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==== Biography ====
==== Biography ====
'''Dana Catona''' (*19.. in ..., RO), (she/her), visual [[Artists|artist]] and poetry writer, of Romanian ethnical background, grew up in [[Romania]], a graduate of Academy of Visual Arts from Cluj-Napoca. Currently senior lecturer at the Faculty of Arts and Design, West University of Timisoara. She is concerned with the connections between the visual and the literary medium and the new paradigms of contemporary ceramics.
'''Dana Catona''' (*1967 in Timișoara, [[Romania]]), (she/her), visual [[Artists|artist]] and poetry writer, of Romanian ethnical background, grew up in [[Romania]], a graduate of Academy of Visual Arts from Cluj-Napoca. Currently senior lecturer at the Faculty of Arts and Design, West University of Timisoara. She is concerned with the connections between the visual and the literary medium and the new paradigms of contemporary ceramics.
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[[File:ArtistPersonal_DanaCatona.jpg|thumb|A self-portrait as a princess and my dog, an image which is on the cover of my Tic Tac  poetry book, scanned imaged, Dana Catona 2024 - (c) Dana Catona, 2024]]
[[File:ArtistPersonal_DanaCatona.jpg|thumb|A self-portrait as a princess and my dog, an image which is on the cover of my Tic Tac  poetry book, scanned imaged, Dana Catona 2024 - (c) Dana Catona, 2024]]
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==== Artistic disciplines: ====
==== Artistic disciplines: ====
* Ceramics
* [[:Category:Ceramic_artists|Ceramic]]
* Textile art
* [[:Category:Textile_art_artists|Textile art]]
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==== Process ====
==== Process ====
Dana Catona works through the gestures of my hands, most often using stoneware or porcelain clay. The forms emerge directly from manual contact with the material, shaped through the pressure of the palms, the rhythm of the fingers, and the gradual accumulation of small movements. Repetition plays an important role in this process, as gestures are reiterated and slightly transformed, allowing the form to develop organically. Rather than constructing the object through rigid planning, she follows the resistance and responsiveness of the clay itself.
Dana Catona works through the gestures of the hands, most often using stoneware or porcelain clay. The forms emerge directly from manual contact with the material, shaped through the pressure of the palms, the rhythm of the fingers, and the gradual accumulation of small movements. Repetition plays an important role in this process, as gestures are reiterated and slightly transformed, allowing the form to develop organically. Rather than constructing the object through rigid planning, she follows the resistance and responsiveness of the clay itself.
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==== Notable themes ====
==== Notable themes ====
Recurring theme in Dana Catona's works is fragility, life and death, childhood memory and childhood feelings. Dana Catona predilection for a certain theme is concentrated towards symbolic forms associated with archeology, recurring image of the house, letters or the written word seen as a literary but also visual element. In the ceramic works, the preoccupation with small structures and objects is the result of attention to fragility seen as an attribute of vulnerability and to the delicacy of miniature dimensions. There is a preference for minimalism and the specific expressiveness of the small gestures from which the works were derived, but also for a personal space, which she associates with dimensions that can be fully manipulated just by moving the palms. References to the natural world are simultaneously present and absent. While the forms may evoke organic structures or fragments of growth, their representational dimension is intentionally open and largely completed through the viewer’s perception.
Recurring theme in Dana Catona's works is [[fragility]], [[life and death]], [[childhood memory]] and [[childhood feelings]]. Dana Catona predilection for a certain theme is concentrated towards symbolic forms associated with archaeology, recurring image of the house, letters or the written word seen as a literary but also visual element. In the ceramic works, the preoccupation with small structures and objects is the result of attention to fragility seen as an attribute of vulnerability and to the delicacy of miniature dimensions. There is a preference for [[minimalism]] and the specific expressiveness of the [[small gestures]] from which the works were derived, but also for a personal space, which she associates with dimensions that can be fully manipulated just by moving the palms. References to the [[natural world]] are simultaneously present and absent. While the forms may evoke organic structures or fragments of [[growth]], their representational dimension is intentionally open and largely completed through the viewer’s perception.
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==== Selected exhibitions ====
==== Selected exhibitions ====
===== 1.Selected solo exhibitions =====
===== 1.Selected solo exhibitions =====
* 2023 - solo exhibition, In a dream my dog was a fish, Galateea Gallery, Bucharest, Romania
* 2025 - solo exhibition, Unidentified objects, Galateea Gallery, Bucharest, Romania<ref>https://www.galateeagallery.com/unidentified-objects---dana-catona.html</ref>
* 2022 - solo exhibition, HOM/M/ES, Galleria 28 Timișoara
* 2023 - solo exhibition, In a dream my dog was a fish, Galateea Gallery, Bucharest, Romania<ref>https://www.galateeagallery.com/in-my-dream-my-dog-was-a-fish.html</ref>
* 2022 - solo exhibition, HOM/M/ES, Galleria 28 Timișoara<ref>https://propagarta.ro/imagini-video/expozitia-danei-catona-de-la-galeria-28-din-timisoara/</ref>


===== 2.Selected group exhibitions =====
===== 2.Selected group exhibitions =====
* 2025 - group exhibition, Meditteraneo, XXXII Contemporan Ceramic Art Competition, Grottaglie, Italy  
* 2026 - group exhibition, 6.Internationaler Keramikpreis Siegburg, Germany
* 2024 - group exhibition, UAUSS 13th Exhibition International Avanos Applied Ceramics Sypmposium, Nevșehir Haci Bektaș Veli University Nevșehir, Turkey
* 2025 - group exhibition, Meditteraneo, XXXII Contemporan Ceramic Art Competition, Grottaglie, Italy /
* 2023 - group exhibition, Chronic Desire, Timișoara Garrison Command
* 2024 - group exhibition, UAUSS 13th Exhibition International Avanos Applied Ceramics Sypmposium, Nevșehir Haci Bektaș Veli University Nevșehir, Turkey<ref>https://www.uvt.ro/blog/xiiith-international-avanos-applied-ceramics-symposium/</ref>
* 2023 - group exhibition, Virus Diary, Malmaison Workshops, Bucharest
* 2024 - group exhibition, Vertebrae Mundi, AnnArt Gallery, Bucharest, Romania<ref>https://www.annartgallery.ro/en/exhibition/vertebraemundi</ref>
* 2023 - group exhibition, Mirabilis Hortus National Exhibition, Gallery 9, Brașov
* 2023 - group exhibition, Chronic Desire, Timișoara Garrison Command, Timisoara, Romania<ref>https://www.e-flux.com/announcements/516909/chronic-desire-sete-cronic</ref>
* 2023 - group exhibition, Nature Expanded, Meta Spațiu, Timisoara
* 2023 - group exhibition, Virus Diary, Atelierele Malmaison, SAC Malmaison, Bucharest, Romania
* 2023 - group exhibition, MoBU, International Art Fair, Romaero Băneasa, Bucharest
* 2023 - group exhibition, Mirabilis Hortus National Exhibition, Gallery 9, Brașov, Romania
* 2023 - group exhibition, Nature Expanded, Meta Spațiu, Timisoara, Romania<ref>https://www.facebook.com/events/593204669265227/</ref>
* 2023 - group exhibition, Homo Homini Dulcis Est, Contemporary Space, Bucharest
* 2023 - group exhibition, Homo Homini Dulcis Est, Contemporary Space, Bucharest
* 2023 - group exhibition, West Meets East - A Cultural Book Exchange, XIth Edition, Orizont Gallery, Bucharest
* 2023 - group exhibition, Mail Poetry Exhibition, Liceo Scientifico De Caprariis, Atripalda, Italy
* 2023 - group exhibition, 43 Stories, Teaching Staff Exhibition, Mansarda Gallery, Faculty of Arts and Design Timișoara<ref>https://www.facebook.com/reel/225782430026378/</ref>
* 2023 - group exhibition, Porn o'clock tea #3, Manasia Hub, Bucharest<ref>https://propagarta.ro/imagini-video/porn-oclock-tea-3-de-la-manasia-hub/</ref>
* 2022 - group exhibition, In heaven and on earth, Scemtovici & Benowitz Gallery, Bucharest, Romania<ref>https://empowerartists.org/en/experiences/in-heaven-and-on-earth-group-exhibition-marking-the-opening-of-the-scemtovici-benowicz-gallery/</ref>
* 2022 - group exhibition, In heaven and on earth, Scemtovici & Benowitz Gallery, Bucharest, Romania<ref>https://empowerartists.org/en/experiences/in-heaven-and-on-earth-group-exhibition-marking-the-opening-of-the-scemtovici-benowicz-gallery/</ref>
* 2022 - group exhibition, IOAF 22, International Ocean Art Festival, Korea<ref>https://www.uvt.ro/en/blog/international-ocean-art-festival-3/</ref>
* 2022 - group exhibition, Virus Diary, Romanian Cultural Institute Vienna, Austria<ref>https://www.erstestiftung.org/en/events/virus-diary/</ref>
* 2022 - group exhibition, White Cuib, Virus Diary, Romanian Cultural Institute Vienna, Austria<ref>https://www.erstestiftung.org/en/events/virus-diary/</ref>
* 2022 - group exhibition, Flowers and people, Homo homini flos est, Contemporary Hair Space & Galeria 1001 Arte, Bucharest<ref>https://empowerartists.org/en/experiences/art-exhibition-flowers-and-people/</ref>
* 2022 - group exhibition, Flowers and people, Homo homini flos est, Contemporary Hair Space & Galeria 1001 Arte, Bucharest<ref>https://empowerartists.org/en/experiences/art-exhibition-flowers-and-people/</ref>
* 2022 - group exhibition, White Cuib, Virus Diary, HBK University Braunschweig, Germany
* 2022 - group exhibition, Virus Diary, B5 Studio, Targu Mures, Romania<ref>https://arteast.ro/art_event/virus-diary/</ref>
* 2022 - group exhibition Glass Salon, Orizont Galleries, Bucharest
* 2021 - group exhibition, Interdisziplinäres Konzert, Brücken Bauen mit Musik - Building Bridges with Music, Musik Akademie Basel, Switzerland<ref>https://krisztinawajsza.ch/pdf/konzert%202020%202.pdf</ref>
* 2020 - group exhibition, #Contactless, Art Wall, Galeria Galateca, Bucharest, Romania<ref>https://www.galateca.ro/contactless-art-wall/contactless-art-wall2/dana-catona.html</ref>
* 2020 - group exhibition, #Contactless, Art Wall, Galeria Galateca, Bucharest, Romania<ref>https://www.galateca.ro/contactless-art-wall/contactless-art-wall2/dana-catona.html</ref>


===== 3.Biennials, museum retrospectives, comprehensive retrospective exhibitions =====
===== 3.Art biennales, museum retrospectives, comprehensive retrospective exhibitions, art fairs =====
* 2022 - art biennial, International Miniature Biennale, Faculty of Arts and Design Timișoara, Romania
* 2022 - art biennial, International Miniature Biennale, Faculty of Arts and Design Timișoara, Romania
* 2022 - art biennial, MiniCastra, International Watercolor Biennial, Ajdovscina, Slovenia<ref>https://lokarjevagalerija.splet.arnes.si/mini-castra-2022-rezultati-results//<ref></ref></ref>
* 2020 - art biennial, Mini Castra, International Watercolour Biennial, Ajdovscina, Slovenia
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==== Artistic Residencies, Art Researches, Collaborations, Art Projects ====
==== Artistic Residencies, Art Researches, Collaborations, Art Projects ====
* 2024, Photography workshop, ‘Queer Joy’ collaboration with the BDSM community, co-instructor with her life partner, Ioana Pop, Bucharest, Romania
NA
* 2023, Photography workshop, ‘Queer Joy in Bucharest’, co-instructor with her life partner Ioana Pop, Bucharest, Romania
* 2023, Photography workshop, collaboration with Identity Education non profit, leading several workshops on Queer Joy<ref>https://www.facebook.com/identity.education/photos/a.2174065612808438/3280966602118328/?_rdr</ref>
* 2022, Photography workshop, ‘Queer Joy’, guest artist/ instructor, collaboration with Georgetown University, Washington, DC, USA
* 2021, Photography workshop, ‘Queer Joy’, guest instructor, collaboration with Georgetown University, Washington, DC, USA
* 2021, Photography workshop, ‘Joy in the Visual Arts’, instructor, collaboration with Casa Tranzit, Cluj, Romania
* 2021, Photography workshop, ‘Queer Joy’, guest instructor, collaboration with Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA
* 2021, Artist talk, TEDX speaker - TEDx Zorilor, Cluj Napoca, Romania
* 2020, Artist talk, Romanian Cultural Institute, Women Voices in North America, online venue, NY, USA
* 2018, Artist talk, Ultraviolet TV show, in conversation with Alida Mocanu, Bucharest, Romania
* 2018, Artist talk, SMART Radio, in conversation with Veronica Soare, Bucharest, Romania
* 2017, Artist talk, Radio Guerilla, ROZ, in conversation with Carla Maria Teaha, Bucharest, Romania
* 2017, Artist talk, FOR REAL podcast, in conversation with Andreea Vrabie, Bucharest, Romania
* 2017, Artist talk, On intersectional feminism, Apollo Theater, Bucharest, Romania
* 2017, Artist talk, DOR live, WOMAN photography series, Museum of the Romanian Peasant, Bucharest, Romania
* 2016, Artist talk, Creative Mornings, ON LOVE, Cinema Elvire Popesco, Bucharest, Romania
* 2014-ongoing - BE KIND FOR REAL fundraising for common good, various issues (queer refugees, women, artists, domestic violence, etc.)
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==== Selected works ====
==== Selected works ====
<gallery>
<gallery>
Artwork1-DanielaGroza.jpg|"My wife - Good news", from the Good News series, the artist partner in the artist NY driven taxi, from the Good News series, medium format film, 60x70 cm, 2021, photography by Daniela Groza - (c) Daniela Groza 2021
Art1-DanaCatona.jpg|Unidentified objects, 37 x 37 x 6 cm, hand-modelled stoneware and porcelain, Dana Catona 2024, photography by Dana Catona - (c) Dana Catona 2024
Artwork2-DanielaGroza.jpg|"Our first image together", from the Good News series, medium format film, 60x70 cm, 2021 - (c) Daniela Groza & Ioana Pop 2021
Art2-DanaCatona.jpg|Unidentified objects, 25 x 21 x 16 cm, hand-modelled stoneware, Dana Catona 2024, photography by Dana Catona - (c) Dana Catona 2024
Artwork3-DanielaGroza.jpg|"Untitled", from the For Hire series, medium format film, 60x70 cm, 2025 - (c) Daniela Groza 2025
Art3-DanaCatona.jpg|Unidentified objects, 21 x 30 x 5 cm, hand-modelled stoneware with wire insertion, Dana Catona 2024, photography by Dana Catona - (c) Dana Catona 2024
Artwork4-DanielaGroza.jpg|"Untitled", from the For Hire series, medium format film, 60x70 cm, 2025 - (c) Daniela Groza 2025
Art4-DanaCatona.jpg|Unidentified objects, 42 x 42 x 19 cm, hand-modelled stoneware and porcelain, Dana Catona 20254, photography by Dana Catona - (c) Dana Catona 2024
Artwork5-DanielaGroza.jpg|"Untitled", from the For Hire series, medium format film, 60x70 cm, 2025 - (c) Daniela Groza 2025
</gallery>
</gallery>
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==== Exhibition views ====
==== Exhibition views ====
<gallery>
<gallery>
Exh1-DanielaGroza.jpg|View from ‘Tabachera cu Scorpion’ group exhibition, Work by Daniela Groza, 2023, Timișoara, Romania (c) Identity Education, 2023
Exh1-DanaCatona.jpg|View from exhibition, works by Dana Catona, 2024 (c) Daliana Iacobescu 2024
Exh2-DanaCatona.jpg|View from exhibition, work by Dana Catona, (c) Daliana Iacobescu
Exh3-DanaCatona.jpg|View from exhibition, work by Dana Catona, (c) Daliana Iacobescu
Exh4-DanaCatona.jpg|View from exhibition, work by Dana Catona, (c) Dana Catona
Exh5-DanaCatona.jpg|View from exhibition, work by Dana Catona, (c) Dana Catona
</gallery>
</gallery>
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===== 1.Published books =====  
===== 1.Published books =====  
NA
NA
===== 2.Published articles in journals & magazines =====
* 2022,
DIAL a DIALogue, ELIA Pie Annual Meeting, The Paradox of Internationalisation, Prague, Czech
Republic, 2024/ The artistic relationship between display and camouflage, Faculty of Orthodox
Theology 2024 Babeș-Bolyai University Cluj-Napoca, (Expression of pain, suffering and sacrifice
in contemporary art), 2024 /Art and Design Notebooks no. 12, U.A.P. Timișoara publication,
(Ceramics and sustainability), 2024 /Women in Design, Design Talks, Faculty of Arts and
Design, 2024 / Art and Design Notebooks no. 11, U.A.P. publication Timișoara, (Ceramics at
the Confluence of Fragment and Whole), 2023/ Hyposthesis of Anthropomorphic
Representation in Personal Creation, International Symposium of Theology, History,
Musicology and Sacred Art, Faculty of Orthodox Theology Babeș-Bolyai University Cluj-
Napoca, 2023/, Nature – Arts Interconnections, Faculty of Arts and Design, West University


Timișoara, (Natural and artificial, sampling and detection), 2022 /Art and Design Notebooks
===== 2.Published articles in journals & magazines =====
no. 10, U.A.P. Timișoara publication, (Ephemeral Hypostases of Contemporary Ceramics),
* 2024, Art and Design Notebooks no. 12, U.A.P. Timișoara publication, (Ceramics and sustainability)
2022/Art and Design Notebooks no. 9, U.A.P. Timișoara publication, (Ceramic and Textile
* 2023, Art and Design Notebooks no. 11, U.A.P. publication, Timișoara, Romania (Ceramics at the Confluence of Fragment and Whole)
Artistic Object – a Meeting of Media of Expression), 2021 International Seminar of Corpus -
* 2022, Art and Design Notebooks no. 10, U.A.P. publication, Timișoara, Romania (Ephemeral Hypostases of Contemporary Ceramics),
Intangible Bodies within the Body: Memories, Feelings, Forecasts, Victor Babeş University of
* 2021, Art and Design Notebooks no. 9, U.A.P. Timișoara publication, Romania (Ceramic and Textile Artistic Object – a Meeting of Media of Expression)
Medicine and Pharmacy, Timisoara, (Traces - a memory of the body in the visual arts) 2016/
* 2019, Arta Magazine no 34-35, Bucharest publication, Romania (Epidermă şi miez. Ipostaze ale corporalităţii în arta media din România),  
The Identity of Art. The Identity of the Artist, Timișoara Academic Days, (The artist's body and
* 2016, Acoustic Space, Open Fields, Arts and Science Research Practices in the Network Society, Volume nr. 15, (Human Body Related Works in Performance, Video and New Media - from the `60s to the present in Romania), ed. Rasa Smite, Riga, Letonia
identity), 2015/ International Seminar of Corpus - Water and Body Fluids, Victor Babeş
University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Timisoara, (Human Body, Water and Fluids -
Connections and Interactions in the Visual Arts) 2014/ Art Out nr. 21, Art and Architecture
Magazine (Presence and Absence- The Human Body and New Media), 2014/Renew, Media Art
Histories, Riga, Latvia, (Presence and Absence - The Body and New Media), 2013/Parents’
Bodies, Children’s Bodies, Seventh International Symposium of Corpus, Victor Babeş
University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Victor Babeş Publishing House Timisoara, (Artist and
Child-Relationships and Interactions in the Visual Art) 2013/
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==== Curating activity (Artist as curator) ====
==== Curating activity (Artist as curator) ====
NA
* 2016 Curatored exhibitions: etNOetNOetNO, Salon Vega, Theresien Bastei Timișoara, Romania (group exhibition, curated together with [[Ulrike Ettinger]]), Salon Vega, Timişoara, Romania
* 2019 - current, Initiator of the PEND project, an ongoing interactive project developed together with students at the Faculty of Arts and Design, Timișoara, Romania
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==== Catalogues ====
==== Catalogues ====
NA
* 2024, Women in Design (artists compendium), Design Talks, Faculty of Arts and Design,
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==== Press ====
==== Press ====
* 2024, Romanian Contemporary Photography INFLUX – Urban Gardens On Love, article, <ref>https://www.photographyinflux.ro/the-garden-of-eden-joy-paradise-love-daniela-groza-ioana-groza-pop-lucian-bran/</ref>
* Orizonturi Culturale magazine, article<ref>http://www.orizonturiculturale.ro/ro_evenimente_Expozitie-Accademia-di-Romania-2021.html</ref>
* 2020, 'On driving a taxi in New York during the pandemic', published interview, by Ioana Ulmeanu, Elle Magazine, Romania<ref>https://www.elle.ro/lifestyle/daniela-groza-despre-coronavirus-panica-si-speranta-la-new-york-717611</ref>
* Orizzonti Culturali, italian magazine<ref>https://www.orizzonticulturali.it/it_eventi_Mostra-Accademia-di-Romania-2021.html</ref>
* 2018 - Scena 9, 2018. „Daniela Groza - The other family‘‘ by Andra Matzal<ref>https://www.scena9.ro/article/fotografie-documentara-daniela-groza-familii-lgbt</ref>
* Modernism online magazine, article<ref>https://www.modernism.ro/2014/04/30/salonul-mic-bucuresti-smb8-2/</ref>
* 2018, 'Daniela Groza: the story of a kind person for real', published interview, Elle Magazine, Romania<ref>https://www.elle.ro/people/daniela-groza-povestea-unui-om-care-e-bun-pe-bune-612699</ref>
* Curatorial.ro online magazine<ref>https://curatorial.ro/arta/salonul-anual-al-artelor-vizuale-timisoara-editia-95/</ref>
* 2017, 'Daniela Groza: the story of a kind person for real', published interview, iQuads ro<ref>https://www.iqads.ro/articol/39489/daniela-groza-fotograf-documentar-sofer-uber-in-new-york-om-bun-cu-adevarat</ref>
* Book Agency, article<ref>https://www.agentiadecarte.ro/2019/12/salonul-anual-al-artelor-vizuale-de-la-timisoara.html</ref>
* Modernism online magazine, article<ref>https://www.modernism.ro/2025/02/27/salonul-premiatilor-uniunii-artistilor-plastici-filiala-timisoara-editia-a-xiii-a/</ref>
* Arta Magazine, article<ref>https://revistaarta.ro/ro/scena-timisoreana-si-legaturile-sale-cu-directiile-internationale-ale-cercetarii-artistice/</ref>
* Arta Magazine 2023, #62-63, O Istorie a lumii, text by Maria Zintz, ISBN 0004-3354


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NA  
NA  
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For further commercial and non-commercial inquiries, feel free to contact [https://npk-east.de/en/contact/ NPK]
For further non-commercial inquiries, feel free to contact [https://npk-east.de/en/contact/ NPK]
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==== Social Media Links ====
==== Social Media Links ====
* Instagram: [https://www.instagram.com/daniela.groza.pop https://www.instagram.com/daniela.groza.pop]
* Instagram: [https://www.instagram.com/danacanapana https://www.instagram.com/danacanapana]
* Website: http://www.danielagroza.com/ http://www.danielagroza.com/]
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[[documentary]]
[[calligraphy]]
<br />
<br />
[[East-West relations]]
[[minimalism]]
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<br />
[[feminism]]
[[organic]]
<br />
<br />
[[humor]]
[[poetry]]
<br />
[[intersectional identity]]
<br />
[[manifesto]]
<br />
[[photography]]
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[[queer art]], [[queer identity]], [[queering]]
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(artist-mentioned reference list)
(artist-mentioned reference list)
<br />
<br />
("for the way they have laid down the foundations for self-representation, queer and beyond." ''-artist note'')
NA
* '''[https://www.justinekurland.com/ Justine Kurland]'''
* '''[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cindy_Sherman/ Cindy Sherman]'''
* '''[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zanele_Muholi/ Zanele Muholi]'''
* '''[https://www.instagram.com/tommykha// Tommy Kha]'''
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<br />
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[[Category:Visual artists]]
[[Category:Visual artists]]
[[Category:Photography artists]]
[[Category:Ceramic artists]]
[[Category:Textile art artists]]
[[Category:Eastern European and Balkan artists]]
[[Category:Romania]]
[[Category:Romanian artists]]
[[Category:Women]]
  [[Category:Women artists]]
  [[Category:Women artists]]
[[Category:Queer artists]]
[[Category:Romanian artists]]
[[Category:Romanian diaspora]]

Latest revision as of 16:06, 29 March 2026

Dana Catona

"Dana Catona - Artist Portrait" / (c) Dana Catona, 2024



Biography

Dana Catona (*1967 in Timișoara, Romania), (she/her), visual artist and poetry writer, of Romanian ethnical background, grew up in Romania, a graduate of Academy of Visual Arts from Cluj-Napoca. Currently senior lecturer at the Faculty of Arts and Design, West University of Timisoara. She is concerned with the connections between the visual and the literary medium and the new paradigms of contemporary ceramics.

A self-portrait as a princess and my dog, an image which is on the cover of my Tic Tac poetry book, scanned imaged, Dana Catona 2024 - (c) Dana Catona, 2024



Artistic disciplines:



Process

Dana Catona works through the gestures of the hands, most often using stoneware or porcelain clay. The forms emerge directly from manual contact with the material, shaped through the pressure of the palms, the rhythm of the fingers, and the gradual accumulation of small movements. Repetition plays an important role in this process, as gestures are reiterated and slightly transformed, allowing the form to develop organically. Rather than constructing the object through rigid planning, she follows the resistance and responsiveness of the clay itself.


Notable themes

Recurring theme in Dana Catona's works is fragility, life and death, childhood memory and childhood feelings. Dana Catona predilection for a certain theme is concentrated towards symbolic forms associated with archaeology, recurring image of the house, letters or the written word seen as a literary but also visual element. In the ceramic works, the preoccupation with small structures and objects is the result of attention to fragility seen as an attribute of vulnerability and to the delicacy of miniature dimensions. There is a preference for minimalism and the specific expressiveness of the small gestures from which the works were derived, but also for a personal space, which she associates with dimensions that can be fully manipulated just by moving the palms. References to the natural world are simultaneously present and absent. While the forms may evoke organic structures or fragments of growth, their representational dimension is intentionally open and largely completed through the viewer’s perception.


Works in collections and public recognition

  • exhibited nationally and internationally, at biennials and art galleries.
  • works in private collections (Germany, Great Britain).




Selected exhibitions

1.Selected solo exhibitions
  • 2025 - solo exhibition, Unidentified objects, Galateea Gallery, Bucharest, Romania[1]
  • 2023 - solo exhibition, In a dream my dog was a fish, Galateea Gallery, Bucharest, Romania[2]
  • 2022 - solo exhibition, HOM/M/ES, Galleria 28 Timișoara[3]
2.Selected group exhibitions
  • 2026 - group exhibition, 6.Internationaler Keramikpreis Siegburg, Germany
  • 2025 - group exhibition, Meditteraneo, XXXII Contemporan Ceramic Art Competition, Grottaglie, Italy /
  • 2024 - group exhibition, UAUSS 13th Exhibition International Avanos Applied Ceramics Sypmposium, Nevșehir Haci Bektaș Veli University Nevșehir, Turkey[4]
  • 2024 - group exhibition, Vertebrae Mundi, AnnArt Gallery, Bucharest, Romania[5]
  • 2023 - group exhibition, Chronic Desire, Timișoara Garrison Command, Timisoara, Romania[6]
  • 2023 - group exhibition, Virus Diary, Atelierele Malmaison, SAC Malmaison, Bucharest, Romania
  • 2023 - group exhibition, Mirabilis Hortus National Exhibition, Gallery 9, Brașov, Romania
  • 2023 - group exhibition, Nature Expanded, Meta Spațiu, Timisoara, Romania[7]
  • 2023 - group exhibition, Homo Homini Dulcis Est, Contemporary Space, Bucharest
  • 2022 - group exhibition, In heaven and on earth, Scemtovici & Benowitz Gallery, Bucharest, Romania[8]
  • 2022 - group exhibition, Virus Diary, Romanian Cultural Institute Vienna, Austria[9]
  • 2022 - group exhibition, Flowers and people, Homo homini flos est, Contemporary Hair Space & Galeria 1001 Arte, Bucharest[10]
  • 2022 - group exhibition, Virus Diary, B5 Studio, Targu Mures, Romania[11]
  • 2020 - group exhibition, #Contactless, Art Wall, Galeria Galateca, Bucharest, Romania[12]
3.Art biennales, museum retrospectives, comprehensive retrospective exhibitions, art fairs
  • 2022 - art biennial, International Miniature Biennale, Faculty of Arts and Design Timișoara, Romania

Artistic Residencies, Art Researches, Collaborations, Art Projects

NA


Selected works




Exhibition views




Publications

1.Published books

NA

2.Published articles in journals & magazines
  • 2024, Art and Design Notebooks no. 12, U.A.P. Timișoara publication, (Ceramics and sustainability)
  • 2023, Art and Design Notebooks no. 11, U.A.P. publication, Timișoara, Romania (Ceramics at the Confluence of Fragment and Whole)
  • 2022, Art and Design Notebooks no. 10, U.A.P. publication, Timișoara, Romania (Ephemeral Hypostases of Contemporary Ceramics),
  • 2021, Art and Design Notebooks no. 9, U.A.P. Timișoara publication, Romania (Ceramic and Textile Artistic Object – a Meeting of Media of Expression)
  • 2019, Arta Magazine no 34-35, Bucharest publication, Romania (Epidermă şi miez. Ipostaze ale corporalităţii în arta media din România),
  • 2016, Acoustic Space, Open Fields, Arts and Science Research Practices in the Network Society, Volume nr. 15, (Human Body Related Works in Performance, Video and New Media - from the `60s to the present in Romania), ed. Rasa Smite, Riga, Letonia



Curating activity (Artist as curator)

  • 2016 Curatored exhibitions: etNOetNOetNO, Salon Vega, Theresien Bastei Timișoara, Romania (group exhibition, curated together with Ulrike Ettinger), Salon Vega, Timişoara, Romania
  • 2019 - current, Initiator of the PEND project, an ongoing interactive project developed together with students at the Faculty of Arts and Design, Timișoara, Romania



Catalogues

  • 2024, Women in Design (artists compendium), Design Talks, Faculty of Arts and Design,




Press

  • Orizonturi Culturale magazine, article[13]
  • Orizzonti Culturali, italian magazine[14]
  • Modernism online magazine, article[15]
  • Curatorial.ro online magazine[16]
  • Book Agency, article[17]
  • Modernism online magazine, article[18]
  • Arta Magazine, article[19]
  • Arta Magazine 2023, #62-63, O Istorie a lumii, text by Maria Zintz, ISBN 0004-3354



Gallery Representation

NA
For further non-commercial inquiries, feel free to contact NPK


Social Media Links




Hashtags

(artistic practices, currents, techniques, themes - applicable hashtags for this artist)


calligraphy
minimalism
organic
poetry



Compatible and inspirational artists:

(artist-mentioned reference list)
NA



  1. https://www.galateeagallery.com/unidentified-objects---dana-catona.html
  2. https://www.galateeagallery.com/in-my-dream-my-dog-was-a-fish.html
  3. https://propagarta.ro/imagini-video/expozitia-danei-catona-de-la-galeria-28-din-timisoara/
  4. https://www.uvt.ro/blog/xiiith-international-avanos-applied-ceramics-symposium/
  5. https://www.annartgallery.ro/en/exhibition/vertebraemundi
  6. https://www.e-flux.com/announcements/516909/chronic-desire-sete-cronic
  7. https://www.facebook.com/events/593204669265227/
  8. https://empowerartists.org/en/experiences/in-heaven-and-on-earth-group-exhibition-marking-the-opening-of-the-scemtovici-benowicz-gallery/
  9. https://www.erstestiftung.org/en/events/virus-diary/
  10. https://empowerartists.org/en/experiences/art-exhibition-flowers-and-people/
  11. https://arteast.ro/art_event/virus-diary/
  12. https://www.galateca.ro/contactless-art-wall/contactless-art-wall2/dana-catona.html
  13. http://www.orizonturiculturale.ro/ro_evenimente_Expozitie-Accademia-di-Romania-2021.html
  14. https://www.orizzonticulturali.it/it_eventi_Mostra-Accademia-di-Romania-2021.html
  15. https://www.modernism.ro/2014/04/30/salonul-mic-bucuresti-smb8-2/
  16. https://curatorial.ro/arta/salonul-anual-al-artelor-vizuale-timisoara-editia-95/
  17. https://www.agentiadecarte.ro/2019/12/salonul-anual-al-artelor-vizuale-de-la-timisoara.html
  18. https://www.modernism.ro/2025/02/27/salonul-premiatilor-uniunii-artistilor-plastici-filiala-timisoara-editia-a-xiii-a/
  19. https://revistaarta.ro/ro/scena-timisoreana-si-legaturile-sale-cu-directiile-internationale-ale-cercetarii-artistice/