Nicolae Romanițan

"Nicolae Romanițan - Artist Portrait" / (c) Marius Dan Moga, 2023

Biography

Nicolae Romanițan (*1991 in Cugir, Romania), (he/his), visual artist, of Romanian ethnical background, grew up in Cluj-Napoca, but lives and works since 2024 in Bucharest, Romania. Has studied Graphics at the University of Art and Design in Cluj. He is a versatile artist who works with mediums such as painting, photography, and drawing. Romanițan’s process is heavily influenced by video games, mediaeval manuscripts, uncanny animations, and printed media. The future and the past collide in the practice of Nicolae Romanițan. The artist become known for his surreal works that blend 1990s video game aesthetics with medieval manuscripts and Bzyantine iconography. Romanițan uses his very particular visual language to explore themes of alienation, posthumanity and the absurdity of war through various media, but notably painting. The artist has exhibited works in galleries as well as unconventional spaces such as isolated medieval churches, house bridges or his own apartment in Cluj, which is now an artist-run exhibition space.

Nicolae Romanițan in improvised studio studio in a saxonic church - (c) Marius Dan Moga, 2023

Artistic disciplines:

Painting

Process

Romanițan Nicolae's working process is based on oil painting on all kind of rough surfaces found in post industrial places or ruins of old churches or other abandoned ante or post communist vestiges.

Notable themes

Recurring theme in Romanițan Nicolae's works are very linked with his personal fears like erasing memory, the impossibility to cure some physical traumas, art history parallels with other virtual worlds or fear of death, more recently concerns were related to historical events, alienation, violence, pain, post-humanity and the absurdity of wars.

Works in collections and public recognition

exhibited nationally and internationally, at museums, public institutions and art galleries.
works in institutional and private collections.

Works included in private collections in Romania, Hungary, Italy, Belgium and institutionally acquired by the Banca Transilvania Art Collection, Romania.

Selected exhibitions

1.Selected solo exhibitions

2025 - solo exhibition, Weltschmerz Melancholia, Biju Gallery, Cluj-Napoca, Romania^[1]
2024 - solo exhibition, An AI walks into a Bar, Institut français de Roumanie à Cluj, Cluj-Napoca, Romania^[2]
2023 - solo exhibition, Unbewitched, curated by Horatiu Lipot, Borderline Art Space, lasi, Romania^[3]
2022 - solo exhibition, Tomorrow in the Battle Think on Me, Biju Gallery, Cluj-Napoca, Romania^[4]

2.Selected group exhibitions

2026 - group exhibition, Transylvanian painting today, Telegraph Gallery, Olomouc, Czech Republic^[5]
2025 - group exhibition, Le temps des Objets Tranchants, 59 Rivoli Gallery, Paris, France
2025 - group exhibition, Noli Sapere : Towards a new Renaissance, RCW, Iaşi, Romania^[6]
2024 - group exhibition, A territorial hope affair, Mobius Gallery, Salon de Papier, Bucharest, Romania^[7]
2023 - group exhibition, Never alone near the fortress of fear, Crisan 37, apartment exhibition place, Cluj-Napoca, Romania
2023 - group exhibition, Bestiaire Roumain, 59 Rivoli Gallery, Paris, France^[8]
2023 - group exhibition, Howling Hounds group show, Nemsa Fortified Church - St Ludwig Roth's Legacy (Bolyai Foundation), Romania
2022 - group exhibition, Contemporary Drawing, Atelier 35, Bucharest, Romania
2022 - group exhibition, Come, let’s have a walk, Biju Gallery, Cluj-Napoca, Romania^[9]
2021 - group exhibition, Nicolae Romanitan vs Sasha Bandi, duo show with Sasha Bandi, memo+ (memoplus) artspace, Cluj-Napoca, Romania
2021 - group exhibition, Matryoshka, Rubik art space, Cluj-Napoca, Romania
2021 - group exhibition, Electric Crossroads, Gallery Nosco and Bubble'n'Squeak art space, Brussels, Belgium
2020 - group exhibition, One last cigarette under the protective eyes of a gendarme, photo installation, Kalt, Strasbourg, France

3.Art biennales, museum retrospectives, comprehensive retrospective exhibitions, art fairs

2025 - Art Fair: RAD, Bucharest, Romania
2024 - Art Fair: SAT Smallest Art Fair in Town, Salon de Papier, Bucharest
2023 - Art Fair: RAD, Bucharest, Romania

Artistic Residencies, Art Researches, Collaborations, Art Projects

2016 - Artist residency: The Museum of Compared Art, Sângeorz-Băi, Romania

Selected works

Doom intervention in an old monastery, 2021, oil on canvas mounted on wood, 70 x 100 cm, work by Nicolae Romanițan (c) Nicolae Romanițan 2021
Shinobi VS. The Balkanic Demon, 2021, oil on canvas mounted on wood, 70 x 100 cm, work by Nicolae Romanițan (c) Nicolae Romanițan 2021
Out-of-Control Panel, 2021, oil on glass fiber surface mounted on various construction materials, 119 x 157 cm, work by Nicolae Romanițan (c) Nicolae Romanițan / YAP Studio 2021
Doom intervention in an old monastery, 2025, oil on wood, 70 x 100 cm, work by Nicolae Romanițan (c) Nicolae Romanițan / YAP Studio 2025
Relic no.2 (Devils playing games), 2025, oil on found abandoned church fresco embedded in anti UV epoxy resin block, 20 x 30 cm, work by Nicolae Romanițan (c) Nicolae Romanițan / YAP Studio 2025

Exhibition views

View from show Electric Crossroads, Bubble'n'Squeak, Brussels, 2021, works by Nicolae Romanițan (c) Bubble'n'Squeak 2021
View from showElectric Crossroads, Bubble'n'Squeak, Brussels, 2021, work by Nicolae Romanițan (c) Bubble'n'Squeak 2021
View from show Transylvanian Painting Today, 2026, Telegraph, Olomouc, work by Nicolae Romanițan (c) Telegraph, Olomouc 2026
View from show Tomorrow in the battle think on me - 2022, Biju Gallery, work by Nicolae Romanițan (c) YAP Studio, 2022
View from show Territorial Hope Affair, 2024, Salon de Papier, Bucharest, work by Nicolae Romanițan (c) Salon de Papier, 2024

Publications

1.Published books

2018, Romanițan Nicolae, Napocalypse Now, Cluj-Napoca, Indie Production

2.Published authored articles in journals & magazines

NA

Curating activity (Artist as curator)

2023 - group exhibition, Never alone near the fortess of Fear, Crisan 37, Cluj-Napoca, Romania

Catalogues

2022, Contemporary Art Programme 2022, Banca Transilvania/Centrul Cultural Clujean, Romania^[10]
2025, RCW Archive, Romanian Creative Week
2025, Borderline Art Space catalog, bilingual, Romania^[11]

Press

Cultartes magazine, essay on Nicolae Romanițan^[12]
Stredni Morava online magazine, article^[13]
Curatorial.ro online magazine, article^[14]
Matca Literară, online magazine, article^[15]
Arta Magazine, article^[16]
Arta Magazine, article^[17]
Cultartes magazine, essay on Nicolae Romanițan^[18]
Digital Library.ro platform, Arta Magazine 2016, archived^[19]
Empower artists online magazine, article^[20]
Helikon online magazine, article^[21]
Digital Library.ro platform, Arta Magazine 2023, archived^[22]
Munchies Art blog, essay^[23]
Romanian Cultural Institute, online news^[24]
Archies, online magazine^[25]
Lesoir, online magazine^[26]
Romanian aces, online magazine^[27]

Gallery Representation

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

Social Media Links

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nicolae_romanitan

Hashtags

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

absurdity, afterlife, artifacts poetry site-specific installation

Compatible and inspirational artists:

(artist-mentioned reference list)
New Objectivity and Matthias Grünewald "for their capacity to make good painting and satirize the society in the same time."(artist note)

[1] ttps://www.instagram.com/reels/DTkjDPiDOTx/

[2] ttps://institutfrancais.ro/cluj-napoca/an-ai-walks-into-a-bar/

[3] ttps://revistaarta.ro/en/unbewitched-an-exhibition-on-memory-preservation/

[4] ttps://bijugallery.com/tomorrow-in-the-battle-think-on-me

[5] ttps://telegraph.cz/en/transylvanian-painting-today

[6] ttps://romaniancreativeweek.ro/en/events/noli-sapere-toward-a-new-renaissance-2/

[7] ttps://website-mobiusgallery.artlogic.net/exhibitions/77-a-territorial-hope-affair/

[8] ttps://paris.onvasortir.com/bestiaire-roumain-22368451.html

[9] ttps://bijugallery.com/come-lets-have-a-walk/

[10] ttps://comunitate.bancatransilvania.ro/storage/app/media/2023/Cultura/Programul-BT-de-Art%C4%83-Contemporan%C4%83/Programul-BT-de-Art%C4%83-Contemporan%C4%83-Catalog.pdf

[11] ttps://empowerartists.org/en/experiences/salon-10-0-an-affective-archive-retrospective-exhibition-at-borderline-art-space/

[12] ttps://local.cultartes.com/2020/03/18/artistul-nicolae-romanitan-reaseaza-estetica-uratului-in-cultura/

[13] ttps://stredni-morava.cz/de/kulturelle-veranstaltungen/852515-transsilvanische-malerei-heute.html

[14] ttps://curatorial.ro/arta/nicolae-romanitan-la-borderline-art-space-din-iasi/

[15] ttps://matcaliterara.ro/my-generation-not-a-song/

[16] ttps://revistaarta.ro/ro/dezvrajit-o-expozitie-despre-conservarea-memoriei/

[17] ttps://revistaarta.ro/ro/idiosincraziile-dumatilor/

[18] ttps://local.cultartes.com/2020/03/18/artistul-nicolae-romanitan-reaseaza-estetica-uratului-in-cultura/

[19] ttps://biblioteca-digitala.ro/reviste/arta-plastica/revista-arta-plastica-seria-veche/Revista-ARTA_SN_20-21_2016.pdf

[20] ttps://empowerartists.org/intalniri-cu-arta/dezvrajit-expozitia-despre-o-lume-aflata-in-prabusire-la-borderline-art-space/

[21] ttps://www.helikon.ro/bejegyzesek/beketlensegunk-tele-reflexek-nicolae-romanitan-tomorrow-in-the-battle-think-on-me-cimu-kiallitasahoz

[22] ttps://biblioteca-digitala.ro/reviste/arta-plastica/revista-arta-plastica-seria-veche/Revista-ARTA_SN_62-63_2023.pdf

[23] ttps://www.munchiesart.club/transylvanian-painting-today-telegraph-gallery-olomouc

[24] ttps://www.icr.ro/pagini/bruxelles-electric-crossroads-proiect-ambitios-dedicat-artei-contemporane-din-romania

[25] ttps://archief.glean.art/expo/electric-crossroads-in-bubble-n-squeak

[26] ttps://www.lesoir.be/380088/article/2021-06-23/electric-crossroads-19-fleurons-de-lart-contemporain-roumain

[27] ttps://www.asiiromani.eu/2025/07/19/expozitia-romaneasca-le-temps-des-objets-tranchants

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Nicolae Romanițan

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