Victor Stan’s work to appear in Zavitz this week

Written by Josh Doyle

“I wanted to take a more critical view of art. I tried to blend art and regular life together.” Victor Stan about his art.

“My life isn’t going to be an awesome painting and my art isn’t going to be like my life, but I think there’s a space between the two that can work,” Victor Stan says.

Stan is an artist here at the University of Guelph on his way to graduating. In light of his upcoming exhibit in Zavitz, Stan chatted with the Ontarion about some of his latest work, his opinions on art, and his experiences as a childhood artist.

“My parents have always encouraged me to take art. I’ve been doing it since grade four,” Stan said.  Like many, this talented and innovative young artist started early, submitting portfolios to be involved in his elementary school’s art program.  “It was odd because it would have been a very childish portfolio,” he added.

Stan's efforts to blur the line between art and non-art will appear in Zavitz all week long with the opening reception on Thursday night at 7pm. Graphic by Josh Doyle

Stan studied art throughout high school here in Ontario, attending Cardinal Carter Academy for the Arts in Toronto, but lived most of his young life in his native country of Romania. He learned mostly about classical methods while studying in these schools, which he thinks is important for a developing artist. He expressed the need for an artist to know where art as a whole comes from.

“Otherwise you’re likely to assume that you’re going to do something really interesting, that isn’t actually interesting,” he said.  Stan explained that once you have the background it’s easier to see where you want to make changes, and what direction to go with your own art.

It’s easy to see while looking at Stan’s work that he has no problem making his work interesting. Covering the walls of Stan’s studio in Alexrod were pictures of what looked like family trees without any names. Stan explained that they are actually corporate models used for organizing people.

“You can almost fill in spaces with whatever you want in terms of imagining the hierarchies and the way that we organize ourselves,” Stan explained of his work. This is part of Stan’s recent efforts to blur the line between art and non-art.

“Traces of peoples actions, either things they leave behind or things that they make,” is a major interest of his, Stan explained. One of his projects involves looking at different versions of the same book from the library on campus and documenting the markings people made on the pages, creating what he calls “a Coles notes made by everyone.”

“I wanted to take a more critical view of art. I tried to blend art and regular life together,” he said, while screening his adaptation of Google Earth. By removing all of the useful software offered by the program, Stan leaves us with just a globe spinning at the same rate as the actual planet.

“We all share the pleasure of looking at our home. We assume we can spin the planet around, zoom in and look at things whenever we want… In reality you can’t do that,” he said.

Pictures of abandoned bicycles and barriers also cover a section of wall in Stan’s space, this too echoes one of Stan’s themes of the traces people leave behind. It seems we, as a society, are making art all the time by just being ourselves. The things we leave behind say something about who we are, making them good material for art.

“I try to come in where something’s already built … it becomes what it is because of my approach to art,” said Stan. His work will be showing in Zavitz all week long, but the official opening is Thursday evening after 8pm when drinks and food will compliment the art.