Andrei Mateescu was born in 1988 in Bucharest (Romania) and studied in the frame of the Dynamic Image and Photography Department of the National University of Arts in the same city, where he went on to get his BFA and subsequently MFA in 2012. He grew up in a succession of communist apartment-block estates, first training his eye and imagination through early, random photo experiments with a cheap key-chain digital camera. Moving on to a more formal investigation of the syncretism and delicate relationships which articulate the fabric of present-day urban landscape, his preoccupations first led to the RoArchive collaborative project (initiated by Iosif Kiraly), contributing with a series on the tourist Romanian seaside – Olympus (2009-2011). It did not take long for an underlying preoccupation towards the photographic medium’s boundaries, and ability to adequately communicate contemporary society’s intricacies, to be felt in his series. A notable first step being the tackling of the complexities of an eclectic and difficult East European urban landscape in his Multilateral, HYPER and Residential trilogy. Following this, he further expanded and approached such concepts and themes resulting in projects as gray (Gy), CC, Index, AM AM or Like Water Under the Bridge.
He currently lives and works in Bucharest, Romania.
2019
Solo show Like Water Under the Bridge at Galeria Posibila, October-November
Solo show AM AM at the Spațiul 2/2, Timișoara space, May-June
2018
AM AM project present at Cazul 101 Bucharest, in the “Archive 101” show, July
AM AM project present at Borderline Art Space Iași, in the “Archeology and post-archive” show, April-May
2017
Like Water Under the Bridge featured at Borderline Art Space Iași, in the group show “On Water and Things”, December
Like Water Under the Bridge featured at Victoria Art Center Bucharest, in the group show “DPlatform Season 2”, November
2016
HYPER featured at ApARTE Gallery Iaşi, in the “Clinical Architectures for a Compositionist Future” show, part of the first edition of the “Contemporary Photography and Dynamic Image Biennial”, organised by the Contemporary Photography Center, May
Present in the group show “D-Platform Preview”, hosted by Galeria Posibilă, December
2015
Photography series and installation Index created together with Sabin Gârea featured at Anca Poterașu Gallery, in the frame of the “What About Poor Gregor Samsa” event, February
Photography series Residential and Under-Construction photography series featured in the CAV – Multimedia Gallery, in the show “Concrete Paradise”, in collaboration with Sabin Gârea, February
2014
Group show in the frame of the “Celeste Prize” 2014 award with the Residential project, in Italy – Milano, Assab One Gallery, November
Multilateral Installation at the National Museum of Contemporary Art, in the group show “WHAT ABOUT Y[OUR] MEMORY” celebrating the 20th anniversary of the foundation of the Photo-Video department in UNArte Bucharest, November
Winner of the AnnArt Gallery Award 2014 for young artists
Photographic series Re-Place featured at AnnArt Gallery, Bucharest, in the group show “TAA_2014”, October
2013
gray (Gy) shown at apARTe Gallery, Iași, in “It will happen already”, November
The gray (Gy) series shown at Victoria Art Center Bucharest in “Switched Over”, October
Laureate of ESSL Nominees Night Romania 2013, event organized at The Victoria Art Center, in June.
2012
Selected in the frame of the “Start Point Prize 2012”, representing Romania at the The DOX Gallery in Prague with the HYPER series, July
Itinerary of E-Cites Bucharest at The Museum of Modern Art of Saint Etienne, France
Itinerary of E-Cites Bucharest at The Walon Center of Contemporary Art of Flemelle, Belgium
Multilateral showed at The Museum of Modern Art of Thessaloniki, Greece, September
2011
Group show “Generațion TAA 2011”, at AnnArt Gallery Bucharest, September
2010
Participant with the Multilateral project at The European Contemporary Art Fair of Strasbourg, in the show Transitions Urbaines, organized by the Apollonia Cultural Asociation together with The Romanian Cultural Institute, November