Cultural Identities: Romanian Artists and Their Work in the Age of Globalization

A work of is no longer a mirror of the world, but the creation of a world that belongs only to the artist. We are allowed to enter this world where the artist lives, but we are not supposed to understand it fully. There is no longer one single world, an unambiguous universe where everything is manifest, but a series of worlds that belong to different artists. There is no longer one single type of art, but an array of personal styles (Ferry, 1998), consequently the assessment criteria are no longer unquestionable and are meant to meet the requirements of a coherent evaluation of a work of art.The analysis of a contemporary artwork must take into account the public cultural diversity. Diversity and from here, the absolute relativism that prevents the establishment of general value judgments available for each work of (Michaud, 1999). We cannot use the same evaluation criteria; the artwork world is changing day by day in this age of globalization. Contemporary has no limits, it has no ultimate subject. The public can say that they like or dislike a work of art, but there is no clear and coherent aesthetic theory to strengthen or contradict their opinion. In interpreting a work of art, the public is influenced by their aesthetic innocence or their aesthetic experience, which they acquired in time by observing the reality of daily occurrence (Danto, 1996). The critic needs an experience of experience to be able to pass value judgments that are clear, to be able to acknowledge that a particular painting, sculpture, or installation is a work of art. A viewer's aesthetic innocence disappears if complies with a welldefined experience. The viewer must be able to understand reality and, at the same time, the image that artists depict in their works. The critic guides the inexperienced observer who thus sees how beautiful the works are by virtue of certain details.We can no longer speak of one art, but of a personal style belonging to each and every artist, who illustrate through their works the idea that contemporary is boundless and that is has no ultimate themes. Yet it is this absence of conventionalism, this lack of an ultimate theme that has become a convention in contemporary art. The aesthetic component is an integral part of the general production of consumer (Stallabrass, 2004). A contemporary artwork is no longer a mere painting, a mere sculpture; the aesthetic component of a work of is now integrated in the overall production consumer (Stallabrass, 2004). Artists adapted to the globalization of arts in all its forms.According to Nathalie Heinrich, Art becomes the product of the artists, who have come to define themselves as producers of art (Heinrich, 1997). Certain products are sold through websites whose address contains the name of the artist. Consequently, the public sees the artist's name as a brand in itself and the website address as a characteristic of the works. The public is not buying just a product but a brand. The public is encouraged to think of the artists' name as a brand and of the .com extension as feature of their work (Stallabrass, 2004). This way consumer goods have become more cultural, has become further commoditized. The result is that people consider consumer that bear the brand name of an artist as equal to an original and unique artwork.Alexandru Poteca turns into artworks everyday objects that people used during the golden age of Communism. He gilds shoes, dolls, television sets, a refrigerator and paintings. The golden age of Communism is expressed literally. Guilding each and every object from people's daily life during Communism means giving them a new artistic identity. The object turns from a simple doll into a piece of installation. Also having the copy of a famous painting does not mean having an original and valuable work.According to Jean-Francois Lyotard (1982), the artist must find a public who takes note of their artworks and who provides a comprehensible judgment value. …