January 2014
Florilegium
Artist’s Statement
FLOR • I • LE • GI • UM In medieval Latin a florilegium was a compilation of excerpts from other writings. The word is formed from the Latin flos (flower) and legere (to gather): literally a gathering of flowers, or collection of fine extracts from the body of a larger work.
With Florilegium, I am collecting excerpts from personal experiences that illustrate the narrative mechanism of vulnerability. I entered into a relationship with myself by producing and receiving the art, feeling and evoking at the same time the emotion I was experiencing.
I choose to express individual state of soul, uniting with the self and the artist, embracing vulnerability. By creating these experiences I separated and isolated my expression from resistance to the ordinary world, giving to the viewer something he should care about. Beyond the consciousness of myself, there is the inner feel of expression, where the control over details is lost. Florilegium is the place where worries, obsessions, frustration, arguments, inability, suffering, thrill and desire come to life. Being fully human – imperfect trying to be perfect, conflicted trying to be rational, and simply sincere – helps me trace a path into the life of my reflective self.
A sage is not afraid of lack of knowledge: he is not afraid of hesitations, or hard work, but he is afraid of only one thing – to pretend to know the things which he does not know. You should study more to understand that you know little. — Michel de Montaigne
Biography
Gabriela Iancu is a visual artist, with a developed taste on food and conceptual photography, cinematography and graphic design. Born in Romania, Gabriela has earned a Bachelor of Business in Information Technology in Romania and a Bachelor of Digital Communication in France. She started to paint with oil colors at age 12 and at 15 she was taking landscape photographs. In 2013, she was accepted and granted with a Graduate Fellowship Award worth $24,000, for Master studies in Photography at the School of Fine Arts, Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD), Atlanta, Georgia. In 2013, she was twice awarded honorable mention in Advertising – Food (non-professional) at International Photography Award (IPA).
Gabriela is passionate about capturing the rustic, honest side of subjects – food and lifestyle as well – producing conceptual stories with atmospheric style ranging from romantic-English age to interwar period inspiration. Her photography is design-driven due to her attention to details and styling, having a mind-set for editorial-style projects. Her aim is to capture the aesthetic climate of the subjects, in the form of intimate storytelling, in order to shape an expressive image of feelings. Her work has been featured on Design*Sponge, Decor8, Millésime, Decât o Revista, and Omnivore.
Gabriela launched in 2011, What Liberty Ate magazine, a bi-annual independent publication which resonates to the curious, educated reader, interested in honest and creative food made at home, personal stories, essays, photographic projects, and interviews, focusing on pastoral, simple, yet elegant living.
