By meticulously working from observation, Ioana Manolache creates paintings that encapsulate a stretch of time, and are sculptural markers of a vanishing present. She is interested in the way an image can become an object through a materially rigorous painting process, which can then be spatially and phenomenologically experienced. She approaches painting as an accumulation of layers on a flat plane, where the subject’s materiality dictates the rhythm of its representation. Manolache’s early training as a Byzantium icon painter shaped her approach towards paintings as objects and images as stand-ins for an unknowable, other significance. Ioana is specifically interested in iconic objects, such as Flags, for their ability to simultaneously explore formal characteristics as well as be a relay for personal and emotional meaning.
