Zeno X Gallery is pleased to present Ship of Fools, a second solo exhibition by Mircea Suciu  (b. 1978) in Antwerp. In this exhibition, Suciu expresses our fears and reacts to the world we presently live in, which does not seem all that different from the past. Throughout human history, societies have experienced alternating periods of growth, success and hope but also of fear, disasters, political struggles and wars. Today, we are anxious about religious fundamentalism, nationalism and war. These fears terrorize many lives and seem to close in on us. They affect our emotions, human behaviour and psychology. As a young Romanian, Suciu witnessed the fall of the iron curtain and the way people tried to reconstruct or rediscover their cultural and personal identity. Suddenly, people were free again in their choice to turn their gaze to the West or the East. Yet several threats have called this semblance of freedom and democracy into question again, and this throughout Europe. As an artist, Suciu feels both the freedom and the urge to confront the viewer with the world we live in. He reproduces pictures of historical dramatic events and integrates them as a background into his compositions in which the human figure takes central place. Suciu does not depict horror or drama but rather a tension created through postures and gestures that express dominance, fragility, defence and protection. A recurrent motif in this exhibition is the chair. Combined with a human head it stands, according to a Romanian expression, for wisdom. Refugees have to rely on their intelligence; it is the only possession they can carry with them on their travels. Can wisdom and critical thinking be our salvation?

The title of the exhibition refers to a German satirical allegory from the late 15th century, which was published by the humanist and theologian Sebastian Brant (1457-1521). The fool in society was often free to speak out and voice criticism without being censored, since people generally did not pay any attention to his words. He is not an average figure and observes the world from the sidelines. His words are not seen as an expression of logic or coherence, although one must often admit, that the fool speaks the clear truth. The fool and the artist might not be the same figure but they have something in common, a desire to understand, to confront and to provoke. Suciu does not want to idealize, conceal or escape. He digs into our minds and our souls and reveals. He recycles images that are part of our collective memory or seem familiar. They are echoes and through repetition they become real, making it impossible for one to escape them.

For Suciu, a strong and iconic image is the culmination of meaning and materiality. He is a process painter and combines a technique of monoprint with oil and acrylic paint. Creation is followed by destruction and restoration. The surface is damaged and leaves marks in order to intensify the narrative and the heritage of (art) history, while exploring the future of the medium.

In 2014, his work was part of the Gwangju Biennial and the subject, in 2015, of a solo show organized at the National Museum of Contemporary Art in Bucharest.  Work of Mircea Suciu was also on view in the exhibitions ‘Scènes Roumaines’ at the Espace Louis Vuitton, Paris, ‘Defaced’ at the Boulder Museum of Contempoary Art, Boulder, ‘Hybrid’ at the Fondation Francès, Senlis, ‘Sex, Money and Power’ at Maison Particulière, Brussels, ‘Nightfall - New tendencies in Figurative Painting’ at the MODEM Centre for Modern and Contemporary Art, Debrecen, ‘European Travelers’ at the Mucsarnok Kunsthalle, Budapest, the 4th Biennial of Prague and the 11th Biennial of Istanbul.