Alexander Tinei
Measuring the Roots
Artist
Alexander Tinei
(1967, Căușeni), Moldovian
Original Title
Measuring the Roots
Date2019
Mediumoil and graphite on canvas
Dimensions200 × 250 cm
Classificationspaintings
Credit LineKunsthalle Praha
DescriptionAlexander Tinei is best known for his figurative paintings and portraits with blue-colored stigmata, which he uses to link his paintings to themes related personal and collective memory. A fundamental motif of his work is the human body. Themes commonly explored in his paintings include human identity, authentic individuality, and the relation between the human body and the passage of time. He makes use of photographs found in newspapers and magazines, which he composes into new configurations. The anatomical accuracy of Tinei’s figures often contrasts with the roughly executed planar background of the paintings, imbuing his canvases with a distinctive collage-like effect.
Much as other paintings by Tinei, Measuring the Roots (2019) depicts a figure in an undefined, abstract space. The background of the piece is fragmented, rendered in darker shades in its lower portion and lighter shades in the upper part. Consequently, the red circle in the upper righthand corner can be interpreted as a sun. As suggested by the title of the painting, the shapes in the bottom part of the canvas represent roots, which Tinei has portrayed in previous works as blue veins growing though his figures. In this piece, they structure the surrounding abstract space, lending the painting new haptic and narrational dimensions. The roots can be understood as symbolic indicators of painful emotions resulting from the loss of communal and familial ties, accompanied by feelings of uprootedness as well as of their substitution by a virtual world and new connections which, however, fail to replace previous relations. Questions of familial, cultural, and ethnic roots and origins have a personal importance for Tinei, who was forced to grow up in a Russian-speaking culture due to Russia’s influence in his homeland of Moldova.
Alexander Tinei (*1967, Căuşeni) grew up behind the Iron Curtain, isolated from European culture and contemporary art. From 1988 to 1991, he studied at the Repin Academy of Fine Arts in Chișinău, where he became versed in academic figurative painting as well as the wet-on-wet painting technique, also known as alla prima. Following his studies, he spent several years in Moscow and in Siberia, where he developed an interest in mystical literature and painting. After returning to Moldavia in 1998, Tinei began experimenting with abstract painting, spatial installations, and inspiration drawn from folklore. He has had solo exhibitions in New York, Vienna, and Budapest. His work has also been displayed in group exhibitions in London, Berlin, Amsterdam, Basel, Prague, and Athens, among other cities. He currently lives and works in Budapest.
Much as other paintings by Tinei, Measuring the Roots (2019) depicts a figure in an undefined, abstract space. The background of the piece is fragmented, rendered in darker shades in its lower portion and lighter shades in the upper part. Consequently, the red circle in the upper righthand corner can be interpreted as a sun. As suggested by the title of the painting, the shapes in the bottom part of the canvas represent roots, which Tinei has portrayed in previous works as blue veins growing though his figures. In this piece, they structure the surrounding abstract space, lending the painting new haptic and narrational dimensions. The roots can be understood as symbolic indicators of painful emotions resulting from the loss of communal and familial ties, accompanied by feelings of uprootedness as well as of their substitution by a virtual world and new connections which, however, fail to replace previous relations. Questions of familial, cultural, and ethnic roots and origins have a personal importance for Tinei, who was forced to grow up in a Russian-speaking culture due to Russia’s influence in his homeland of Moldova.
Alexander Tinei (*1967, Căuşeni) grew up behind the Iron Curtain, isolated from European culture and contemporary art. From 1988 to 1991, he studied at the Repin Academy of Fine Arts in Chișinău, where he became versed in academic figurative painting as well as the wet-on-wet painting technique, also known as alla prima. Following his studies, he spent several years in Moscow and in Siberia, where he developed an interest in mystical literature and painting. After returning to Moldavia in 1998, Tinei began experimenting with abstract painting, spatial installations, and inspiration drawn from folklore. He has had solo exhibitions in New York, Vienna, and Budapest. His work has also been displayed in group exhibitions in London, Berlin, Amsterdam, Basel, Prague, and Athens, among other cities. He currently lives and works in Budapest.
