Florin Anton Ciubotaru was born in Focşani in 1939. A pupil of the Institutul de Arte Plastice ‘Nicolae Grigorescu’, like many of his noteworthy contemporaries, he graduated in 1963 (studying under Corneliu Baba and Ştefan Constantinescu) and thereafter developed into a (meta)critical painter. His path has been one of challenge, exploration, questioning and endless reconsideration.
Ciubotaru – also known as Ciubo – draws meaning and purpose less from style than from methodology and approach. More than simply an artist, Ciubotaru fancies himself the independent narrator of his artistic trajectory. This is partly due to his lack of patience for what he perceives to be the masquerades of the cultural world. Indeed, be it scenography, seriality and naming, signage, exhibitions, openings, press relations or critic appraisal, all these conventional aspects of the contemporary art scene are so codified in the eyes of Ciubotaru that he deems them stereotypes, useless hindrances he prefers to forego in search of true freedom of expression.
His communications around his own exhibitions as formulaic empty ceremonies are incredibly telling. His art is similarly reflective, with him layering and veiling means of representation in intimate compositions only he is likely to fully appreciate and understand. Ciubotaru’s obsession with freedom of expression and his refusal to give into what he perceives to be a problematic system perhaps explain the cryptic nature of his work.
In addition to his artistic reflections, Ciubotaru is also a professor in the painting department of the Universitatea Națională de Arte București.
