During this past week, the jury consisting of the director of the “Constantin Pufan” School for Inclusive Education, the co(art) artistic consultant, and a Banat IT representative had a tough decision to make; select the winning work piece from all the applications submitted for the Open Call for Mural Painting.
We were excited to see artists and groups of artists crossing the barrier of the standard requirements for a “mural” and proposing participatory, digital, and interdisciplinary solutions.
The variety of proposals only makes us believe even more in the vision of Romanian creators and in the fact that art always finds innovative solutions in fields such as education, science, and technology.
We salute all the artists who have applied to our Open Call. We’d like to thank them for their participation and especially for the time they invested in looking for the right aesthetics that will fit the needs of the children studying at “Constantin Pufan”.
After carefully reviewing all of the applications, the jury decided on proposing a collaboration between two artists who come from different interest zones, have a complementary background and their artistic collaboration could have a great impact on the children studying there.
We are excited to announce the two artists who will work on the mural painting are Paul Blaj & Andrei Dragan. Congratulations to both of them!
About Paul Blaj:
Since he was a child he was always in contact with the artistic world thanks to his dad. He encouraged him to paint, sculpt, engrave, and experiment art in all its different forms. He graduated from “Sabin Dragoi” Art High School in Arad and continued his studies in Architecture at the Polytechnic University of Timisoara. Even though he is practicing architecture as a day to day job he couldn’t detach himself from the artistic field, discovering mural art & graffiti. He considers these are a good channel to transmit a message that could be easily understood by anyone. He considers himself a very adaptable person who is always willing to learn and experiment with new ideas.
His projects include various private commissions and architecture contest awards.
About Andrei Dragan:
He is also known as LUX in the creative community. He draws since he can remember. In any environment, with any tools, on any surface. His perpetual attraction to image creation initially pushed him towards a career in graphic design & advertising, where he worked for 8 years in various agencies and creative studios. He has now shifted his focus to more creative areas, namely illustration, mural art, and graffiti. In the field of mural art and graffiti, in addition to numerous personal experiments, he had various collaborations with: Plai festival, TIMAF, Transylvania Downhill, Electric Castle, Iulius Mall, Vox, MNAC, and Chio (at Untold Festival).
LUX is self-characterized by versatility, mastering a wide variety of styles and techniques, his go-to weapon remaining the spray-paint.
The selected proposals tell stories that can be easily understood by the children who study at the “Constantin Pufan” School. The entrance of the building will become a portal with symbols of everyday professions and will also display a message translated into sign language. The main character of this portal to knowledge will be embodied by a child flying into the universe curious to explore the unknown.
The co(art) Open Call for Mural Painting is a project part of The co(art) Supporting Artists Program. This project is initiated by Banat IT and organized with the support of the “Constantin Pufan” School for Inclusive Education together with ACIA (Asociatia Culturala pentru Interventie Artistica), and funded by INTEL.
