Valeria Duca

I began painting 6 years ago and have since hosted 14 personal exhibitions and took part in over 30 group exhibitions all around Europe. The opportunity to exhibit my works in museums such as the Folk Costume Museum in the Palace of Parliament (Romania), Odessa Museum of Western and Eastern Art (Ukraine) and the National Museum of History and Archeology (Rep of Moldova) has helped me gain insights into the many techniques of arts professionals. These experiences have greatly enhanced my understanding of different types of art, and particularly developed my love for classical Eastern European Art like such of C. Baba and Grigorescu.
In 2011 I took part in the Venice Biennale where, at the age of fifteen, I was the youngest participant in the history of this event. This gave me the opportunity to represent my country and also recognize that today’s contemporary art can be so different from the classic paintings exhibited in the more traditional museums and galleries and so well described in books. The installations like “Chance” by Christain Boltanski intrigued me, as it represented a shift in art, by creating an atmosphere and visual space to represent the artist’s political thoughts and ideas on identity in contrast to showing off the aesthetic qualities of an art object. This exhibition, alongside my developing knowledge of philosophy, made me question the necessity of beauty in art. I found that I agree with many of the ideas put forward by R. Scruton in his documentary “Why beauty matters?” regarding issues of aesthetics.

Embracing painting has opened a door to a better understanding of other artist’s works, techniques and ideas, but also helped me gain a full scholarship at Truro School in Cornwall, assuring my academic development. In May 2013 I organized a personal exhibition in the School Gallery – Heseltine, which along with some further exhibitions in my home country allowed me to gain the necessary funds for a second year.

In addition, I have travelled Europe competing in Taekwondo Championships. I am a black belt, III Dan and have achieved a total of 25 medals, the majority of which are gold. Travelling has enabled me to enhance my language skills; I am fluent in Romanian, Russian and English and have a good knowledge of French.