UNM graduate student Rodica Focseneanu is a self-admitted escapist.
In her case, it works to her advantage as she has created three installation pieces that by just walking through, can take their viewer to a totally different, soothing place.
"The spaces are meant to be inviting, and at the same time comforting," Focseneanu said. "You can find a refuge and feel protected there."
Focseneanu knows what it is like to want to find protection. She spent more than half of her life in communist Romania.
"The work is inspired by my experience in those times," she said. "There was a certain escapism there."
She credits her works creation to thoughts that have come back to her conscious mind from her upbringing in Romania.
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"People experience complementary worlds, a real one and an imaginary one," she said. "They have separate influences on the unconscious."
She believes people's perception of the real world is extremely affected by day dreams, as her work is.
Focseneau's installation, "Membranos," leads its viewer through three separate spaces, each illustrating what it would be like to be inside of a giant red, dream-like membrane.
"It's work you have to experience," she said. "I really think that so far it works the way I wanted it to - to reach anyone. They all found something and made it their own."
Making this piece personal was a very important element to Focseneau. She doesn't want anyone to know what exactly her pieces are made out of, in hopes no preconceived notions will be brought into the show.
"I really think it's not important what it's made of, but how it makes you feel when you're in there," she said. "Then each person can reference a different thing. If I leave it open, then they can experience the environment better."
Besides the mysterious materials that make up the pieces, light is a key element in the works.
"Light brings the objects to life," she said. "It creates a color scheme that is powerful enough to be engraved in our memories." Light radiates out of the pieces, Focseneau said it gives them a more immateriality.
"I've learned how light can be used to change space," she said.
Who: Rodica Focseneanu
When: Closing reception Friday,
6-8 p.m., artist talk 5 p.m.
Where: Harwood Art Center
1114 7th St.
Price: Free
Tickets
& Info: 242-6367
