photography, painting and the visual world of female identity in the Garzon, Plaza, Business&Art and Hotel art spaces

Art in a lively, bustling space

Hotel, Garzon and Plaza are not conventional galleries, but rather a vibrant, constantly active hotel and community space.

The works on display therefore do not meet their audience exclusively in a closed gallery with fixed opening hours. Hotel guests, business travellers, local residents, art collectors and art lovers can engage with contemporary art as a natural part of their everyday lives.

The exhibition every day of the week, 24 hours a day, free of charge can be viewed.

Andreia Ioana Cismasiu – from photography to painting

Andreia Ioana Cismasiu was born in 1979 in Torda, Cluj County, and lives and works in Cluj-Napoca. He graduated in 2003 from the Photography, Video and Image Processing course at the University of Arts and Design in Cluj-Napoca, and went on to complete a Master’s degree in Photography at the same institution in 2011.

He has been a member of the The Union of Visual Artists of Romania, and since 2010 he has been a member of the D. Fleiss East-West Artists art collective. In 2005, he was also awarded a scholarship from the Romanian Artists’ Union, established for young artists.

Photography serves as the starting point for his creative thinking, though he combines this with painting and other visual techniques. The precision of the photographic gaze thus meets the freedom of painting. Visual elements drawn from reality are transformed, given new layers, and become part of a personal, inner universe.

Women as a central theme

The most important and most consistently recurring theme in Andreia Cismasiu’s art the woman.

According to her own artistic statement, the woman depicted in her paintings represents both herself and the universal feminine figure. The female portraits and body forms are tools for the search for identity: the self found and lost, happiness, inner radiance, vulnerability and a fresh start are all present in them.

That is why the female figure in his paintings is not simply a model or a portrait.

It conveys an inner story.

It forges a link between personal experience and the universal human experience. A glance, a posture or a woman’s silhouette can simultaneously evoke a memory, a desire, uncertainty or hope.

The viewer does not, therefore, observe the image as an outsider: they can enrich it with their own feelings and stories.

A dreamlike world – between light and shadow

One of the most significant characteristics of Andreia Cismasiu’s visual world is the clash of opposites.

Light and shadow, light and dark colours, reality and fantasy, recognisable human figures and symbolic pictorial spaceappear simultaneously in his works. By his own account, his works evoke dreams, illusions, fantasy, innocence and the inner contradictions of human nature.

For this reason, the compositions often follow the logic of a dream or a memory.

They do not necessarily tell a specific story. Rather, they weave together moods, feelings and layers of thought.

The elements derived from photography lend the scene a sense of realism, whilst the painted layers, colours and motifs gradually distance it from everyday reality.

The photograph as a personal diary

Perhaps one of the most accurate interpretations of Andreia Cismasiu’s art Silvia Suciu he put it.

According to this interpretation, the artist’s works are sincere expressions of his everyday experiences; at the same time, they also provide him with an opportunity to step outside everyday reality and artistically recreate his own universe. Thus, every work is a kind of a diary entry, a confession, a memory or a desire may become.

This idea is one of the keys to Andreia Cismasiu’s art.

His paintings are personal, yet not insular. The artist draws on his own experiences, yet leaves the painting open to the viewer’s interpretation.

The work does not tell us what we should feel.

It tends to trigger an association.

A memory. A feeling. A question.

Self-portrait and the search for self

The search for one’s true self is a recurring theme in Andreia Cismasiu’s body of work.

In her works, the concept of the self-portrait is far broader than that of the traditional portrait. She does not necessarily paint her own face: she also expresses her own inner states and experiences through the female figures, gestures and moods depicted in her paintings.

According to the artist’s official statement, in her paintings the woman represents both the lost and rediscovered self, and the bearer of happiness and inner light. Her works reflect a process of ongoing self-discovery.

It is this personal touch that makes his works both intimate and universal.

For Andreia Cismasiu, a photograph is not simply a record of a scene, but an exploration of who we are, what we have lost, what we are searching for, and what we rediscover within ourselves.

Where photography and painting meet

Andreia Cismasiu’s professional career is closely linked to photography.

He completed both his undergraduate and postgraduate studies in this field, before gradually combining photographic techniques with other painting and visual art processes. The professional biography published by the Romanian Artists’ Union also highlights this creative method, which is based on photography and combined with other fine art techniques.

The encounter between the two media creates a unique visual tension.

A photograph preserves an impression of reality.

And painting gives us the freedom to transform it.

In Andreia Cismasiu’s works, these two elements are inseparable. The photographic and painterly layers, shaping one another, create that distinctive visual world which is one of the most important hallmarks of her art.

An international career in the arts

Throughout her career, Andreia Cismasiu has taken part in numerous exhibitions both at home and abroad.

Her professional CV includes, amongst other things, In Moscow, New York, Budapest, Mallnitz, Paris, London, Boston, Nantes, Buenos Aires and Subotica lists the group exhibitions, art events and symposia it has organised.

Egyéni kiállítások

• 2026 – Enchanted Realms, The Club by Lions, Kolozsvár (Cluj-Napoca)

• 2025 – Full Moon, Morzsák Galéria, Torockó (Rimetea, Fehér megye)

• 2025   Enchanted Realms, Annie Klaus Galéria, Kolozsvár (Cluj-Napoca)

• 2024 – Naplólapok (Pagini din jurnal), Városi Kulturális Központ, Kolozsvár (Cluj-Napoca)

• 2023 – A virágasszony (The Flower Woman), Raf Galéria, Bukarest

• 2023 – Isteni nőiesség (Divine Feminine), The Club, Kolozsvár (Cluj-Napoca)

• 2022 – Párbeszédek az őseimmel (Dialogues with my ancestors), The Club, Kolozsvár (Cluj-Napoca)

• 2018 – Fantáziavilágok (Fantasy Worlds), Platinia Arthouse Galéria, Kolozsvár (Cluj-Napoca)

A Pages from My Diary – approximately in Hungarian Pages from my diary – The title sums up particularly well the personal, confessional creative approach that runs through his entire body of work.

Andreia Cismasiu and Földváry Castle

The connection between Andreia Cismasiu and the Földváry art programme is nothing new.

The artist In April 2025, she took part in the first creative camp at Földváry Castle, during which contemporary visual artists spent a week working in the castle’s inspiring historical setting. He is also listed amongst the participants on the Földváry Castle’s official retrospective page.

The works created at the artists’ colony were later featured in exhibitions and in the auction programme of Földváry Auction House, thus the artists’ residency simultaneously provided an opportunity for creative work, for artists and collectors to meet, and for contemporary art to be presented to a wider audience.

This latest exhibition in Győr therefore marks the next stage in an artistic relationship that has been developing for some time.

The message of the exhibition

Andreia Cismasiu’s paintings invite the viewer not merely to ask:

What can I see in this picture?

But also this:

What does it bring to mind for me?

Her art speaks simultaneously of femininity, self-identity, love, loss, beauty and man’s constant search for self. According to her own artistic statement, life and love are among her most important sources of inspiration.

The images do not offer a single interpretation.

They allow each visitor to bring their own memories, feelings and questions to the work.

This is where the power of Andreia Cismasiu’s painting lies: It is based on personal stories, yet it speaks of human emotions that are familiar to us all.

Online bidding, supported by Földváry Auction House

The works on display can be viewed not only in the communal spaces of Hotel, Garzon and Plaza, but also at the On the Földváry Auction House’s online auction platform will also be available.

This allows interested parties to experience the actual size, colours, texture and spatial presence of the paintings in person, and then to bid on their chosen works via the online auction system.

Combining a physical exhibition with an online auction makes exploring contemporary art and collecting art a more direct, transparent and accessible experience.