Constantin Severin was born on the 8th of February, 1952, in Baia de Arama, Romania.
He attented the courses of the Faculty of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering within the Polytechnic Institute of Iasi between 1972 and 1977. Later on, from 1977 to 1991, he worked as a chemistry engineer at the Pulp and Paper Factory in Suceava. Post-universitary studies on economics&democracy in Croatia (1991) and society&culture in Sweden (1993). Free art studies.
From 1992 to 2004 he worked as a journalist for Romania libera, Flacara, Monitorul de Suceava and Obiectiv-Vocea Sucevei. From 1992 to 1996 he collaborated with the BBC and Free Europe radio stations.
Currently Constantin Severin works at the County's Library of Bucovina ''I.G. Sbiera'', in Suceava, after a two years break of free-lance activity as an artist. He is a visual artist, member of the European Artists e.V. Velbert group, Germany, and a writer and member of the Romanian Writers' Union. Fellow-worker of the Italian art&architecture magazine ''It's Liquid'' (www.itsliquid.com), concept theorist of the events organized by important international new art movements.
He wrote over 800 articles (on culture, internal and external affairs, art theory and criticism), essays, interviews, and alike. He introduced two new concepts, the archetypal expressionism and post-literature (essay published on the site of the famous Saatchi Gallery in London, www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk ), the former in the sphere of contemporary art and the latter in that of philosophy of culture.
Activity as a visual artist (some works on the sites www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk, www.gallerya.ro)
Solo exhibitions:
''Text and Time'', September 2004, The Bucovina Museum Complex, Suceava, Romania, (included in the EuroNews Agenda of major European cultural events);
''The Signs of the Time'', November 2004, The NahVision Art Gallery in Stuttgart, Germany, together with the German artist Claudia Zachmann (also included in the EuroNews Agenda). These exhibits have also been displayed for the public at the ''Georg August'' University of Goettingen, Germany, in May and April of 2005.
''Time's Metaphors'', February 2006, The Velea (TransArt) Gallery in Bacau, Romania.
Group exhibitions:
The International Cultural Centre in Helsinki, Finland, April, 2005, together with four other Romanian artists (the event was included in the Romanian Cultural Week program);
Palkane, Finland, June 2005, together with 14 other visual artists from Finland, Italy and Romania.
He was one of the 18 artists from Romania, Moldavia, Ukraine, Latvia and Georgia selected for the Art Campus International ''Eurointegration through Art'', Chisinau, June 2006, organized by ARS DOR Association with the support of the International Fund for the Promotion of Culture-UNESCO.
Works in private and state collections from Romania, Germany, Finland, USA, Italy and Ukraine.
Activity as a writer (www.severin.assist.ro)
''The Sunday of Things Real'' (poetry), Junimea Publishing House, Iasi, Romania, 1984;
''Wall and Neutrino'' (poetry, bilingual edition-Romanian/English, translated by Liviu Martinescu), Vlasie Publishing House, Pitesti, Romania, 1994; the poem was included as such in the anthology of ''Contemporary Romanian Poetry'' by Marin Mincu, Pontica Publishing House, 2000; the poem won The Bucovina Cultural Foundation Awards;
''Wall and Neutrino'', Minerva Publishing House, London, 1997; translation by Liviu Marinescu;
''Improvisations on armonic key'' (poetry), Axa Publishing House, Botosani, Romania, 1998;
''The Axolotl'' (poetry), Masina de Scris Publishing House, Bucharest, 1998; the first renga (renku) book in the Romanian literature, bilingual edition-Romanian/English, translation by Liviu Martinescu; awarded by the Bucovina Cultural Foundation, 1999;
''The Alchemical City'' (selected poems), Dacia Publishing House, Cluj-Napoca, Romania, 2002; awarded by the Bucovina Cultural Foundation, 2003;
''The Sacred Empire. Monasteries and churches in Northern Moldavia'', Paralela 45 Publishing House, Pitesti, Romania, 2003.
The poetry award of the Daily Yomiuri newspaper, Japan, 1996. The award for cultural journalism given by the Romanian Ministry of Culture, 1998. The award for cultural journalism given by the City Hall and the County Council of Suceava, 2001.
Archetypal Expressionism
by Constantin Severin
It doesn’t take more than a few words to describe this artistic undertaking: a new concept encompassing an immemorial artistic reality. Archetypal expressionism is indeed a new concept and yet it echoes an ancient tradition in making art, specific to cultures of a remote past.
Strong colors and deformities are not exclusively the prerogative of modern expressionists. The archetype is a universal symbol, just as untranslatable as music. The archetypal cosmos is atemporal; it only contains a virtual germ of time.
The Archetypal Expressionism lies between the two major paradigms of contemporary art, the figurative and the abstract. It represents the spiritual quest for common cultural roots beyond the tragic accidents of history. It is a fascinating approach to rediscovering that Tahiti of our collective memory through the shapes and the exotic figures of our inner lives. It is art suspended between the real and the imaginary, and it needs rigor and mystery, arithmetic and lyricism, simplicity and paradox. Every major work of art begins with an archetype and ends in music, the most ineffable manifestation of time.
“Keeping true to the idiosyncratic attribute of his astrological sign, that of restless seekers of truth and creators of new ideas, the friend Constantin contemplated during many sleepless nights a new concept in plastic art that would justly recognize the ancestral symbols, cultural archetypes specific to the sites of Cucuteni, Gumelnita and Hamangia that, he felt, had been insufficiently appreciated. He named this concept “archetypal expressionism”. ”
Press File (fragments)
(Tiberiu Cosovan – “Constantin Severin – Un revolutionar cu revelatii”, Monitorul de Suceva, 10.08.2004, issue 186)
“The poet and publicist Constantin Severin is experiencing a new spiritual challenge: his début in painting. Four years ago, in his art chronicles dedicated to George Cotos and Ovidiu Maitec, he introduced a new concept in contemporary art, the archetypal expressionism. In brief, his view of this movement combines the strong colors of the German expressionism with the ancient archetypes (universal symbols) of sites such as Cucuteni, Hamangia and Gumelnita.”
(Camelia Berbinschi – “Primele vernisaje de expressionism arhetipal, la Suceava si Stuttgart,” Cronica Sucevei, 5.08.2004, issue 3)
“The archetypal expressionism, a new concept in contemporary art introduced by Constantin Severin, represents a synthesis between the ancient archetypes (in this case those from the sites of Cucuteni, Hamangia and Gumelnita) and the strong, lively colors of the German expressionism. In “Text si Timp”, Constantin Severin introduces to the viewers “an archetypal universe where there is no time, only a virtual germ of time”. One of the most representative poets of the 80s, Constantin Severin creates paintings which bear the mark of the mental and employ universal symbols. His plastic adventure transcends the “postmodern evasions” and becomes a means of self-awareness, of acquiring world knowledge through knowledge of the self. (…) Severin’s art can be regarded as the nostalgia of rediscovering the primordial shapes. (…).”
(Ovidiu Vintila – “Constantin Severin sau melancolia regasirii formelor originare,” Cronica Sucevei, 15.09.2004, issue 36)
“Constantin Severin’s original approach to plastic expression attracted the interest of the EuroNews TV channel. (…) It is a privilege for the city of Suceava as well as an opportunity to gain international recognition through a cultural event. Moreover, by courtesy of the artist, the archetypal expressionism receives a well-deserved recognition in contemporary art, an acknowledgement that Constantin Severin can take great pride in (…).”
(Tiberiu Cosovan – “For three days EuroNews will include in their agenda coverage of Constantin Severin’s first painting exhibition in Suceava,” Monitorul de Suceava, 15.09.2004”)
“EuroNews announced their coverage between the 17th and the 19th of September of a Romanian painter from Suceava.”
(Sergiu Rusu – “Artist sucevean expus la EuroNews”, Evenimentul Zilei, 16.09.2004, issue 3856)
“After having dedicated a substantial part of his life to the world of books, Constantin Severin takes up a new challenge and calls for the strong colors of the German expressionism to bring homage to the primordial archetypes of the Cucuteni, Hamangia and Gumelnita sites. It is this new approach that affirms his declared condition of artist, founder, theoretician and practitioner of archetypal expressionism.”
(Doina Cernica – “Constantin Severin, asemenea lui Marin Sorescu,” Crai Nou, 16.09.2004, issue 3751)
“Constantin Severin sets the ground for the archetypal expressionism, a new avant-garde movement, well-received by the European public. The exhibition, whose title – “Text si Timp”– arrests the viewer’s attention, was introduced to the public in Suceava by the painter Ilie Boca (winner of the Plastic Artists’ Union 2003 Award), the art critic Valentin Ciuca (member of the International Art Critics Association) and Emil Ursu, Director of the Directorate of Culture and Cults (…).”
(Isabel Bedreaga – ““Text si timp”, pe simezele sucevene,”, Cronica Sucevei, 18.09.2004, issue 38)
“Upon private viewing on Friday, September 17th, 2004, Constantin Severin’s painting exhibition, open at the History Museum in Suceava, enjoyed a large first-class audience (of which the plastic artists outnumbered the writers). The exhibition had both a national resound – owing to the art critic Valentin Ciuca who mentioned it in Alex Stefanescu’s TV show (which offers its viewers one ‘cubic meter’ of culture) and an international impact – by being on the EuroNews cultural agenda(…).”
(Doina Cernica – “Un pictor si o picture altfel”, Crai Nou, 21.09.2004, issue 3754)
“I feel compelled to emphasize that, by putting his name on the gallery panels, the artist unveils another of his creative sides and at the same time diligently endeavors to and succeeds in introducing a new artistic concept that he named ‘archetypal expressionism’ (being already received by the European public as a result of the interest shown by Wolfgang Spindler from EuroNews who replied to the artist’s Internet messages that he would include shots from the exhibition in the agenda of major European cultural events) (…).”
(Tiberiu Cosovan – “Amprentele culturale ale unor civilizatii ancestrale,” Monitorul de Suceava, 25.09.2004, issue 226)
“Constantin Severin’s culturality makes up, to a great extent, for the lack of a guiding master and training hours in a painting workshop. (…) His declared cultural appetite allows him to plunge into the past in search of a modern approach. The spring of remote history nourishes the thirsty vessels of his imagination, and the archeologist digs deep into the cultural memory from where he extracts sacred symbols, materialized in ritual and household objects, in elements specific to rituals of a remote pre-Christian past (…). The painter Severin embraces these ancient symbols and adapts them to new graphic-chromatic contexts. He examines different materials and gives them a durable appearance (…).”
(Valentin Ciuca – “Prezentul arhaitatii,” Crai Nou, 2.10.2004, issue 3763
“The plastic artist, recently welcome into the artistic world, sets up a trend that is still open to enthusiasts sharing the same interests as the pioneer himself in the archetypal expressionism, a movement that lies between the figure realism and the abstract art.”
(C.Coroiu – “Pictor sucevean – pe agenda culturala a EuroNews,” Adevarul, 27.09.2004, issue 4428)
