Artist Biography
Ioana Tămaş was born in 1988, in Cluj, Romania. Here she started her study in ceramics, at the Art College, age fourteen. After college she studied at the University of Art and Design, Cluj, where she received her Bachelors and Master's Degrees in ceramics. During her study she undertook two internships abroad, one in Belgium, Liege and one in Turkey, Eskisehir. This helped her broaden her perspective in art and her future as an artist. When she graduated from the University of Arts, Cluj, she moved to Eindhoven, The Netherlands. There she worked in a shared studio open for artists, focusing on developing her work and sharing her experience as ceramic artist. Since 2022 she opened her own studio where she is further experimenting and developing her art. Creating work for exhibitions and art events in the country and abroad.
Artist Statement
I have always been fascinated by human psychology and what forms us as such unique individuals. I’m interested in how thoughts and perspectives can differ. What shapes our identity and when is this formed? How do events in our lives shape us and how do they influence each other? My work represents my personal research into human behaviour and psychology which later developed into an interest in mental health. It's a reflection on the way I see and understand people and my research into body and mind. In my work I research femininity as an identity and symbol, but also there is an inclination towards the androgynous. It is research on sexuality and the importance of sexual identity. Raised by a single mother might have had a strong influence on my view and perception of femininity, but there is also a fascination about how the female body is represented in African art and culture, which is a big inspiration in my work. I use androgynous representations in my work for their double sexual meaning. My work illustrates metamorphoses of emotions and giving it an androgynous image, means that it won’t be gender related. It also gives the work a mythic aesthetic, inspiring you to seek further what it represents for you as an individual. In my latest work I develop forms which suggest a combination between human and animal and allude to belonging in nature. I am searching to create images and forms of living that show both fragility and strength. I search how to make a story using as few words and details as possible and lead the viewer to fantasise, creating his or her own story. In this part of the work, I also search for different ways of presentation to make static work more dynamic just through being suggested by form. The movement can be suggested by the sculpture’s own shadow or the sculptures curved legs. What are striking in most of my sculptures are the pointy legs which I use as suggestion of roots, a symbol of leaning towards something, continuous growth or a search for stability. The subjects of my research, are events in (my) life, situations that intrigue me or raise a lot of questions. I focus on where I feel the need to discover and understand more. Making a project out of my research and then presenting it to a public is for me a way of opening a discussion and raising awareness. I use my work to express myself, to communicate and bring awareness to certain subjects. I feel satisfied when my work is understood or interpreted in a way that awakens emotions for the viewer, even though they may differ from my own concept or understanding.
