BIOGRAPHY | M.M. Ciciovan

With twenty years of artistic carrer, M.M. Ciciovan is one of the leading figures of Contemporary Canadian art. She has staged many solo and group exhibitions and her paintings can be found in public and private collections throughout Canada and abroad, especially in New York, Washington, Boston, Miami, Paris, Madrid, Singapore, Nassau, Bucharest and Cluj.

Born in 1970, in a small Romanian village, M.M. Ciciovan has been drawing and painting since childhood. After the fall of the communist regime, she moved to Montreal to pursue an artistic career. She holds a minor in Fine Arts from the University of Montreal, and a Bachelor degree in Visual and Media Arts (B.F.A.) from the University of Quebec at Montreal (UQAM). For over 15 years, M.M. Ciciovan dedicated herself entirely to artistic creation.

M.M. Ciciovan's art is based on memory: “more specifically her memories and perceptions of the places from her life, said the Montreal editor and publisher, Wah Keung Chan. She explores an aesthetic and is in search of its beauty and harmony. She challenges her own universe, pushing it to the ideal. The color palette mixes earth tones with light to create a world in orange with hints of blue, yellow and green.”

The Montreal journalist, Dorota Kozinska, is also praising the art of M.M. Ciciovan in the magazine Vie des Arts : "The pleasure of viewing Ciciovan's urban magic is purely aesthetic. it is not even emotional, but rather reflective, a brief glimpse before gently receding back into the memory. […] Ciciovan's roots are Romanian, her creative inspiration universal, and her style all her own."

Somewhere in between abstraction and the figuration, realism and imagination, M. M. Ciciovan’s paintings give a metaphorical and poetic meaning to the urban landscape. Her artwork is characterized by great freedom of execution, through improvisation and spontaneity. The balance and structure remain however very present: the vertical and horizontal geometry, the architectural elements, the game of mirrors and double images, or the effect of juxtaposition of various perspectives in one same image, are a constant in her work, regardless of the technique used. The color and light do not only evoke the shape, but primarily arise the energy and vibration of the image. Those are the words of professor and mentor, the late Antoine Pentsch, who new best to describe the essence of M.M. Ciciovan's art.

EXHIBITIONS

2020, Urban Memories, Canadian Art Concepts, Toronto (ON) (solo exhibition)

2019, Retrospective, Queens of ART, POP UP Gallery, Montréal (Québec) (solo exhibition)

2018, Espace MARA's First Anniversary, Montréal (Québec) (solo exhibition)

2018, Urban Renewal, Emillions Arts with Artsy, New York (NY) (group exhibition)

2018, Mystical Forces, Salomon Arts Gallery, New York (NY) (group exhibition)

2017, Official Opening, Espace MARA , Montréal (Québec) (solo exhibition)

2017, Abstraction Sauvage, Le Livart, Montréal (Québec) (Group Exhibition)

2017, Global Art Exhibition, Emillions Art, Naples (Florida) (Group Exhibition)

2016, The Time of Secrets, Galerie d’art Images Boréales, Montréal (Québec) (solo exhibition)

2016, Spring Exhibition, Artblend Gallery, Fort Lauderdale (Florida) (group exhibition)

2016, Winter Exhibition, Artblend Gallery, Fort Lauderdale (Florida) (group exhibition)

2015, The Birds of Paradise, Galerie d’art Images Boréales, Montréal (Québec) (solo exhibition)

2015, Fall Exhibition, Artblend Gallery, Fort Lauderdale (Florida) (group exhibition)

2014, The Land of the Elders, Galerie d’art Images Boréales, Montréal (Québec) (solo exhibition)

2011, In Search of Time Lost, Chapelle historique du Bon Pasteur, Montreal (Quebec) (solo exhibition)

2009, Contemplations, The Contemporary Arts Gallery, Montreal (Quebec) (solo exhibition)

2008, The Great Travelling, Chapelle historique du Bon Pasteur, Montreal (Quebec) (solo exhibition)

2008, Lights and Shadows, Spotlight on Montréal, Hotel Nelligan, Montréal (Quebec) (group exhibition)

2007, Dialogues of the Memory, Montreal Art Gallery, Montreal (Quebec) (solo exhibition)

2006, Mirages, Scotia Bank ScotiaMcLeod, Montreal (Quebec) (solo exhibition)

2005, Beyond the Horizon (II), Olivieri Bookstore/Bistro, Montreal (Quebec) (solo exhibition)

2004, Beyond the Horizon, Brigitte Desroches Gallery, Montreal (Quebec) (solo exhibition)

2003, Souvenirs of the Earth, National Theater, Bucharest (Romania) (solo exhibition)

2002, Variations, Romanian Embassy, Ottawa (Ontario) (solo exhibition)

2002, My Childhood - Roumanie en Rose, Pierre Peladeau Center, Montreal (Quebec) (thematic exhibition with the filmmaker Jean-Claude Labrecque)

2001, Parameter, UQAM Gallery, Montreal (Quebec) (group exhibition)

2001, Leaving the Nest, InterPalace Gallery, Montreal (Quebec) (solo exhibition)

2001, Wavering, C. Brancusi Exhibition Center, Montreal (Quebec) (group exhibition)

ART FAIRS

2016, X Contemporary, Miami Beach, Florida

2016, SIDIM (Salon du Design), Montréal (Qc)

2015, Spectrum Miami, Midtown Miami, Miami (FL)

2015, Artexpo New York, PIER 94, New York (NY)

2014, Boston International Fine Art Show, Cyclorama, Boston Center for the Arts, Boston (MA)

ONLINE ART CATALOG

You can now download M.M. Ciciovan's art catalog!

"The works of M.M. Ciciovan act like those songs that emerge, incomplete, from our memory and that we must complement with our own new rhymes. Such inspiration is shaped by the strength of the colors superimposed on the canvas, by the movement of the light, but also by the moment’s mood, by our memories, by today. Suddenly, the painting triggers our sensitivity and turns it into its key."

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