Born in 1945 in Bucharest, Romania. Lives and works in Bucharest.
Ion Grigorescu is one of the most significant Romanian artists of the post-war period. Since 1967, he has been working on issues of sexuality, body and politics from both a communist and capitalist point of view, based on historical changes. By the end of the 1970s Grigorescu began recording his performances, which concentrated on ritualized actions around his body. His performances go beyond art and lead into a private and personal life. His most recent works are avowals of daily life and show photos of his family and intimate moments, reflected his growing interest in spirituality, as inspired by orthodox religious tradition in Romania.
Selected solo exhibitions
2021
Ion Grigorescu Retrospective, MNAC Bucharest – Palace of Parliament, Bucharest, Romania.
Kamera Series, experimental films and printed matter, Kamera Cahier No. 3 with Ion Grigorescu, Labor Neunzehn, Berlin, Germany.
2019
Cinema by Ion Grigorescu, KIOSK, Gent, Belgium.
Commentary upon Nature, Gregor Podnar, Berlin, Germany.
Ion Grigorescu: The Open Artist, Kohta, Helsinki, Finland.
2018
Gates and Ploys. Casting A Shadow (with Ștefan Sava), Ivan Gallery, Bucharest, Romania.
Ion Grigorescu. The Painted Work: 1963 – 2017, Muzeul Tării Crişurilor, Oradea, Romania.
2017
The Painted Work: 1963 – 2017, The National Museum of Art of Romania, Bucharest, Romania.
2016
Modernismul Continua (with Octav Grigorescu), Tajan Artstudio, Paris, France.
2015
Ion Grigorescu, École nationale supérieure d’art de Bourges, La Box, Bourges, France.
2013
Ion Grigorescu: Photography in the Circulatory System, City Business Centre, Timisoara, Romania.
Ion Grigorescu – Trauma of the Exposed Body, Prometeogallery, Milan, Italy.
2012
Afternoon in Piatra Neamţ, Galerija Gregor Podnar, Berlin, Germany.
2011
Performing History (with Anetta Mona Chişa and Lucia Tkáčová), 54th Venice Biennial, Romanian Pavilion, Venice, Italy.
The Diplomatic Tent (with Anetta Mona Chişa and Lucia Tkáčová), MNAC Bucharest, Salonul de proiecte, Bucharest, Romania.
Horse / Men Market, Sammlung Friedrichshof, Zurndorf, Austria.
National Art Museum, Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
Back to Back (with Ciprian Muresan), Andreiana Mihail Gallery, Bucharest, Romania.
2010
Oedipus the Wanderer, Galerija Gregor Podnar, Berlin, Germany.
2009
Ion Grigorescu: In the Body of the Victim 1969–2008, Museum of Modern Art, Warsaw, Poland.
Ludlow 38 (with Lili Dujourie), European Kunsthalle Köln, Goethe Institute New York, New York, USA.
The Self Punishing One, Mogosoaia Palace, Romania, travelling to Museums of Timisoara, Timisoara, Romania.
The Poor People are Fending for Themselves, Angels Gallery, Barcelona, Spain.
2008
Superpositions, JGM Galerie, Paris, France.
Le temps a modifié les lieux, Galerie Aux Enseignes des Oudin, Paris, France.
Ion Grigorescu, Retrospective, Galleria Artra, Milan, Italy.
2007
Resources (with Geta Brătescu), National Museum of Contemporary Art, Bucharest, Romania.
2006.
Am Boden, Kunstverein, Salzburg, Austria.
Toys (with Mircea Cantor), Protokol Gallery, Cluj, Romania.
2004
Recent Fotos, Caleria Noua, Bucharest, Romania.
1998
National Museum of Art, Kretzulescu Hall, Bucharest, Romania.
1997
Venice Biennial, Venice, Italy.
1994
First gallery, Timisoara, Romania.
1993
Mahlzeit für eine tote Kunst, Schauplatz für Zeitgenössische Kunst, Vienna, Austria.
Animalita, Societa, Divinita, Istituto Romeno di Venezia, Venice, Italy.
1992
Art, Politics and Religion Facing Crime, Catacomba gallery, Bucharest, Romania.
1991
Anatomy of Exhibition, Submission, Opposition, Caminul artei, Bucharest, Romania.
1982
Caminul artei, Bucharest, Romania.
1980
Caminul artei, Bucharest, Romania.
1976
Tribuna Gallery, Cluj, Romania.
1975
Banat Museum, Reschitza, Romania.
1974
Apollo Gallery (with Ion Condiescu), Bucharest, Romania.
1969
Ateneul tineretului (with Manuel Zeltzer), Bucharest, Romania.
Selected group exhibitions
2024
Fresh Window. Art & Vitrines Group Exhibition, Museum Tinguely, Basel, Switzerland
Multiple Realities: Experimental Art in the Eastern Bloc, 1960s–1980s Group Exhibition, Phoenix Art Museum, USA
2023
Lost in the Moment That Follows. Ways of Collecting: The Ovidiu Șandor Collection,
Kunsthalle Prague, Prague, Czech Republic
2020
Chantel Akerman, Ion Grigorescu / unwahrnehmbar-werden (becoming imperceptible), curated by Mihaela Chiriac, Kunstbunker – Forum für zeitgenössische Kunst, Nürnberg, Germany.
Body. Gaze. Power. A Cultural History of the Bath, Staatliche Kunsthalle Baden-Baden, Germany.
2019
Artists & Agents – Performancekunst und Geheimdienste, Hartware Medien Kunst Verein (HMKV), Dortmund, Germany.
Fair Maidens: The Feminine Ideal from Nicolae Grigorescu to Ion Grigorescu, MARe/The Museum of Recent Art, Bucharest, Romania.
ExEast. Past and recent stories of the Romanian avant-gardes, Espace Niemeyer, Paris, France.
2018
Recollection – A Journey After 28 Years, PROYECTOSMONCLOVA, Mexico City, Mexico.
I AM THE MOUTH, Works by Central and Eastern European Artists from the Art Collection Telekom, Museum of Contemporary Art Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia.
Left Performance Histories, neue Gesellschaft für bildende Kunst, Berlin, Germany.
Double Heads Matches. A selection of contemporary artworks from Rumanian Private Collections, New Budapest Gallery, Budapest, Hungary.
Freedom Is Recognized Necessity, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands.
Art Safari 2018, The Natural-Cultural Museum Pavilion, Bucharest, Romania.
2017
Everything we see could also be otherwise (My sweet little lamb), The Showroom, London, United Kingdom.
Die Revolution ist tot. Lang lebe die Revolution!, Kunstmuseum Bern, Bern, Switzerland.
Symptoms of Society, Guandong Museum of Art, Guangzhou, China.
2016
Cold Front from the Balkans, Pera Museum, Istanbul, Turkey.
My Sweet Little Lamb (Everything we see could also be otherwise), Galerija Nova and other venues, Zagreb, Croatia.
2015
1st Timisoara Art Encounters, Timisoara, Romania.
Transmissions: Art in Eastern Europe and Latin America 1960–1980, MoMA, New York, USA.
Mapping Bucharest. Art, Memory, and Revolution 1916–2016, in the framework of Vienna Biennale 2015, MAK, Vienna, Austria.
Chercher le garçon. Exposition collective d’artistes hommes, Musée d´art contemporain du Val-de-Marne MAC/Val, Vitry-sur-Seine, France.
My Body is the Event. Vienna Actionism and International Performance, mumok – Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig Wien, Vienna, Austria.
Grammar of Freedom / Five Lessons: Works from the Arteast 2000+ Collection, Garage Museum of Contemporary Art, Moscow, Russia.
2014
Mirroring, PM8, Vigo, Spain.
Inside, Palais de Tokyo, Paris, France.
Artevida: política [politics], Museu de Arte Moderna do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janiero, Brazil.
Decades of Revolt, Kulturhuset Stadsteatern, Gallery 5, Stockholm, Sweden.
The Empty Pedestal. Ghosts from Eastern Europe, Museo Civico Archeologico di Bologna, Bologna, Italy.
2013
Le Pont, MAC – Musée d’Art Contemporain, Marseille, France.
The Naked Man, Ludwig Museum – Museum of Contemporary Art, Budapest, Hungary.
2012
Performing Histories, MoMA, New York, USA.
Schwindel der Freiheit, CHB – Collegium Hungaricum Berlin, Germany.
The Naked Man, Lentos Kunstmuseum, Linz, Austria.
Printemps de Septembre, Toulouse, France.
Printed, Mai 36 Galerie, Zurich, Switzerland.
PhotoEspaña, XV edition of International Festival of Photography and Visual Arts, Madrid, Spain.
2011
A Complicated Relation, part I, Kalmar Konstmuseum, Kalmar, Sweden.
East of Eden – Photorealism: Versions of Reality, Ludwig Museum, Budapest, Hungary.
Ostalgia, New Museum, New York, USA.
Stücke des Widerstands, Motorenhalle, Leipzig, Germany.
The International, MACBA – Museum of Contemporary Art, Barcelona, Spain.
Out of Place, Tate Modern, London, UK, traveling to Darat al Funun – The Khalid Shoman Foundation, Amman, Jordan.
2010
After the Fall, Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art, Peekskill, USA.
6th Berlin Biennale, Berlin, Germany.
Bucharest Biennial 4, Bucharest, Romania.
The Realism Question – Epilogue to Bucharest Biennale 4, Romanian Cultural Institute, Stockholm, Sweden.
The Promises of the Past, Centre Pompidou, Paris, France.
Changing Channels, MUMOK, Vienna, Austria.
2009
Gender Check – Rollenbilder in der Kunst Osteuropas, MUMOK, Vienna, Austria.
Subversive Praktiken, Württembergischer Kunstverein, Stuttgart, Germany.
Performing the East, Kunstverein Salzburg, Salzburg, Austria.
Dada East? Romanian Contexts of Dadaism, Musée des Beaux-Arts, Tourcoing, France.
2008
Between the Images, IASPIS, Stockholm, Sweden.
Dada East? Romanian Contexts of Dadaism, Zacheta National Gallery, Warsaw, Poland.
2007
Documenta XII, Kassel, Germany.
Social Cooking Romania, NGBK Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
Prague Biennale 3, Prague, Czech Republic.
Art of the Possible, Lunds Konsthall, Lund, Sweden.
2006
Fremd bin ich eingezogen, Kunsthalle Fridericianum, Kassel, Germany.
47th October Salon, Belgrade, Serbia.
Dada East?, Cabaret Voltaire, Zurich, Switzerland.
East Art Map: IRWIN / NSK, Basekamp, Philadelphia, USA.
Grey Zones, Galerie für Zeitgenössische Kunst, Leipzig, Germany.
Kontakt, MUMOK, Vienna, Austria.
NowHere Europe – Trans:it. Moving Culture Through Europe, National Museum of Contemporary Art, Bucharest, Romania.
2005
9. Baltic Triennial, BMW Contemporary Art Center, Vilnius, Lithuania.
Paradoxes: The Embodied City, Calouste Gulbenkian Cultural Centre, Lisbon, Portugal.
On Difference #1, Württembergischer Kunstverein, Stuttgart, Germany.
2004
The First Balkan Biennial, Macedonian Museum of Contemporary Art, Thessaloniki, Greece.
Romanian artists (and not only) love the Palace?, National Museum of Contemporary Art, Bucharest, Romania.
5. Cetinje Biennale – Love it or Leave it, National Museum of Montenegro, Cetinje, Montenegro.
Arteast 2000+, Moderna Galerija, Ljubljana, Slovenia.
2003
In den Schluchten des Balkan, Kunsthalle Fridericianum, Kassel, Germany.
Periferic Biennial 6, Iasi, Romania.
2002
In Search of Balkania, Neue Galerie, Graz, Austria.
2001
Double Life, Generali Foundation, Vienna, Austria.
2000
Collection 2000+, Moderna Galerija, Ljubljana, Slovenia.
1998
Out of Actions, Between Performance and the Object 1949–1979, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, USA,traveling to MUMOK, Vienna, Austria; MACBA, Barcelona, Spain, and MOMAT, Tokyo, Japan.
1997
Romanian Pavilion, 47th Venice Biennial, Venice, Italy.
1992
The Earth, The Museum of Art, Timișoara, Romania.
1991
Wanderlieder. A Journey through the New Europe, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands.
1990
Points East, Third Eye Gallery, Glasgow, UK.
1981
XVI Biennial de Sao Paolo, Sao Paolo, Brazil.
Public collections
Kontakt. Art Collection, Erste Group, ERSTE Foundation, Vienna, Austria.
MUMOK – Museum moderner Kunst, Vienna, Austria.
Galeria d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, GAM Torino, Turin, Italy.
Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, Netherlands.
Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw, Warsaw, Poland.
Vehbi Koc Foundation, Istanbul, Turkey.
MoMA, New York, USA.
Deutsche Bank AG, London, UK.