"Bucharest 2008" "I don't wanna kick the bucket too soon, but as long as I'm staying here," "I'll be a drunkard and a bastard." "'Scuse me..." "Has anything ever hit you in the head?" "No, but it almost has." "A woman got hit with a crust of bread, hard as concrete..." "Like that bottle over there." "Good think you've asked me, sonny!" "That woman should tell you." "You should have had that on film!" "One more step, and..." "No, sonny, I had enough." "A film by Alexander Nanau" "Mr. Popescu, on my word of honor, I'm not crazy, I'm sober..." "I was dumb enough to drink some brandy." "I'm leaving all my works to you, just take me out of there." "Okay, but don't worry..." "We'll have a normal artist-gallery owner relationship." "THE WORLD ACCORDING TO ION B." "By Barladeanu, 1972." "Works and everything..." " Ion, "trash can"!" "Wake up!" " Shit..." "These dustmen have never come so early..." "Open the dumpster, Ion." "Give it here." "Open the dumpster." "During communism, you couldn't do anything, sonny." "I think you weren't even born." "Sorry..." "How old were you in '83?" " 4." " Well..." "When you were my age, how did you imagine life?" "I didn't believe in anything, I thought I was immortal." "I was handsome." "I was a sort of.." "Have you heard of Rudolph Valentino?" "Do you know why I am in such a state?" "Because of my brothers, my parents and my mother I have a brother in the country." "If you see him, he hasn't read a book in all of his life." "I've read a few things." "I'll tell you about Chekov." "When I read Chekov..." "I had found a booklet." "You know, a great Russian writer..." "He wrote "Ward No. 6"." "I was put in an institution once, it was a mistake." "Some assholes put me in there." "He was sleeping here, on the stairs." "Our super got pity of him, and took him in here." "Many of us were..." "They told him "why did you bring him here?"" "and others were..." "And he said something like" ""some keep dogs..., animals, I'll keep a human being, why is it bothering you?"" "I met him when I came here, almost 30 years ago." "I found him here." "He was alone, he had no family." "In time, I found that he had come from somewhere in Moldova." "He had run away from home." "I'm from Vaslui, Zapodeni County." "Za-po-deni." "You recording me?" "My father was a Stalinist." "I'm a self educated man." "Now I'm just "bottle-educated"." "Sorry, sonny..." "Come here..." "Tigress, come here, girl." "Mr. Alex, I hit her sometimes, but she's still coming back." "I met him by sheer miracle." "On the 1st of December, last year, in 2007, on Romania's National Day." "Ovidiu Fenes, one of my artists, came to the gallery." "He seemed possessed "come with me, I've got something to show you"." "There are about 900 collages, that cover some sort of.." "They cover everything from the 70s to the mid 90s." "And everything is..." "It's a well rounded work of art." "It's any gallery owner's Graal." "Why did you make all these clippings for?" "For the collages." "Do you know how much I enjoy cutting them?" "But I also like to tum them into collages." "Cutting things is very hard work." "During one single night, I can cut as many as in this heap here." "Where from?" "Do you buy the magazines, or...?" "I used to buy them, now people just throw them in the garbage." "Belmondo, when he was young." "This one is from "Il Gattopardo"." "Burt Lancaster." "This one is a Rock singer, Prince." "And this is Liz Taylor." "I wanted to be an actor." "I had the calling." "Only a man that knows what the secret life is, can be in the movies." "But now I'm a director." "I've only later realized that the most important is the director." "Get it?" "Elia Kazan was a Turk who went to America." "That's it!" "Stop!" "I could've done the same thing, but not as beautifully as he has." "But, you know, only few really acknowledge his talent." "So, the right people don't know." "Listen, I'm going..." " Where should I put the money?" " Here, in the..." " You won't lose it, right?" " Thanks and bless you." "I don't understand what you want from him, really..." " He's a very good artist." " Maybe." "But he has no ID, no nothing." "He's been here for 22 years." "They took him in out of pity and it's been 5-6 years now." "Nobody put him to work." "The super wanted to set him up with an employment record, so that he could have a retirement fund." "He refused it." "You've asked me, I've answered." "He's a great artist!" "What can one do with a drunkard who, most of the time, doesn't even know he's own name?" "You'll see, ma'am..." "Come to the gallery." "May God make him stop drinking." "Do as you think fit." "Wow, you're all dressed up!" "A real dandy!" "I don't want the neighbors to see me." "One of his problems was the place he was living in." "I've found him a studio where he could live like normal people do." "The yellow one." "So this is it:" "Red, yellow and blue." "Starting from here, okay?" "Red, yellow and blue, just like..." "Don't lose the keys!" "I'll be here for two more weeks." "I'm really cleaning the place up." " Why two more weeks?" " Well, 'cause..." "last night I..." "C'mon, pops!" "Turn around!" "Al Capone..." "I'm neither Andreea Marin, nor Raduleasca." "I'm Ion Barladeanu, collage director." "Ion, first of all, you have to tell me, roughly, at least..." "When did you make them?" "1990..." "Oh..." "I can't remember, I'll estimate it." "Yeah, estimate it. '90-'91." "If I had know there was gonna be an exhibition, I'd have signed them." "Before..." "Last century, I mean..." "I'd have never written my whole name." " I'd have put only '89, '80..." " Yes, exactly like that." "'82." " Do you like this cardboard?" " Yes." " It needs..." " No, don't write your name there!" "I don't, I just wanna cover it up a little bit." "Now it's hard to write my name, it has to be on the line." "If I had a rubber stamp, I wouldn't work myself so hard." "It's better this way." "Many people have asked me about this timber here." "I just measure it." "I failed math, but I'm pretty good with geometry." "There are more dots over there, and less over here." "But I start at the centre, so that it'd look like a real classroom." "And these are in pen, glued together." "Here we have a Nazi Chaplin." "This is the real Brigitte Bardot." " Really?" " Really." "This is "Gogu's Revenge"." "This one wanted to shoot him with the Mauser." "The Germans had this gun during the war." "The guy in jeans wanted to shoot Gogu on the sauerkraut keg." "But look at Gogu's precision." "Hadn't he thrown the axe in time, he'd be dead, that's for sure!" "Bang!" "Lino Ventura, Steve McQueen, Mircea Albulescu, Mircea Diaconu." " This one is a French actor." " Unbelievable..." "At first, this was a drawing and then..." "This one is taken from a Turkish newspaper." "He's a "squint-eyed", the quack!" "The way he's holding the cigarette!" "I've been in this neighborhood for more than 25 years." "I still had my hair..." "If I'm going back to my village, I won't even know my own folks, it's like I've been born here." "I've lived in that building for 22 years." " Why did you leave?" " Well, they threw my out." " Why?" " I was aggressive..." "I'll tell you about it, but some other time." "Not now..." "I've framed about 16 of them." "He's the king of the magazines." "He's been gathering stuff, so he has enough to keep on working." "As far as I understood, he hasn't made anything in 10 years." "After all these years, I wanna make somethin' new." "I don't wanna get rich, I only want the bare essentials." "But I'd really like one of those basic bikes..." "What did you fear the most in your life?" "Ceausescu!" "Can't you see how much I love him?" "In '79-'80, I started hating the communists." "They put me in jail 'cause a grave digger denounced me." "I was digging graves without a permit." "I can still dig a grave." "You don't need a degree for that." "Those in Bucharest treated me as if I was an international criminal." "There was a captain Tamas." "A moron, with capital "M"." "He was in charge of the collectivization in Zapodeni County, just like my father, before him." "They were mates." "And he said: "You, rascal, you've ashamed your father!" "You'll spent 3 months in jail!"" "Everything was very strict." "The smart ones had left the country." "For years, I've earned my living with the shovel, like a nitwit." "And it wasn't only me..." "There were engineers, too, doing all the hard work How am I not to like Ceausescu?" "These are my movies." "You really think they'll love me for them?" "They'll be envious!" " People?" " Some of the artists." "Many will ask me about my studies." "Well, I have 7 school years, two trade schools and I repeated one year." "For 16 months I've been in the army, for 3 in jail and, for the rest, I've learned on my own." "This is my university education." "Gimme 10 Cotidian paper..." "Thanks..." ""Ion Barladeanu, the Forefather of Pop Art"." "Can you explain it to me?" "What's "Pop Art"?" "It's a contemporary art genre which appeared in the 60s, at the ending of the 60s, both in England and America." "There were some guys..." " You must have heard of Andy Warhol." " Not really!" "Communism used to cut off access to information, especially that concerning American art, considered to be degenerate art." "Get it?" "So..." "I really have to cut my hair today..." " And does he get paid?" " Don't cut more than 3 cm." " Shall I trim the eyebrows, too?" " No!" "in a dumpster..." "Making an out of garbage." "Mr. Dan took care of me." "Talent is ignored in Romania." "Doctor..." "Socialist working-class hero." "From the dumpster straight to the gallery!" " Who's in this picture here?" " You are." "Let me show you one more..." " Who's "the sheriff"?" " You are!" " I'll get a newspaper for you." " It talks really nice about you." "There'll be another interview tomorrow." ""Romanian Pop Art Debut" "Debut" what?" "!" "You're 60!" "Ion, man, really!" "You shoulda been 30 or 40." "At least 40!" "I'll remain here for a while, I have to gather my stuff." " I'm a free man, now." "This is it..." " What!" "And before you weren't?" "!" "There was no one freer than you in all of the neighborhood." " Free in the garbage." " Not in the garbage..." "That's how you wanted it, Ion." "In this neighborhood, from all the people I know, you've always been the one who did only as you pleased." "And you had nothing to worry about as long as you didn't disturb the others." "16 May 2008 Exhibition opening" "My barbershop." "At Ion's, in the dumpster." " Are you nervous?" " I don't think I'll be." "I don't even know what nervousness means." "Let me look in the mirror, see if I'm handsome." "It's nice, sonny..." " It's black, you'll ruin them." " They'll be very pretty, you'll see." "It's a special gas." "Let's see if it wipes off." "It does!" " I wanted to dye the shoes." " Don't touch it, 'cause..." "No, no. "Harasho" this shirt." "I'll give it back." " Did you...?" "Is that dirty, too?" " Which of them?" " The leather jacket." "Did you dye it?" " Yeah, damn it!" "I need a cloth." "I'd like to wear a couple of medals." "Don't do anything, you're all good." "Okay?" "You'll stay like..." "Get it?" "You won't move an inch and you'll explain it to people pointing with this stick." " If they ask you." "If they ask you." " I'll explain it to them anyway." "Be careful!" "It kinda wears off, but that's okay." "Hello..." "Mr. Barladeanu, our neighbor." "How are you?" "Were there any speeches?" "Oh... we have to wait..." "I wish my father were alive, so that he'd see the truth." "Now I'm the richest person in the neighborhood." "So to speak..." "Well, I've been happy before, but this is a different kind of happiness." "He's always hoped that maybe, just maybe, he'll get out of here some day." "This winter was really harsh on him." "He thought he won't live to see the spring." "And then, when I came back to work, he told me that Mr. Dan had come and left him cigarettes, 10 packs of Kent and a million lei." ""That's it!" "I've struck gold!" "I'm done with poverty!"" "The cigarette!" "Where is it?" "!" "Jesus, you've scared me." "You're like Popeye, the sailorman." "I'm drunk with being famous." "Be careful!" "I'd like to die, just a bit." "Look, listen to me!" "I want to tell you something and I don't want it to sound too bossy." "I want you to understand me as from man to man." "Look, for example, I've made you an appointment to the dentist, for 6 o'clock, today." "You cannot go like this!" "He won't be needing anesthesia!" "If you keep like this, you'll never move out of here!" "Do you want to move out?" "But many of my works were done while being drunk." "That's different." "You're making me edgy." "C'mon." "Oh, I'd like to smack you around a bit, Mr. Dan..." " Yeah, you would..." " I'll just tap you on the shoulder." "I'm a bit of a rascal." "He started out with some drawings, some sort of expressionistic BDs, kind of like those by Otto Dix." "Then, step by step, he began blending in collages, so it became a drawing-collage mix." "Then things changed and he entered a rather Baroque area of the collage, in which he'd cut out the eyes and put them to other people." "It was a sort of Surrealistic Pop, really strange and twisted, induced by alcohol, I'm sure, but, nevertheless, remarkable." "Then things became more and more synthetic, simpler and minimalistic." "His first works, the really crowded ones, are the ones I like the most." "But he says "no", he says that he wasn't at the top of his game yet." " Repeat after me: "ham", "clam"." " "Ham", "Clam"." " "Mississippi"." " "Mississippi"." " "Massachusetts"." " Sorry?" "Let me take this..." "Let's talk on the phone," "I think that they'll be ready round Tuesday." "We will talk later." ""Barladeanu seems concerned with the enormity of the lies and of the stupidities put by the government in people's heads." "Actually, Barladeanu is trying to say some disturbing truths and put them into images." "His drawings are extremely ironic, and if those about Ceausescu had been seen in the underground circles, it would have stirred things up in the society of that time and the Securitate would have had to hunt an even more dangerous dissident."" " What's up?" " I keep away from the sun." "You know what we should do today?" "Gather some clean clothes and take them to the new place." "I've bought you some sheets..." " I'll take them myself." " No, we're going together." "Well, I'm not even ready yet." "Mr. Ion, can you come upstairs to the 4th floor, please?" "Okay!" " Who's there?" " It's me, Ion from the dumpster." " Yeah, come upstairs then..." " I hear you're famous." " Yeah, I am!" " Congratulations." "I'll empty a couple more trash cans, and I'm over and done with." "I'm cutting my hands quite often." "What a disaster!" "People put bottles in and it clogs up." "Look." "The cleaning lady washed the floor the other day, and when I went to buy water, I fell down and broke my hand." "Can you imagine?" "Go till this with water, for me..." "Please..." "I mean with soil, so that I can pot this flower..." "Ma'am, I'm not coming back, I'm going into town." " The cleaning lady will do it..." " C'mon, man, take this and..." " I don't need money, ma'am." " C'mon, Mr. Ion." "Please, I can't go!" "Ma'am, I'm not coming back." " Will they throw him out?" " Yeah." "They've made up their minds." "I've interceded with Mrs. Nina, 'cause she's the one..." ""Ma'am, please, tell the super to let him stay at least for a week."" "He talked back to the president, and that one is now bent on getting rid of him." "They're all in it, together." "They're saying "they are leaving, we're staying, we're neighbors."" "And we..." "We cannot say a thing, we cannot rebel or anything." "If we do, we're out!" "Should I come tomorrow morning and take those bags?" "Let me take this..." "It's heavy!" "The other one is in there, dead." "His brother, I suppose..." " The pigeon?" " Yeah." "This one would be dead too, if.." "I give him water with the syringe, and I feed him grain and bread." "He's your new neighbor, Mr. Ion Barladeanu." "Let me give you this so that you know who he is." "He's an artist, I own a gallery." "You'll get along line." " Who are these people, Ion?" " This one was a good man." "Two days before his death, he bought me a been" "Or two..." "I forgot his name..." "Look, this was me when I still had my teeth." "I was working for the Carpati tobacco company." "This is my real father." "I don't even know what day's today, sonny..." "Wednesday?" "Saturday?" "Thursday?" "No clue..." " It's Thursday." " Thursday..." "You have to give people something that will touch them or whatever..." "Like with music." "When did you make this one?" "A while ago, but I haven't finished it." "I don't know what to put in this corner, these are all workers." "What do you think?" ""To be or not to be"?" "I've found myself a watch in the garbage." "I find a lot of things in..." "It was in a backyard, nearby." "Then I found the Eiffel tower." "Look how small it is." "It even has a hook." "It's for the neck, I think." ""Finally, the foreign investors got down to business." "We'll have shitloads of everything." That's the message..." "As soon as I'm done with the cigarette," "I'll get to the glue part, so that you can see me doing it." "That's 'cause I don't have long nails..." "I'm always cutting them." "And they aren't dirty, either." " "Pelicanol" was the best..." " What was that?" "The communist glue." "When I had finished a "movie", I'd put them like that, on the floor, and admire them." "She's the only one glued." "I did it 20 years ago." "It was left unfinished." "But I don't have enough time..." "If I could be born again, live my life again, and do all that I wanna do..." "I don't have much time left." "Zapodeni, 2009 Home village" "Lost and dead." "Get it?" "Here, he's been both lost and dead." "My God, it's him!" "Barladeanu Ion." "Right?" " I'm Romica." " Oh Romica, how are you?" " Do you know me?" "Mihai's brother." " Hi." "Boy, oh, boy!" "You look okay." "Well, you're still alive..." "Remember, you used to say:" ""Death to the communists!"" ""Me, communist, never!" That's why he ran away." "Because of the communists." "But I've finally showed the communists what's what." "I'm a real artist now." "Who cares?" "I'm not a communist." "His father was the president of the farming cooperative." "And his father was bent on killing him." "But him, a communist, never." ""He wanna kill me... okay..." "I wanna kiss my brother..." "He's 4 years older than me." " 53... 63 years old!" " Yeah." "And you?" " 59." " Here's to you!" "Thank you." "Tell the man about that time you spent in the Galati jail for stealing the watermelons." "'Scuse me." "How should I put this..." "I'm not feeling very well." "No, the old man hit him in the head with a pan." "He's smart, you know." "Unlike Petrica, that one is not..." "When no one could see us, we'd joke around..." "We haven't seen each other in 17 years." " Look, icons." " They weren't here before, but..." "I'll send some more..." "I keep all the religious stuff." "Jeez, that's my painting!" "Mr. Dan, come here!" " This one, right?" " Yeah, but I didn't sign it." " Barladeanu." " Look, I scratched it." " Right, right..." " It's almost like the one on..." " Look." "Ion Barladeanu..." " '71." "I'm proud they kept my stuff." "Well, Mr. Dan, in Latin," "I've read it somewhere, they say "Vita Brevis, Ars Longa"." " Life's short, art's long, right?" " Right." "Ceausescu in a Jewish cemetery." "Here is a catholic priest." "This is Ceausescu, in the mental institution..." " Was he in there, too?" " No, I put him in there." " Oh, you..." " Well, he deserved it!" "And I played with the head..." "Ion's father... if you said anything about politics..." "Two of his boys did jail time for it." "With all this propaganda, he'd have shot him on the spot." "Oh, if he were alive today..." "If he were, he'd shoot everyone, not only him." "He was a cold-blooded man." "He was cruel with all his kids, both my mother's and my father's..." "When Ceausescu died, he destroyed the television set." "He started shouting "Our father's dead, no more TV!"" "He got scared." "He never thought Communism would be over." "And it was!" "Petre Barladeanu Younger brother" "Is Petrica older?" "Maybe Ion is older?" " Ion is older, right?" " Yeah, he's 63." "Look at him..." "Jesus, from behind, he's the living image of his father." " Is he?" " Yeah." "But his father was taller." "How can you not remember me?" "We went to Brasov and you painted me, remember?" " No..." " You went with me to Brasov..." " I forgot..." " You forgot!" " But didn't you use to be a cop?" " Yeah, Zare Nichita." "Zare, yeah, I know." "And didn't you use to be with the militia?" "Yeah..." "Yeah, we once went to Brasov, by train..." "We kept drinking from a can, and you kept drawing me..." "Incredible, ain't it?" "See, Mn Alex?" "it's nice, it's quiet... only the birds..." "Did you record them singing?" "The hens..." "A true concert!" " Don't you miss this place?" " Sorry?" " Don't you miss living here?" " Well, Dan..." "Here's my father." "He died in '92, and mom died in 2008." " You could've still seen her..." " Yeah..." " I tried to love them..." " Do you think they loved you?" "In a way, yeah, but they've never understood me, my things..." "And they kept fighting." "I didn't like that situation." "I don't know what the hell I told her..." "I'm always on the level, never mincing my words." "She said something and I'm sorry, 'cause she was my mother..." ""Drop dead in that Bucharest of yours!"" "Well..." "I didn't drop dead." "Basel 2009" " Contemporary art fair for new emerging art" " Chicago." " Chicago?" "New York, I'm living in New York." "Brooklyn..." " "ls Name Barladeanu John"." " John?" " Yeah, Ion." " Ion." " In Romanian. "Rumen"." " Cassie." ""Thank you", in Romanian." ""Grazia"." " Wow, I love it!" " Where should we put it?" "Beautiful!" "Come, I've arranged your exhibits." "There are the Real Politik, everything connected to Ceausescu and the rather political collages, and here are the others, those about art history, so to speak" "That's the guy with the Cristo Island." "This one here looks like a Hieronymus Bosch." "You must definitely see a Hieronymus Bosch." "This is all my imagination, I did it as a pastime." "Look at that tear!" "Look, another one..." ""Me no speak English"." "Mr. Dan, translate, please." "This lady has asked me something and I don't understand." "In August 2009, Ion Barladeanu's works were exhibited in London together with works by Andy Warhol and Marcel Duchamp." "In February 2010, Ion Barladeanu has his first solo exhibition at the Anne de Villepoix gallery in Paris." "In 2009, after a ten years' break, Ion Barladeanu created 160 new collages."