Are you working on something new these days?
Yep, I’m working on a research project with Alina Lupu (writer and artist), which will be shown in parallel with my next solo show in the annex of the Suprainfinit gallery. It will take place sometime next year in the springtime.
Could you describe your thought process and technique to us?
Mostly, I’m working with sculpture/installation but first I devise the concept and then I create the medium. So the medium is secondary for me. For some reason, in the past two years, I worked mainly around the “delivery” theme (Uber Eats, Amazon, etc.) and also delivery as a pop culture item.
Does your hometown reflect in your works?
I was born and raised in Bucharest, Romania, and since I turned the legal age to travel alone, I was living in France and, currently, I’m living in Lausanne, Switzerland. It absolutely relates to my work, but it’s more about the energy not the ideology or historical facts. I mean, you could see that as an energy that is giving me the drive to do what I’m doing.
Does your work have any kind of sports background?
Really cool you asked this because nobody knows that I have actually played football for seven years or maybe more. Besides that, I was drawing and doing “creative” things all the time. I can see my team spirit in my projects sometimes… working with instructions, sharing with people, etc.
What’s the main source of inspiration for you? Daily life, my personal background, politics, contemporary aspects of life and DELIVERIES.
Actually, I’m delivering pizza for Domino’s :))))
TEXT FOR THE Delivery EXHIBITION / by Miriam Laura Leonardi / Prospects of the promising future of Limbo.
There are more deliveries for less doors and drones drop them right on our little shoulders. The packages come from overseas, overnight, oversized. Ștefan Tănase proposes modes of wrapping. Yet, there are always Customs and there will be many more because there will be more borders. Nothing to declare? We aren’t able to track our packages when they are in the hands of the authority in a state of limbo and if they get blocked we can’t just give the border control a bad ranking. Express Shippings arrive late but no money is returned because the shipper’s policy doesn’t deal with political problems (or bilateral agreements). Ștefan Tănase proposes a private delivery (wo)man. Once the package gets to us there is no time to check if the gilet really fits or if the perfume smells truly good. So instead of returning we just keep it. But nobody will be able to track us. Ștefan Tănase suggests the exploration of the dark matter. The helmet in his exhibition is made out of clay and has to be sprinkled with water every other day to be kept alive and not to dry up and crack. Crunchy crust! After some digital detox we are reminded of a more rudimentary and short distance delivery where we still can order Family size… But anticipating the failure of even such a concept as sharing Ștefan Tănase proposes to give everyone the best part of the cake already. But don’t be fooled! As with everything that comes delivered, you can never be sure of what’s really inside the box.
TEXT FOR THE “Cans ‘n’ Statistics“ EXHIBITION / by Stefan Tănase
Postdelivery
I cannot see the back of my head
Cordon bleu ́ sauce samurai+++ sauce fromagèré and fritte
Flex and Flix in a bus not even thinking about the future and past
Blabalabalabalabalabalababalabala
Balabalabala car
TEXT FOR THE “What a day!“ EXHIBITION / by Manuel Fahrer
No capacity to ramble around this time like I usually do. “Things” are going on. The “Delivery Prince” was scheduled to drop his cargo this afternoon when I was out of town but I didn’t hear back from him. Instead, some small town government officials called me on the phone and ordered me to appear immediately on the spot (which was physically just impossible to accomplish). Not even had the time to buy a small gift for Ştefan, I mean it’s his birthday today.
BIO/ Stefan Tănase (b.1996, Bucharest, Romania) is a multidisciplinary artist interested in what he calls ‘’sugar, spice and everything nice’’– topics ranging from the off-world to magic, experiments, rituals, networking, delivery and science, and what it’s like to live in the 21st century as a millennial migrant. With a background in graphics (National University of Arts Bucharest from 2015-2016) and visual communication (Higher Institute of Fine Arts, Besançon, France from 2016-2017), Ștefan Tănase is currently studying fine arts at the Cantonal School of Art and Design of Lausanne (Ecal), Switzerland, where he’s looking to decompose, scan and deliver power, happiness and crazy energy.
