The original language of this article is English. If you read it in another language, it means it is an automatic translation.

We, Art Vue Foundation, are excited to announce our participation in the upcoming art3f Art Fair in Brussels, 25 – 27 of November. We will present a curated exhibition: “Art of Portraiture“.

Our curator, Ioana Cobzaru, is an enormously talented and passionate artist and art curator and works tirelessly to ensure that our exhibition will be spectacular.

In her own words, Ioana shares with you her story and behind-the-scenes of the ‘Art of Portraiture‘ exhibition.

Very soon, we will present all the participating artists. And, mark your calendars already to meet us all at the fair!

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Q: You are the curator of this exhibition and work together with the Art Vue Foundation team on the realization of this ambitious project. Can you first tell us more about yourself?
A: I am a visual artist and independent curator based in The Netherlands and I also have a background in science and research. I have always been fascinated by art in its many forms, visual arts but also music.

From a young age I attended a special school that was preparing students for a career in the field of either contemporary art of classic music. Although I wanted to become a pianist at first, I chose science instead.

I started to photograph in my twenties and have joined later the Photo Academy of Amsterdam. I have been involved in the organization of (international) events and exhibitions. I am also writing reviews about photography exhibitions and artists and at the same time enjoy exhibiting myself. I have being lately involved as an artist in various international group exhibitions in The Netherlands, Germany, US, UK, Italy, France, Australia, India and 2022 is bringing work at events in Belgium, Italy, UK and Spain. In the curatorial field I currently enjoy being involved in an international master that allows me to enrich my vision on the continuously changing role of a curator and how to best collaborate with artists and the many other stakeholders when it comes to putting together exhibitions and events.

Q: What do you enjoy creating as an artist?
A: In the past 3-4 years I enjoyed working with portraits and still lives with a twist. I have a fascination for the Japanese photography and art mindset, but also for the Old Masters and early 20th century movements. On the long-term I prepare to also working more on documentary projects.

Q: How has the idea about this exhibition been born?

A: Aleksandra Rowicka, the CEO and founder of Art Vue Foundation, and I were talking in early summer this year about the love that we both share for portraiture, in its many forms and artistic practices.

We were talking about how amazing it could be to set up an exhibition, starting from a call for submissions and allowing artists to share with us their view on the portrait as an artistic manifestation. And this is exactly what we did and decided to present a curated exhibition at the Art3f Contemporary Art Fair here in Brussels

Q: You just said that you allowed the artists to submit work that would reflect their view on a portrait. But can we have different views about a portrait, isn’t a portrait a more or less predefined form of art?

A: The iconic photographer Annie Leibovitz once said that there is room for a point of view in a portrait and that the final representation doesn’t necessarily has to reflect literally what is going on… Well, this is an interesting statement which was also the ideologic statement for the curation of our current exhibition.

Q: How many artists have you curated in total for this show and what is their background?

A: We are proud to share that we are hosting 24 artists in this event and the participation is not limited to Belgian artists. In fact we have representatives from quite a few countries, including artists from outside Europe. Their background is divers, like it happens often in the arts and this will lead to an exhibition with interesting points of view on a portrait, to quote Annie Leibovitz once more. Also the fact that we have contemporary paintings, alongside with photography, drawing, illustrations and sculpture in one exhibition will increase the vibe of diversity. But in the end it all comes down to the initial question, what is the art of portraiture.

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Art Vue Foundation supports and promotes all activities in the field of culture and art. Thanks to your generosity we can support contemporary artists.