Ana Botezatu

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Working from Berlin across ceramics, drawing, book illustration, set design, puppetry and ethnographic research, Ana Botezatu has developed a practice in which material experiment is closely tied to vernacular imagery and narrative form. Trained in ceramics at the Art and Design University in Cluj Napoca, Botezatu, born in 1982 in Brașov, treats fired clay, embroidery, toys, collage, food and found objects as parts of a continuous visual language. Her ceramic sculptures often function as condensed micro narratives, shaped by references to folk imagery, art historical motifs, plants, patterns and hybrid creatures. Rather than separating the art object from the useful object, she works with the unstable status of things, relating her delicate ceramic pieces to dishes, candleholders, puppets and scenographic fragments. As part of the artist duo Mixer, she also collected, archived and published recipes from Transylvanian villages and the Danube Delta, extending her interest in material culture and vernacular knowledge. Her exhibitions include presentations at Lateral Art Space and Quadro Gallery in Cluj, the Romanian Pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale, Vienna Design Week, Kunstverein Bamberg, Itabashi Art Museum, Stations Berlin, Galerie Auslage Berlin, Cazul 101 Bucharest, Foksal Gallery Foundation Warsaw, Radio Athènes and Non.Sight Istanbul. Her recent work gives increasing attention to spatial composition and temporary forms of display, bringing ceramic practice close to performance, scenography and the material conditions of artistic labour.