INTERVIEW / Mural made by the artist Cristian Scutaru on the foot of the road bridge at the entrance to Oradea

Cristian Scutaru is a street artist from Galati, who wanted to get involved in the street art project from the participatory budgeting program, “Decorating the legs of the road bridge over the entrance to Băile Felix-Oradea”. He saw the debate that arose on Facebook following the proposals made by the artist Roxana Netea and thought it appropriate to support the Oradea street art movement through his involvement.

Cristian Scutaru was born on May 22, 1982 in Galati. He graduated in 2000 from the “Dimitri Cuclin” Art High School in Galati and in 2004 he graduated from the “George Enescu” Faculty in Iaşi, environmental mural painting section, professor Jeno Bartos. In 2006, he also graduated from the Master in Applied Arts at the same faculty. In 2004, he received the Youth Award of the Union of Visual Artists from Iasi.

In the period 2005-2006 he was a teacher of Plastic Education at the “Dimitrie Cuclin” Art High School in Galati and from 2010 to 2020 he taught at the “Atelier Cristian Scutaru” Painting School in Bucharest. He was invited to a lot of street art festivals in: Sibiu, Târgu Jiu, Bacău, Iaşi, Alexandria, Buzău or Bucharest, but also at the Ibug Festival in Germany. He is the organizer of the “Htag Festival” in Galati.

He created over 40,000 square meters of mural painting during his 18 years of experience. The mural painted in Oradea is part of the new collection of the artist Cristian Scutaru – New Bauhaus. The first large-scale work in this series was completed in Oradea during four intense working days. The work covers an area of ​​over 200 square meters and was made in mixed technique.

Initially, Cristian Scutaru had prepared two sketches for a foot of the bridge, which included two portraits, but he was suggested to modify the sketches, because the faces in the project would have distracted the drivers’ attention, and it was proposed that the work should consist of one, instead of one, two feet of bridge. On one of them, the message “Oradea Climate Neutral 2035” was marked, emphasizing that our city is mainly oriented towards projects related to the reduction of carbon emissions (zero emissions target).

– Why did you choose to come to Oradea for this project?

Cristian Scutaru: I saw the Facebook posts of Roxi’s projects, how she was struggling to make something. I had a list of cities, I could go to any. But rather than going to a city where nobody is interested in anything, or there is no such movement, I chose Oradea, where there is a debate and an interest. It seemed to me that support is needed here. Simple!

– How long did you work on the project? How many days, how many hours a day?

Cristian Scutaru: I started on Thursday (no – April 18) and I finish today (no Monday, April 22). I worked 8 hours, and 9, maybe one day I worked 10 hours. You can also work at night, because it is well lit.

– What do you think about the fact that Roxana wants to do a street art festival in Oradea?

Cristian Scutaru: There are a lot of walls, buildings. It’s very good! I’m also organizing a festival in Galati, from May 8 and it lasts for two weeks because we have two super great international artists that I didn’t want to miss, only now they were able to come, and it’s a unique occasion, for the first time in Romania. It’s very hard to catch them.

– Will you come back to Oradea if Roxi invites you to the festival?

Cristian Scutaru: Yes. It just depends on what schedule I have, because time is very limited. Here, for example, I would have liked to stay for several days, to have time to visit, because that’s what I usually do, I leave a day to visit the city or its surroundings. But, I came for one leg of the bridge, and I did two, so the time allotted for the visit was gone. Everything that follows is scheduled and I have nowhere to get days.

– Why would a city need street art? Give me a definition of street art from the viewer’s perspective.

Cristian Scutaru: Street art makes you think, ask questions. I say this from the viewer’s perspective. Anything that happens on a wall, on the asphalt – apart from a wall and a sink that is there, absolutely trivial – raises questions, makes you think, puts you in a different posture, with which you are not normal. And then thoughts appear. Just like when people discovered fire, it’s the same feeling. In the same way, when you see a drawing on the asphalt, on a wall, you start to find some answers, you try to see if you like it, if you don’t, what the artist wanted to express, if you find yourself there. And this comes with a very assumed package on the part of the artist who makes the wall because he basically throws a seed from which something grows. He can somehow influence the plant or the tree that will come out of that seed, but what he sowed does not always come out. It can come out completely different, this from the viewer’s point of view.

– What is the artist’s satisfaction at the end of the project?

Cristian Scutaru: There are several categories here. I will tell you my point of view. I consider myself a “wall hunter”. I like to influence the viewer, to give him a mood. I know that he will remain, in his subconscious, with the image that I made on the wall. I like to influence people positively. Oradea joined the cities that support street art and I wanted to support this movement through personal involvement and example. From here I go further, to Focsani and after that to Galaţi.