Claudia Retegan’s project aims to expand the field of photographic inquiry from the perspective of image perception and the ways in which we assign meaning and interpretation to images. What do we think and feel when faced with images in which the subject is not clearly defined or easy to identify? In the case of documentary photography, the answer is simple and straightforward. We obtain information about something that exists somewhere at a certain point in time. If the subject becomes diluted in a flow of visual information, then, naturally, for the informed viewer, attention shifts to the process of understanding and interpreting images, as well as to the way photography is presented within an artistic context. The classic rectangular frame, the imaginary window into existing or plausible worlds, expands and becomes a “mirror” reflecting our intimate way of relating to representations of the world. As this window disintegrates to the point where we no longer focus on what we see but rather on how we see, we witness a material reconfiguration of the defining elements of an image—such as form, color, and texture.

The visual situations created by the artist in the gallery space involve the cohabitation of multiple elements: flat vinyl shapes in chromatic harmony with the photographic images, which in turn are constructed by layering multiple images. This photomontage technique has historical roots in the artistic practices of the Surrealists in the early decades of the 20th century, when the juxtaposition of multiple images aimed to divert the viewer’s attention from the real world, projecting them instead into the universe of the subconscious.

In the case of this exhibition endeavor, the “diversion” directs the viewer toward perceptual analysis. The monumental scale of the works, their organic cohabitation with colored vinyl signs, and their spatial installation allow the viewer to become immersed in an abstract, semiotic space. Is this process arid or “cold”? I wouldn’t say so. The images have a distinct poetics; the fragments of natural or urban landscapes bear witness to the artist’s wanderings, in which the camera functions like a seismograph of her inner states.

If I were to contextualize Claudia Retegan’s project, I would place it within post-photographic practices—not in terms of canceling photography’s representational function, but in the sense of meticulously and “slowly” constructing images in order to reflect on the way we assign meaning and interpretation to them. And, not least, I would point out that the way the artist conceives, develops, and presents her images stems from the postmodern tradition of the 1980s, with its interest in visual plasticity.

Claudia Retegan (b. 1984 in Romania) is a visual artist, designer, curator and gallerist working within the medium of photography in Bucharest, Romania. In 2008, she graduated with a BA Hons from the The University of Leeds, U.K. For the following four years she worked in advertising agencies as an art director in Bucharest. In 2012 she moved to New York to study photography at International Center of Photography, where she worked as a teaching assistant, opened up her own artist studio in Brooklyn, and took part in several group shows. Two years later she relocated to Los Angeles California to pursue her MFA in Photography at The California Institute of the Arts.

Over the years she self published, designed artist books, curated and took part in several group shows. Some of these projects were exhibited at Rencontres d’Arles, FR/ Bushwick Open Studios, NY,/ MOMA PS1Art Book Fair, New York /Luhring Augustine, New York/ Photoville, New York/ Photo LA , Los Angeles/ Unseen, Amsterdam NL. Her most recent endeavour is 2/3 GALERIA, a young gallery launched in 2020 in Bucharest focusing on exhibiting contemporary artists with an acute fondness for the photographic medium.