With The Third Landscape, the Anca Poterașu Gallery celebrates fifteen years of activity through an exhibition curated by Lorena Marciuc. The project takes as its starting point a specific term and a concrete space—the landscape—which the artists capture across various media, gradually arriving at an ambiguous realm open to interpretation. The result is, in effect, a snapshot of a moment that we can only partially comprehend.

The strategy is clear: the visitor is first drawn in by details that are familiar in form and expression; subsequently, the complexity of the works nudges them out of their comfort zone, creating space for introspection. The landscape serves this purpose well, as nature remains our point of departure when we speak of beauty. The challenge for contemporary art, however, lies in reimagining this traditional genre, free from naivety, yet remaining sensitive, critical, and detached, while possessing the capacity for self-examination and the ability to address our social and human limitations.

The title encapsulates this tension: the third landscape is the space between two contrasting states, an undomesticated terrain, a taut boundary. The image that best sums this up is by Matei Bejenaru (ABIS_02_01, 2021). A black curtain, set within a surreal, stage-like construction, obstructs the view of a landscape in the background. The image is both iconic and narrative, as it raises expectations, much like a film, suggesting that a dramatic scene and a resolution might follow. The gaze is invited to explore, the mind is prompted to imagine, yet both are ultimately denied. The image appears as a geometric object, but also as an encoded dream, in which the subconscious brings to the surface ideas that the viewer then attempts, whether in vain or not, to translate into meaning.

This sense of tension is further reinforced by Iulian Bisericaru’s work, A Small Territory (2026). A mining-apocalyptic landscape evokes a feeling of vertigo and a descent toward the centre of the earth. The black-and-white image depicts a kind of natural amphitheater where every element lies exposed to a brutal gaze: an anatomical amphitheatre, an operating table for an invisible patient undergoing an intrusive examination. Within this hostile setting, the artist places a small house, a domestic symbol of a smooth, tranquil life. It serves as a refuge in the aftermath of an apocalypse that has just concluded, inhabited by a lone survivor attempting to restart life and civilisation from scratch.

The exhibition, however, is more nuanced than these two extreme positions. Tension takes on tragicomic overtones in the works of Megan Dominescu, such as the cartoonish portrait of a character startled by a conversation on a banana-shaped telephone, or in the melancholic image by Dragoș Bădiţă, which depicts a young woman holding a green, thorn-covered branch. Here, landscape and nature are subordinated to the human element, and the focus shifts from the territory itself to the psychology of those who inhabit it.

The landscape in The Third Landscape does not offer solace; instead, it stirs memories and invites introspection, both regarding the artworks themselves and the nature that surrounds us. The exhibition provides no answers; rather, it elevates us to an observation point from which we can contemplate our own landscapes, whether real or imagined. It is an honest and courageous way to celebrate an intense period of activity: the gallery chooses to embrace the risk of posing questions, rather than settling for the comfort of a retrospective summary.

“The Third Landscape” [Anca Poterașu Gallery, Bucharest, 26.09–31.10.2026]. Artists: Adelina Ivan, Anetta Mona Chișa, Aurora Király, Delia Popa, Doina Simionescu, Dragoș Bădiţă, Ioana Cîrlig, Iosif Király, Iulian Bisericaru, Matei Bejenaru, Megan Dominescu, Mihaela Moldovan, Oana Coșug, Sebastian Hosu, Yasmina Assbane. Curator: Lorena Marciuc