Anca Branzas

Perpetually in search of new horizons, Anca Branzas draws her inspiration from every new place she encounters; seeking new experiences and insights for her art. The resulting bold and vivid figurative compositions serve as a diary in which different past and present narrative collide. Her paintings are filled with odd and peculiar characters that animate visually outlandish stories; offering us a picture of humanity in its absurd manifestation. They are both humorous and profound, unveiling a real-life fable filled with symbolism, rituals and fantastical characters. Using a lively colour palette and exuberantly painted imagery, Anca Branzas’ employs an expressive way of painting that hovers somewhere between dream, fantasy and reality.

Anca Branzas (b. 1986, Oradea, Romania) is a painter living and working between Champery, Switzerland and the south of France. In 2010, she graduated a master’s degree at the Academy of Arts, Bucharest and in 2015 she obtained a PhD in visual arts from the University of Arts and Design, Cluj Napoca. Within the PhD program she received two Erasmus scholarships in Macerata, Italy (2012) and in Berlin (2015). Between 2015-2018, she had an artistic residency offered by Intact Space (Centrul de Interes, Cluj Napoca). Her solo exhibitions include Cluj after School, Sabot Gallery, Centrul de Interes, Cluj-Napoca (2017-2018); Gradina Zmeilor, Irina M. Gallery, The Painbrush Factory, Cluj-Napoca (2016); Dincolo de bine, Dincolo de rau, Atelier Patru Gallery, Cluj-Napoca (2015); The Earth is Awry, Lateral Gallery, The Paintbrush Factory, Cluj-Napoca (2013). In 2015 she was part of the group exhibition T.A.N.G.O. at the Museum of Art, Cluj-Napoca.