Alex Bodea

Alex Bodea

Early life and education

Alex Bodea, born in 1981 in Cluj, Romania, of Romanian nationality, having being lived in several countries of choice, such as Germany (more than 10 years) and France (2 years), with a itinerant research approach, having being explored several European countries, such as Norwegien, Sweden, Netherlands, France, Switzerland, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Romania, Hungary, Czech Republic and Serbian Republic, works at the crossroads of visual art and storytelling, driven by the desire to be an observer to the human experience, documenting and interpreting various multicultural landscapes encountered along her journeys as a nomad-artist and queer person. Master in Arts of University of Arts and Design, Cluj, Romania, and short-term study at School of Architecture and Fine Arts Saint Luc, Liege, Belgium.

Birthplace and Family background

Born in 1981 in Cluj, Romania, daughter of Gligor Bodea, known as a mountain rescuer with notable activity in this field, and a bee-keeper, and Corina Bodea, his life and mountain partner.

Primary artistic disciplines:

• Painting
• Drawing
• Writing.

Process

Field research & direct experience. Socially engaged art developed at the intersection of visual art, journalism, and storytelling.

Notable themes

Recurring themes in Alex Bodea's practice include the experience of exile and migration, multicultural identities, language, personal and collective history, queer culture, the questioning of femininity and masculinity as cultural constructs, recurring inequalities across different geographical contexts, mental and physical health, marginal characters, non-patriarchal models, and the concept of unconventional beauty.

High-level recognition

• exhibited nationally and internationally, at biennales, museums, art galleries.
• preselected for Evans Foundation Prize, (Arts / The Fact Finder interventions).
• works in public institutions collections, art museums collections and private collections.

Public collections

A selection of works and were purchased by Banca Transilvania in its program of acquisitions of artists from Cluj . A selection of works are in the Romanian National Museum of Contemporary Art Collection, Art Encounters Foundation Collection, Museum for European Cultures Berlin, Museum of Communications Berlin. Works in private collections: Mihai Pop (RO), Marian Ivan (RO), Miron Schmückle (RO), Claudio Scorretti (SW), Șandor Collection (RO), Veronica Kirchner Collection (DE), Benetton Collection (IT), Santozeum Collection (GR), Tudor Grecu Collection (RO), Anca Nath (RO), Anca Poterașu (RO), Queer History Museum (RO) and others.

Key exhibitions (since 2020)

Major solo exhibitions

• 2025 - solo exhibition That Place Called Abundance, SOLO Project Space (Robert Băjenaru), Bucharest, Romania,
• 2024 - solo exhibition Alex Bodea, Lutnița Gallery, Chișinau, Moldova

Important group shows

• 2025 - group exhibition Sphinx, Beast and Girl: Unicorn, Himera and the mixed body, NOCA, Oradea, Romania, with Apparatus 22, Ștefan Bertalan, Ana Botezatu, Michele Bressan, Rudolf Bone, Christian Jankowski, Marta Jakobovits, Ciprian Mureșan, Miron Schmückle, Ion Țuculescu, Ecaterina Vrana
• 2025 - group exhibition Alter Monster, CCA Andratx, Andratx, Mallorca, Spain
• 2025 - group exhibition, The Poetics and Politics of Food, Suprainfinit Gallery, Bucharest, Romania, guest artist
• 2025 - group exhibition, Hocus Focus, Conector OFF-space, Cluj Napoca, Romania, exhibited with Cornel Brudascu, Mircea Cantor, Adrian Ghenie, Ciprian Muresan, Anca Munteanu Ramnic, Navid Nuur, Miklos Onucsan a.o., proposed by Mihai Pop, Plan B Gallery
• 2025 - duo show with Dragos Badita, Present is a foreign country, Poterasu Gallery, Bucharest, Romania
• 2025 - group exhibition, Unleashing the sins of sculpture, Scanteia Plus Art Center, Bucharest, Romania
• 2025 - duo show with Ciprian Mureșan, Ilustrated, printed, copied, learnt, Memorialul Ipotești, Plan B Gallery and Lutnița Gallery,
• 2024/25 - group exhibition, Untitled, Galery Lutnița, Chișinău Moldavian Republic
• 2024 - group exhibition Land of Fire, Kunsthalle Bega, Timisoara, Romania
• 2024 - group exhibition Dating 101, Cazul 101, Bucharest, Romania
• 2024 - group exhibition La Box A first history, La Box Gallery, Bourges, France
• 2022 - duo show with Ana Botezatu, 40 days in desert, Cazul 101, Atelierele Malmaison, Bucharest, Romania
• 2020 - group exhibition ComiXconnection, MEK Museum for European Cultures, Berlin, Germany
• 2020 - group exhibition What if you were in my shoes, Museum of Arts, Cluj, Romania
• 2020 - group exhibition First Friday, Kunstraum - Alte Bürger, Bremerhaven, Germany
• 2020 - group exhibition Hysteria/History, Paintbrush Factory Cluj and History Museum, Cluj, Romania

Biennials, museum retrospectives, comprehensive retrospective exhibitions

• 2025 - group exhibition, Convulsion Ltd, Romanian queer art retrospective Triumf Amiria, Queer Museum, Kilobase, Romania
• 2025 - art bienniale (collateral event) Onboard Bienniale 2025, Antwerp, Belgium
• 2023 - group exhibition Puls 22: new museum acquisitions, National Museum of Contemporary art, Bucharest, Romania
• 2021/22 - group exhibition You feel ~ and drift ~ and sing. From one scene to another, 20 years of Romanian queer art retrospective,
• Combinatul Fondului Plastic in collaboration with National Museum of Contemporary Art, Triumf Amiria, Kilobase, Bucharest, Romania
• 2021 - art bienniale 7th Edition of the Black-and-White Biennial | Virus diary, Satu Mare, Romania
• 2017 - art bienniale Life: a user’s manual Art Encounters Biennial Timișoara, Romania.
• 2014 - art bienniale Drawing Biennale Rimini, (Drawing Storage) Rimini, Italy

Collaborations

• 2025 - Artistic Research Residency: Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art MODEM Center, Debrecen, Hungary
• 2025 - Artistic Research Residency: CCA Andratx, art residency, Andratx, Mallorca, Spain
• 2024 - Artistic Research Residency: Art Siena Institute, art residency, Siena, Italy
• 2023 - Artistic Research Residency: Couvant, art residency L'ANCRE – Association “Pôle des métiers d'art du Pays Ségali”, Sauveterre de Rouerge, France
• 2023 - selected in Altes Spital Solothurn residency, Solothurn, Switzerland
• 2023 - selected in Swatch Art Peace Hotel residency, Shanghai
• 2020 - Artistic Research Residency: Paintbrush Foundation in collab. with History Museum Cluj, Romania
• 2018 - Artistic Research Residency: La Box Residency, ENSA Bourges, France
• 2018 - Artistic Research Residency: Fact Finding: investigation in the urban space, Focus Atelier, Cluj, Romania
• 2021 - Research Stipendium: Research grant in literature and comics awarded by Berlin Senate Department for Culture, Germany
• 2021 - Artistic Educational Residency: CLEA Lens Lievin Residency, Lens Lievin, France
• 2020 - Artistic Research Residency: Chelva art residency, hosted by sound artist duo Bosch & Simons
• 2020 - Preselected for Evans Foundation Prize, (Arts / The Fact Finder interventions).
• 2017 - Artistic Research Residency: The body politic, summer school Drawing Room, London, Great Britain
• 2015 - Artistic Research Residency: De Liceiras 18 Residency, Porto, Portugal
• 2014 - Artistic Development Residency: Botín Foundation workshop led by Tacita Dean, Santander, Spain
• 2012 - Artistic Research Residency: Curators' Network workshop, Sibiu, Romania
• 2009 - Artistic Research Residency: Samuel Brukenthal’s Guests Residency, Avrig, Romania

Books written by the artist

Published books

• 2021, Graphic novel - The fact finder, (English edition) Publisher „The Fact Finder Verlag”, Berlin, Germany
• 2020, Graphic novel - The fact finder, (Italian edition) Publisher „BeccoGiallo”, Padova, Italy
• 2020, Artist book - The man with a hole in his tie, limited edition, with the support of ENSA Bourges
• 2015-2016, Artist book - Visual notes on Berlin, unique edition
• 2015-2016, Graphic novel - Six breakfasts, one lunch, limited edition

Published drawing reportages/graphic narratives in journals & magazines

• 2020, Excerpt from the book The Fact Finder, published in MEGAZIN / KITCHN ZIN International Centre of Graphic Arts, Ljubljana
• 2020, Excerpt from the book The fact finder-published in IDEA magazine, Romania
• 2020, Excerpt from the book The fact finder- published in ARTA magazine, Romania
• 2020, Excerpt from the book: Visual notes on Berlin, published in EXBERLINER, special COVID solidarity edition, Germany
• 2019, Graphic story: I did not see Rome with you, published in THE GUARDIAN, Great Britain
• 2019, Graphic story: Grandma cracks nuts, published in STRIPBURGER, Slovenia
• 2019, Graphic story: Grandma cracks nuts, published in CUTRA, Romania
• 2019, Graphic story: Members only, published in DER TAGESSPIEGEL, Germany
• 2018, Article: Insert, published in IDEA magazine, Romania
• 2018, Graphic story: The visitors, published in SURVIVE comics anthology in the frame of Berlin Art week, Germany
• 2017, Graphic story: Türkiyemspor Berlin e.V, a comics reportage, published in CORNER magazine, Romania
• 2016, Excerpt from the book Visual notes on Schöneberg, published in EXBERLINER magazine, Germany

Catalogues

None at the moment.

Interviews or major essays

None known.