Homo Deus
2020

Focused on the relationship between polarities, Anca Stefanescu developed over the past 15 years a distinctive method of integrating physical painting and computer mark-making, creating hybrid images which incorporate both digital - virtual elements, as well as organic - material ones. By mixing computer drawing with the manual-traditional painting she is following the idea of creating a half-conscious state for the viewer, envisioning exhibits not as a succession of fragments recognizable from reality, but as triggers to look inward into the world of thoughts and ideas. Romanian artist interweaves figurative painting with a combination of abstract expressionism and geometric abstraction, shifting between flat forms of figuration and more abstract counterparts, adding a sense of theatricality to her revelations. The metaphorical and figurative paintings explore the notion of identity and the settings that compose the texture of life in contrast with the concept of time and space in metaphysical interpretation. “When I close my eyes, time or space do not exist, they are mere concepts…and when I open them I validate the world I am perceiving as the frame of reference to what I wish to create and experience through my own emotions”.

The Walking God
‘The human is not becoming God, the human is the walking God. What happens on one level of reality also happens on every other level, the microcosm and macrocosm behave alike. Man is not a grain of sand lost in the vastness of the Universe…man is the materialization of God. Homo Deus means man-god. It refers to humans who accepted their divine nature. Everything in creation starts with an idea, but the moment the idea is presented onto the white background of imagination the individual becomes that idea and can consciously decide what idea chooses to be. Not to become but to be. Personalities are not primarily physical, they are the direct result, the effect of consciousness that in actuality created form. There are portions in us far superior to the ordinary self but so focused on daily concerns that we forget who we are. Consciousness can project outward only what is first beholden as a clear vision. We contain it all. We behold inward all the emotions we dislike or prefer and from this infinite reservoir, we can choose what to express in this life. Each and everyone gets to choose, to decide who they prefer to be and since we contain all possibilities in each moment we can define who we are as individuals, create models or ideal selves through our imagination like blueprints for a preferred feeling and acting personality. I am witnessing a changing world, we all do...and I am wondering why do I sometimes fear change, why not embrace it as one true constant of our lives...as one of the eternal and everlasting truths... Sometimes I look at the sky watching how the shapes of the clouds are constantly changing...and this is something that I can see and feel but I can never touch. My face and my body are constantly changing and I can touch them but I cannot sense the passing of the time processes nor how it’s applying its constant laws on me. I close my eyes and all I can see or touch disappears but in that new momentum I can still hear or smell... When I fall asleep all the physical senses I used to rely on during my walking day are gone...but in the morning I wake up filled up with feelings, emotions and memories from my sleeping life. During the day I am thinking about the future and how our world will change and I understand I can no longer rely on my physical senses or my intellectual mind that knows so little regardless of the number of books I read. I had isolated myself some years before this pandemic occurred...and perhaps I must have been used to it by now. Still, in many ways, I am not but I have been in touch with my true self through my inner senses which delivered more than my corporeal perceptions ever could. If I were truly to believe or better say accept what I believe as valid, that we are consciousness in its purest form and this world is merely a projection of a collective idea or thought, then the change would be nothing more than a conscious choice. I would find myself never fearing change since every experience in my life starts with my choice. I would find myself loving change since it holds in its unfoldment all the possibilities of my desires to become visible, tangible, to manifest into form. I’ll be as I have always been in front of a white canvas when I never fear transformation even if I almost never hold the vision of the final result clear in my mind… and this keeps me curious, excited and open to allow the surprise in... What happens on one level of reality also happens on every other level, the microcosm and macrocosm behave alike. Art may be perceived as another microscopic aspect of life, the part that reflects the whole and vice versa, an example of how life can be expressed and change embraced in complete trust in its unfoldment. Trust that all dreams can be met, trust we deserve our just deserts just because we exist and we breathe. To me art is more than hope, a word that defines somehow “ideal” values or untouchable values we may or may not get to own during this lifetime, it is more about trust, believing in concepts that can fundamentally shift old paradigms…changing “seeing is believing into “believing in seeing”. We all share the same desires for a fulfilled life, we are all parts and sparks of creation and through extension all creators. We are unique expressions united through diversity. Each one plays its part, its unique role in this co-created dream we all perceive as one world.’
Notes on ‘Homo Deus’, 2020