Mona Ardeleanu. sticks and stones
Augustenstraße 63
July 4 – August 2, 2025

Opening - Mona Ardeleanu is present
Friday, July 4, 2025, 6 pm – 9 pm

Mona Ardeleanu paints objects so naturally and realistically that they appear to truly exist. Defying all laws of physics, she combines materials, shapes and the outlines of body fragments into a whole within her pictorial space. In reality, these objects could not exist, but they appear as if they do. ‘It's a visual game,’ explains Mona Ardeleanu. ‘I don't have the language to describe what it is. I only have the visual language and a starting point.’

Fine fabrics, elaborate patterns, precious embroidery and other painted objects are placed centrally in the image. Currently, her paintings focus on themes related to the human body. The senses, organs, bones and, more precisely, the question of their integrity and protection.

Mona Ardeleanu gives the objects a life of their own. They overlap, interpenetrate and stagger, sometimes falling softly, then draped or tied again. Together with small details attached to them, such as chains or metal rings, they become ‘door openers’ that offer the viewer an access into the works. The colors of a series remain the same, as the paintings in the series are painted in parallel. They often build on each other, so that the color of the brightness in the first work becomes the basic tone of the next background.

The result is a paradox. A humorous way of playing with the human habit of seeing, recognizing and wanting to grasp things immediately. A realistic, seemingly tangible object that, on closer inspection, repeatedly opens up new levels of interpretation and questions the previous association.