Artists all over the world are discussing the secret of
success. Adrian Ghenie is a living proof that it is possible to make money from
painting, while others are struggeling to sustain their daily life. In 15
years, the values of Adrian Ghenie’s paintings are increased 16 fold. And he is
just in the beginning of his fourties, born 1977. Sometimes, it is discussed that he might be
overrated, which happened to Pablo Picasso in his lifetime as well. Nevertheless
Adrian Ghenie continues his way to his place in art history, as one of the
fastest emerging artists. The dream came true the previous taxi-driver who
emigrated to Vienna is nowadays a millionaire just from painting.
The story began at the art-university of the Transilvanian
city of Cluj-Napoca, which is actually well known amongst art-connoisseurs for
its “School of Cluj”, which started becoming famous after Ghenie appeared on
the international art-stage. “He came together with the right people in a time
when the line of the School of Cluj had been uncovered”, states Ion Sbrciu, Director of the Art
University. He opened the doors for a lot of Romanian painters, and he directed
the awareness of an international audience to the high quality painting from
Romania. The art schools in Timisoara, Iasi, Oradea and in Bucharest are
teaching art in a long forgotten technic of academic figurative painting, which
is uncovered again, which is as well an effort of Ghenie. Therefore it is more
than expected, that Romanian President Klaus Iohannis has awarded him in
February 2019 “For Merit in Knight Rank”.
Romanian artists of the next generation are in line to
follow. Oana Ionel, Radu Rodideal and
Albert Sofian are gaining more and more international awareness, since they had
been invited by Rolls Royce Motorcars Munich to expose their works on social
events of the noble car brand. Contemporary Romanian art is free of the
prejudice, that they are technical brilliant and don’t know what to do with
their phantasy. Either academic realistic or lyrical abstract, Romanian artists
are on their way to the top.
Adrian Ghenie earns now, as he says, more money than he
needs. Therefore he wants to bring money back to the society. He is co-founder
of the art-center “Fabrica de pensule” in Cluj, where the old brush factory had
been transformed into an art space, with studios, galleries and meeting places.
Here is as well the Romanian branch of his Gallery “Plan B’, which he
established together with his friend Mihai Pop.
As Adrian Ghenie went to Berlin, he had been not good enough for the
established galleries to accept his portfolio. After several rejections, he
decided to establish his own gallery. In that time Ghenie had been proud, if he
could sell a work with 7.000 Euro, afterwards he found the same works on
Sotheby’s with hundred-thousands of Pounds
It had been a long way, Ghenie ran in a short time. Most of
all, he and his friends understood the rules of the game very quickly. They
understood to make the right contacts and to move strategically smart. They had
been driven by the inner power to continue. He jumped over the magic line of 1 Mio Euro,
because he publishes only 10 – 15 works per year. The waiting list is long, and
the prices are still increasing.
“How Adi did it?”It
will remain a mythos with legends and fairytales. Maybe the investors who
became rich with contemporary art from Romania understand.
