Biography

Constantin Severin is the founder and promoter of a new awarded concept/movement on the contemporary art scene, the archetypal expressionism and he was born on February 8th, 1952, in Baia de Arama, Mehedinti, Romania. He is a visual artist, member of Ottawa Art Association, co-founder of the International Art Group ”3rd Paradigm and founder of the Archetypal Expressionism Group (www.archetypalexpressionism.com). He is also a writer, member of the Romanian Writers’ Union and a journalist (he worked for different Romanian publications, but also for BBC and Free Europe radio), one of the editors of the international cultural magazine, Levure littéraire, Paris. In 1977 he graduated the Technical University ‘’G. Asachi’’ Iaşi, Romania and  in 2015 the International Writing Program from the University of Iowa, USA.In 2016, he graduated the course ‘’The Power of Colour’’at KLC School of Design, London, UK. His art is represented and promoted by Singulart, Paris and the international auction house Lavacow, Bucharest.
He has published over 800 articles, essays and interviews on culture, art theory and criticism, as well as on other issues of Romanian and international interest. Juror for prestigious international art contests. His concepts and artworks have been published by major international art and literary magazines, like Artdaily, World Literature Today, It’s Liquid, Levure littéraire, Trafika Europe, Empireuma, Contemporanul, Vatra, Arkitera, Glare Magazine, Cuadernos del Ateneo, Dance and Media Japan, The Poet, Pro Saeculum, etc.

Activity as a visual artist

Solo exhibitions:
-”Text and Time”, September 2004, Bucovina Museum, Suceava, Romania, (promoted by the EuroNews cultural Agenda).
-”The Signs of the Time”, November 2004, NahVision Art Gallery, Stuttgart, Germany (also promoted by the EuroNews Agenda).
-”Time’s Metaphors”, February 2006, Velea (TransArt) Art Gallery,Bacau, Romania.
-”Matrioshka Identities”, February 2007, Art Gallery of the ”Stephen the Great” University, Suceava, Romania.
-”The Alchemical City”, January 2009, Lascar Vorel Art Gallery, Piatra Neamt, Romania (promoted by EuroNews TV channel, Rendez-vous cultural magazine).
-”My Archetypal Suceava City”, April 2009, Dalype Gallery, Oslo, Norway.
-”Text and Time. The Archetypal Expressionism”, November-December 2009, Museum of Visual Art, Galati, Romania.
-”Totem. In memoriam Ion Ţuculescu”, June 2010, Museum of Art, Drobeta Turnu Severin, Romania.
-”Selfportrait with Guardian Angel”, June 2011, Romanian Literature Museum, Iaşi, Romania.
-Retrospective solo show 2002-2012, February 2012, Bucovina Museum, Suceava, Romania.
-”Gauguin’s Children”, May 2012, Elite Art Gallery, Bucharest, Romania.
– ”Hierarchy of Light” (the first monochrome solo show of painting in the history of the Romanian art), October 2013, Elite Art Gallery, Bucharest, Romania.

-”Archetypal Energies”, October 2015, Museum ”Iulian Antonescu”, Bacău, Romania, as a guest artist of the National Literature Festival ”George Bacovia”.

- ”The Signs of Time. Archetypal Energies”, October-November 2016, The Museum of Contemporary Art from the Brukenthal National Museum, Sibiu, Romania.

Group exhibitions, art fairs, international art projects:
-International  Cultural Centre, Helsinki, Finland, April 2005.
-National Museum of History, Chisinau, Republic of Moldavia, June 2006.
-Stanzwerk Bochum, Germany, June-July 2007,  art symposium organized by European Artists Association.
-Mount Beacon Fine Art Gallery, New York, January-February 2009, group show organized by Mirca Art Group, curator Carla Goldberg, NY.
-International Art Center ”George Apostu”, Bacau, Romania, group show ”The Wineyard and the Wine”, February 2009,  organized by the museum/art gallery of art brut Galerie de 4 coins, France.
-Marseille Project Gallery, Marseille, France, ”Spring Projection” project, March 2009.
-TransCultural Exchange, Boston, Little Gallery New York, The International Exquisite Corps Project by Mary Corey March, April 2009, together with other 18 international artists from 12 countries.
-Design Gallery, University of Massachussets, Boston Cyberarts Festival, April 2009, DSL Cyber MOCA in Second Life, ”TransForm”international  project, curated by Lily&Honglei.
-Opera Gallery, Budapest, May 2009, group exhibition by artists from the 27 member states of EU.
-Funil Art Gallery, Lisbon, Portugal, February 2010, 3rd Paradigm group show.
-Jose de Lorenzo Gallery, Santiago de Compostela, Spain, July 2010, 3rd Paradigm group show.
-Vieira Portuense Gallery, Oporto, Portugal, October 2010, 3rd Paradigm group show.
-Rearte Gallery, Vienna, Austria, October 2011, Privatsphären (Private Spheres), group show of 3rd Paradigm International Artists Group.The show was presented by Elisabeth Ledersberger-Lehoczky, vicepresident of Austrian Art Association and president of the Sculpture department and was featured by the art magazine It’s Liquid.
– International art fair, Art Wiesloch, Wiesloch, Germany, September 2012, with the members of 3rd Paradigm Group.
– Kaplanka Museum, Protivin, Czech Republic, September 2012, with the members of 3rd Paradigm Group.
– Rotterdam International Art Fair, organized by the Global Art Agency, September 2014.

Art Awards and Honours:

-UNESCO Ambassador of eurointegration through art, in 2008.
-Excellence Award offered by the City Hall of Drobeta Turnu Severin City and the County Council of Mededinţi, Romania, December 2009.
-OPERA OMNIA Art Award offered by Suceava County Council, January 2012.
-”Black Sea Danubian Social&Economic Innovator” Trophy for Art, offered by Eurolink-House of Europe Foundation, Bucharest, May 2012, in partnership with the European Commission and the Romanian Academy, for ”creating and promoting a new concept in European arts, Archetypal Expressionism.”
– Honorary citizen of his birthtown, Baia de Aramă, Mehedinţi, Romania, in May 2011.
– Featured artist by ”It’s Liquid” international art, architecture &design magazine, November, 2012.
– Featured artist by ”Casa Lux” monthly magazine, the first glossy magazine in Romania, September, 2014.

-Featured visual artist&poet by World Literature Today, USA, November 2014.

-Featured visual artist&poet by Trafika Europe 8, ”Romanian Holiday”, a selection of the Romanian new literature by Andrew Singer, Penn University Press, August 2016.

- ”Meritul Bucovinei” award for the whole activity as a visual artist, writer and journalist, the most important distinction offered by Suceava County, November 2018.

Artbooks, catalogues:

-Works published by ”Freedom & art”, Art book Project by Mirca Art Group, Sweden 2008.
-Art book printed by the Museum of Art from Drobeta Turnu Severin, Romania and art catalogue made by the Museum of Visual Art, Galati, Romania, 2009.
-Included on ”The illustrated dictionnary of beaux arts in Moldova-1800 to 2010”, , Art XXI publishing house, Iaşi, 2011.
-Included through a selection made by 5 international art curators on the art book ”International Contemporary Artists”, ICA Publishing, New York, 2011, by Eve Lemonidou (art critic, art collector and curator) and Olga Antoniadou (art historian and curator).
-Included by the American visual artist and curator, Harriette Lawler, on the artbook Privatsphären (Private Spheres), in 2011 and also on ”Estuary: A Confluence of Art & Poetry”, published by Moon and Mountain, 2012.

– Bilingual art album Romanian/English, published by Tipo Moldova, Iasi, 2013.
Artworks in public (Bucovina Museum Suceava, The Museum of Art Piatra Neamt, The Museum of Art Drobeta Turnu Severin and the National Brukenthal Museum, Sibiu, Romania) and private collections from Romania, Germany, France, USA, Finland, Norway, Canada, Switzerland, Ukraine, Italy, Great Britain, etc.

Activity as a writer

Works:
-’’The Sunday of Things Real” (poetry), Junimea Publishing House, Iasi, Romania, 1984.
-”Wall and Neutrino” (poetry, bilingual edition-Romanian/English, translated by Liviu Martinescu), Vlasie Publishing House, Pitesti, Romania, 1994; the poem was included as such in the anthology of ”Contemporary Romanian Poetry” by Marin Mincu, Pontica Publishing House, 2000 and some fragments in the antology ‘’After the Wall Fell: Dispatches from Central Europe (1989–2014)’’ published by World Literature Today in November 2014; the poem won The Bucovina Cultural Foundation Award.
-”Wall and Neutrino. The Poet in New York”, Minerva Publishing House, London, 1997; English version by Liviu Martinescu.
-”Improvisations on armonic key” (poetry), Axa Publishing House, Botosani, Romania, 1998.
-”The Axolotl” (poetry), Masina de Scris Publishing House, Bucharest, 1998; the first renga (renku) book in the Romanian literature, bilingual edition-Romanian/English, translation by Liviu Martinescu; book awarded by the Bucovina Cultural Foundation, 1999;
-”The Alchemical City” (selected poems), Dacia Publishing House, Cluj-Napoca, Romania, 2002; awarded by the Bucovina Cultural Foundation, 2003.
-”The Sacred Empire. Monasteries and churches in Northern Moldavia”(essays), Paralela 45 Publishing House, Pitesti, Romania, 2003.
-”Esto’s Lover” (novel), Curtea Veche Publishing House, Bucharest, Romania, 2010.
-”Improvisations on armonic key” (poetry, Opera Omnia), Tipo Moldova publishing house, Iasi, 2011.
– ”The Big Game” (essays, Opera Omnia), Tipo Moldova publishing house, Iasi, 2012.- ”The Sacred Empire. Monasteries and churches in Northern Moldavia”(essays, the second edition revised by the author, with a preface by Constantin Hrehor), Agnos publishing house, Sibiu, 2018.

- „The Librarian of Hell” (novel), Cartea Românească Educațional, Iași, 2019. In November 2020 the novel was awarded the prize The Book of the Year 2019 by the Romanian Writers” Union-Bacău Association and by the International Festival „Vrancea Literară”.

- „The Cities of Giorgio de Chirico” (poems, with a blurb on the back-cover by Norman Lock), Cyberwit, India, 2021.

-„Wall and Neutrino. The Poet in New York” (selected poems, with a forvword by Manrico Murzi and a blurb on the back-cover by Andrew Singer), Cervena Barva Press, USA, 2021.

His poems have been published by major Romanian, Spanish, American, British, Japanese and Belgian literary magazines.
Literary Awards:
-The haiku poetry award offered by Daily Yomiuri newspaper, Japan,1996.
-The award for cultural journalism given by the Romanian Ministry of Culture, 1998.
-The award for cultural journalism given by the City Hall and the County Council of Suceava, 2001.
-Naji Naaman Honorary Award for the whole activity, Lebanon, 2010. Honorary member of Maison Naaman pour la Culture.
-His poems have been selected by the Spanish editor, writer and visual artist Fernando Sabido Sánchez for his unique online anthology of poetry, ANTOLOGÍA POESÍA UNIVERSAL and by the literary experts from The East Tennessee State University, USA for Best Poems Encyclopedia.
-Premio Internazionale “Messina Città d’Arte” 2011, Messina, Italy, for the English version of the poem ”The Alchemical City”.

- The Romanian Writers Union-Bacau Association Award, 2011 for the novel ‘’Esto’s Lover’’.
-Included on the General Dictionnary of the Romanian Literature, Vol. VI, 2007, edited by the Romanian Academy and published by Univers Enciclopedic Publishing House.