Mircea Cantor

Mircea Cantor, born in 1977 (Oradea, Romania), is an artist who, in his own words, ‘lives and works on Earth’. An artist in search of spirituality, meditation and visual poetry whose polymorphous practice is inspired by everyday life, Cantor uses ingenious games of repetition, rhythm and symmetry to create powerful poetic images that leave an indelible mark on the mind. His works encourage us to meditate on our own freedom of movement, on the concepts of borders and limitations, and on courageous but often daring attempts to sublimate and subvert the world.

In the early 2000s, he came to prominence with the film The Landscape is Changing (2003), in which demonstrators hold up large mirrors as slogans. However, his means of expression are more diverse than just film. He has tried his hand at sculpture, installation, graphic design (he drew up the graphic charter for the Frac Pays de la Loire) and, more recently, set design for Alexandru Dabija's production of The Little Prince at the Teatrul de Comedie in Bucharest (2017). For the Paris Opera's anniversary season, he was also invited in 2018 to illustrate the various performance programs.

Drawing is becoming an increasingly important part of his practice. Since 2011, he has been interested in nineteenth-century Chinese painters and Japanese Zen painters, particularly for the speed with which they are able to give form to ideas or their subject matter. It is this search for the ‘prima linea’, the vivid, concise line imposed by circumstances, that Mircea Cantor loves.

He is the winner of the Paul Ricard Foundation Prize (2004) and the Marcel Duchamp Prize (2011). His work has been included in major international collections such as MoMA (New York), the Wal-ker Art Center (Minneapolis), the Philadelphia Museum of Art (Philadelphia), the Musée National d'Art Moderne - Centre Pompidou (Paris), the Museum Albteiberg (Mönchengladbach), the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia (Madrid), the Kunsthaus (Zurich), the Pinault Collection (Paris), the Fondation Louis Vuitton (Paris) and the Rennie Collection (Vancouver). His most recent solo exhibitions include ‘L’école des Monde’ at the Nathan Chiche Gallery in Vantoux (France) and ‘Thirst for Stillness’ Galeria at the Plan B gallery in Berlin (Germany, 2023), ‘Mâini adjectivând munca (Hands Adjectivating Work)’ at Muzeul Textilelor (Romania) in 2023, ‘Fire Doina’ at Base/progetti per l'arte (Florence) in 2022, ‘Nulla dies sine linea’ at Dilecta in 2021, ‘Am I really free’ at the STUK Arts Center (Leuven) in 2020, the Musée de la Chasse et de la Nature in Paris for the France-Roumanie season (2019), the Musée d'Arts de Nantes (2019), the Fondation d'entreprise Her-mès in Tokyo (2018), the Fondazione Giuliani in Rome (2017), the Fondation Francès in Senlis (2016), the Dvir Gallery in Tel Aviv (2016), the Dvir Gallery in Tel Aviv (2016), Art Basel (special project in 2015), the Magazzino gallery in Rome (2014), the Musée National d'Art Moderne - Centre Pompidou (2013). In 2022, he took part in ‘The Summer That Never Was’ at Laboratorio Arte Alameda (Mexico City) and in three exhibitions at Dvir Gallery in Paris and Brussels.

In 2020, Éditions Dilecta published his monograph, with texts by Philippe-Alain Michaud and Minea Mircan. He is currently part of the exhibition ‘Ce que l'horizon promet’ at the Fondation EDF (Paris, France). He was recently selected to make the illustration drawings for the Saut Hermès 2025. He is represented by Magazzino (Rome) and Dvir Gallery (Tel Aviv - Brussels).

Expositions et foires

Art Paris 2025

For our participation in Art Paris this year, we will be presenting a new body of paintings by Jean Gfeller (artist in focus), as well as a selection of works by Mircea Cantor, Morgane Tschiember and Benjamin Loyauté.
- Begin: jeudi 3 avril 2025 10:00
- End: dimanche 6 avril 2025 07:00
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Art Genève 2025

Meet us at Art Geneve this year around the work of David Kowalski, Éric Poitevin, Caroline Corbasson, Mircea Cantor, Yves Klein and Anne et Patrick Poirier.
- Begin: jeudi 30 janvier 2025 10:00
- End: dimanche 2 février 2025 06:00
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Paréidolie

At Paréidolie Fair, we'll be presenting the Indian ink work by Mircea Cantor. This body of work will echo the cultural richness of the city of Marseille with a series of "Masks" drawings - created in 2018 for the Musée de la Chasse - that resonate with their models, traditional zoomorphic masks from northern Romania. This presentation will be complemented by drawings evoking nature, a subject dear to the artist's heart.

We wish to promote the work of two young French artists. Mathilde Lestiboudois will present a set of previously unpublished drawings, with a surrealist atmosphere, constructed like dreamlike little theaters where time seems suspended. Also new, Alice Gauthier's drawings, a blend of gouache and watercolor, are inspired by the forms of living things, painting a poetic portrait of elements and souls.
- Begin: vendredi 1 septembre 2023 12:00
- End: dimanche 3 septembre 2023 12:00
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Drawing Now 2023

Meet us at Stand C12 at the Carreau du Temple
from 19 to 22 May 2022

With works by:
Mircea Cantor, nominated for the Drawing Now 2023 prize
Mathilde Lestiboudois
Valérie Sonnier
- Begin: jeudi 23 mars 2023 11:00
- End: dimanche 26 mars 2023 06:00
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Mircea Cantor : pourquoi ces dessins connaissent-ils un tel succès?

Quand on parle de Mircea Cantor – cet artiste exposé dans le monde entier venu en stop depuis sa Roumanie natale pour étudier en France, et qui obtient quelques années plus tard le prestigieux prix Marcel Duchamp –, ce sont d’abord ses installations et ses vidéos qui viennent à l’esprit. Celle, par exemple, surprenante et inquiétante, d’une biche et d’un loup réunis au sein de l’espace neutralisé d’une galerie d’art. Ou encore, l’association belliqueuse d’un aigle et d’un drone représentés en plein affrontement, dévoilant au spectateur une image saisissante de l’opposition contemporaine entre nature et technologie.

Sa pratique du dessin est, jusqu’à présent, restée plus confidentielle et assez peu exposée. Pourtant, à la vue de ses dessins, les collectionneurs souvent subjugués découvrent une nouvelle dimension de son travail qu’ils intègrent à leur collection.
- Begin: jeudi 18 mars 2021 12:00
- End: samedi 19 juin 2021 12:00
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DRAWING NOW ART FAIR NOTEBOOKS 2020

Due to the health crisis, the 14th edition of Drawing Now Art Fair was postponed to 2021.

In the meantime, Drawing Now Art Fair has created Notebooks, allowing you to discover a detailed selection of the projects supported by galleries, through drawings available for sale.

You can find there a selection of drawings that we had to present:
- The Focus devoted to Jérémie Bennequin
- Chinese inks by Mircea Cantor
- Pastels by Nicolas Dhervillers
- First shown ink drawings by Anne and Patrick Poirier
- Never seen watercolors by Pauline Rousseau

All the drawings are visible and available at the gallery.

We invite you to visit us to discover them.
- Begin: mardi 24 mars 2020 11:00
- End: mardi 30 juin 2020 07:00
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ART GENÈVE 2020

Palexpo
Genève - Suisse
Booth B54

Martine Aballéa, Giulia Andreani, Christian Boltanski, Mircea Cantor, Nicolas Dhervillers, Edgar Endress, Yves Klein, Yayoi Kusama, Bertrand Lavier, Théo Mercier, Annette Messager, Alicia Paz, Anne et Patrick Poirier, Roman Signer, Morgane Tschiember, Lee Ufan, Felice Varini, Xavier Veilhan
- Begin: mercredi 29 janvier 2020 02:00
- End: dimanche 2 février 2020 07:00
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FIAC 2019 - Foire Internationale d'art contemporain

Grand Palais
Salon Jean Perrin - First level
Stand K 09

Martine Aballéa, Giulia Andreani, Christian Boltanski, Jonathan Callan, Mircea Cantor, Edgar Endress, Yves Klein, Bertrand Lavier, Benjamin Loyauté, Théo Mercier, Annette Messager, Alicia Paz, Anne et Patrick Poirier, Morgane Tschiember
- Begin: jeudi 17 octobre 2019 11:00
- End: dimanche 20 octobre 2019 07:00
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