole flow of his works, bringing together painting, drawing and installation from various moments of a creative career spanning almost 70 years.

The solo show includes screenings of video and digital collage works by Tudor Massaci and Tudor Setran, as well as an event where Setran’s impressive CV will be explored by family and friends, by collectors and art historians (date tbc)

"Although I took part, to a greater or lesser extent, in the organization of Doru's art shows, the idea of an exhibition by Vladimir Șetran curated by myself scared me a lot and, in fact, it still scares me.

All of Doru's solo shows have each been built around some themes, so the dilemma is what to exhibit by choosing from the dozens of cycles of his work. When faced with the variety of his works, both technically and thematically, the constraints related to the size of the exhibition made the choice even more difficult.

I chose a few more recent and smaller works, executed in mixed media, together with paintings, all related to a blue thread - a color that was almost a constant concern in his creation. To these I added some graphical works from two categories, an installation of 32 cardboard inks with trees in various poses and some works in a technique imagined by Doru works that he perceived as moving.

I hope the selection goes well together and I remain frightened still."

Ioana Șetran, April 2022