EARLY WORKS, 1975 – 2000

In my early period (approx. 1975–2000), I used photography as a means of recording and documenting some actions and installations which, in a country subdued under a totalitarian regime, the way Romania used to be, could but seldom and only by way of exception be publicly displayed. In the 1980s, while being active in the international mail art network, many such “documents” could be distributed and exhibited all over the world in underground shows and publications, thus becoming free-standing artistic objects. Looking now at my work of that period, I am most impressed by a certain state of restlessness that is coming out of it. The last photographs of this folder are from the exhibition CLOSED DOORS, OPEN ENVELOPES. IOSIF KIRÁLY – EARLY WORKS, 1975 – 2000 opened at MNAC Bucharest between 26th of April - 30th of September 2018 (https://mnac.ro/event/6/U%C8%99i%20%C3%8Enchise,%20Plicuri%20Deschise.%20Iosif%20Kir%C3%A1ly%20%E2%80%93%20Lucr%C4%83ri%20timpurii,%201975%20%E2%80%93%202000) The exhibition “Closed Doors, Open Envelopes. Iosif Király – Early Works, 1975 – 2000” proposes the presentation of the early artistic activity of Iosif Király under the sign of recovery and critical revision. According to the artist’s testimony, the title refers to the fact that most of the actions and works presented in this exhibition happened not in public spaces, but in private ones, behind closed doors or in any case without spectators. The great majority of the works were not exhibited at that time, since, back then, they were assumed and intended for an audience from another place or time. However, the envelopes – a tangible testimony of mail-art – represented an opening to the “true” world that the artist could only imagine and which he knew only indirectly. At the same time, towards the end of the 1980s, envelopes began to be tracked by the Securitate (Department of State Security), they were opened and/or stopped off their way before reaching the recipient. This is why mail-art is a significant landmark, an important section of the exhibition, presented in a distinctive space. There are exhibited photographs, drawings, and objects that are made in a chronological range that fits into recent history: the 1970s and 1980s (with some significant extensions in the last decade of the last century). If we look back from a present perspective, the years after 1990 are an extension and a conclusion of the paradigm that began in 1975, being, at the same time, the years of a real opening and penetration in the international artistic context and of orientation towards the themes that would dominate Király’s creation until today (time, memory, archive, etc.) or to activities as educator and project initiator. Artist: Iosif Király Curator: Ruxandra Demetrescu MNAC Bucharest Coordinator: Alexandru Oberländer-Târnoveanu Exhibition design: atelier ad hoc Sponsors: Crama Oprișor, Policolor, Grup Transilvae 26.04.2018 – 30.09.2018