The Musée de la Chasse et de la Nature gives Mircea Cantor carte blanche
How to define the artist’s work? Mircea Cantor—a Romanian native, a graduate of the École Supérieure des Beaux-Arts of Nantes Métropole, and a winner of the Marcel Duchamp Prize in 2011—describes himself as an “image hunter.” This is also the title of his new Parisian exhibition at the Musée de la Chasse et de la Nature, where he has carte blanche. In the museum, located on Rue des Archives, Mircea Cantor explores the notion of territory through his memories, of a Romania that cultivated a special relationship with wild animals, especially bears and goats. Alongside his drawings and films (including “Aquila non capit muscas,” depicting an eagle hunting a drone, and “Deeparture,” placing a wolf and deer in the artificial confines of a white cube space), Mircea Cantor exhibits nearly a hundred popular masks borrowed from the National Museum of the Romanian Peasant. This is the first time that these masks, made for year-end celebrations called the “Colindă,” have left Romania for an exhibition. Committed to popular rituals and traditions, Mircea Cantor has invited artists from the Cluj School to exhibit works in the “Chambres d’amis” on the second floor. For the opening, the artist was joined by the director of the museum, Claude d’Anthenaise, and the Romanian Ambassador to France, Luca Niculescu. The exhibition, part of the France-Romania 2019 season, is on view until March 31st.
